"End of Discussion, Part 1"
By: Zari Zathmir
Keeve Zenarr
Talara Sorenne
Kellin Zathmir [NPC+]
Location: Keeve's Apartment, New Plouton
Date: Lythe 26, 5 ABY
***
Large blue eyes stared up at her and Zari Zathmir felt her heart melting
again. Chubby fingers were holding tight onto her thumb as she knelt next
to the bassinet. She couldn't help feeling wonder as she looked down into
his tiny face, and her heart broke every time he started crying.
Hearing the sound of someone coming into the room behind her, Zari turned.
She was dressed in a tank top and lightweight pants that came down to just
below her knees. While it was getting colder outside, it was quite nice in
Keeve's apartment. She gave a big grin to Keeve as he stopped in the middle
of the room to peer in at the baby who was quietly surveying the room with a
fist shoved halfway into his mouth.
"I think he's going to be hungry again soon," Zari said as she dislodged her
thumb from his grip. "Kellin Talyn Zathmir. That's a good name, isn't it,
Keeve?"
He grinned fondly, smoothing a hand over the baby's downy soft hair. "It's
a perfect name. Did Kim help you with that?"
"She did," Zari said, brushing a finger affectionately over Kellin's
cheek. "Talyn's the name of a boy I knew on Agarra. He was really
funny and he loved to climb too. I can't believe he's two weeks old
already." She blinked and brushed away a tear trying to make its way
down her cheek. "I know I said I'd give my baby up, Keeve, but...but
I don't know if I can now. He's so beautiful and...and for all that
bad that Ferrig did to me...Kellin isn't bad. He's so
wonderful. He's completely opposite of Ferrig."
"And you're ready to be a mother?" he asked gently. "I mean, Kim and I are
here to help...but this is what you really want?"
"I'm not ready, but I am," Zari said. "But, even if I'm not, look at
him. How could I not want to have him in my life? Gods, Keeve, how did you
handle growing up so fast so easily?"
His smile was negligent, yet held a trace of wistfulness. "My childhood was
a mess. I didn't mind leaving it behind."
"I know I have to take care of him for awhile," Zari said. "When
he's around three or four, he can start training to be a Jedi. But,
the more time I spend with him, the more I love him."
"And you still want to be a Jedi? You know you don't have to go back to
them - you can stay with us as long as you want."
"I like being a Jedi even though now isn't the best time to be one,"
Zari said. "I guess I have some time to think about it. And, I can
keep training and be a mommy." She patted her flat belly. "I'm even
back in shape."
"Well" -- Keeve squeezed her shoulder companionably -- "whatever you decide,
we're here to support you. And if you ever need a night out or time
alone...Kim says we'd be glad to babysit."
Zari grinned, then leaned up and kissed his cheek. "Thanks, Keeve," she
said.
From the doorway, there was a giggle. "Isn't that the cutest
sight," said Talara as she entered the room. "Hi there, Keeve."
He grimaced and decided his visit would have to be cut short. "You were
with Dev again?" Leaning over the crib to kiss Kellin, then smiling at
Zari, he strolled towards the door, where Talara was. "You've been out with
him every day and night since you got back."
"And because of that, you have to leave when I show up?" Talara asked, her
tone carrying a strong hint of incredulity. For the sake of Zari's
baby, she kept her voice down. The little one tended to react poorly to
Keeve and Talara's frequent arguments. "Maybe I should be the one to leave,
Keeve. Since you can't stand to be around me, and since you can't stand me
spending time with Dev, maybe I should just go so you don't have to worry
about having to vacate rooms I happen to walk into. I'll find a place of my
own."
"You mean a place of your own with Dev." He snorted derisively, and loomed
over her in the doorway. "I thought, after the mission, you'd forget all
about Dev and romance and just focus on training." Narrowing his eyes to
study Talara intensely for deception, Keeve asked, "Have you had sex with
him yet?"
Talara grabbed Keeve by the shirt and pulled him out into the hall. "No, we
haven't," she said. "We've come close, but I stopped it. I like spending
time with him, Keeve. He's a friend, he doesn't fight with me, and he helps
me forget that there are a lot of people out there who would like to see me
dead. And besides, you've abandoned all your claims to my feelings for you,
so who I want to be with is none of your concern."
"He's getting too close," Keeve hissed, intending for Zari and Kellin to be
spared the sounds of their argument. "You're jeopardizing Zari, Kallia and
the babies. Don't you care?"
"He's not a threat, Keeve!" Tala answered, matching Keeve's tone. "I don't
know why you hate him so much, but I think you'd hate anyone who showed any
interest in me. You've made it perfectly clear you don't have any interest
in me so you must want me to be unhappy. He hardly spends any time at all
in here, Keeve. We either go outside and hang out in the park across the
street, out in the hall, or down at the frazzie stand. I'm careful, Keeve,
and I wouldn't do anything to hurt them. I need a friend Keeve, and you're
too bossy and fussy to be my friend. You don't even seem to want to have
fun anymore. You just spend all your time with Kim or yelling at me."
"I do not yell at you!" he hollered. Zari shushed them from inside Kellin's
nursery. Keeve pouted at being stifled and lowered his face towards
Talara's to continue their discussion, in a whisper. "Why won't you just
acknowledge that I'm trying to keep this whole family safe and cared for -
including you? It's hard enough without my having to worry about where you
are, who you're with, and whether or not you're in trouble. Why can't you
just be around more often?"
Rather than answering with words, Talara answered by kissing him. Next, she
felt his hands closing around her arms, but instead of drawing her closer,
Keeve used his grip to restrain Talara as he pulled back. Keeve's eyes were
closed, either relishing the kiss or masking his disappointment. "This is
going to end badly," he sighed. "I don't see any other outcome."
Green-tinged eyes ensnared Talara as they opened; they were soft, nearly
saddened instead of cold and hard like his words. "All you want is sex.
You're a Jedi - can you foresee a future where we live happily as a couple,
but without all the intimacy? I...I can't sleep with you, Tala. It isn't
right."
"I don't just want sex, Keeve," Talara whispered. "A kiss isn't sex.
Holding me isn't sex. Being my friend and spending time with me isn't sex.
Sex is a celebration of the love two people share for each other. Sure it
can be shallow and only a means of pleasure. But...but it can be so much
more. You and Kim are very intimate and very happy. Master Darr and Master
Vorrel, too. I can be a Jedi and love someone, Keeve. I'm not going to
become a Dark Jedi. But you don't care for me that way. I'd hoped, but
didn't want to believe it. But...but I guess I should accept it as it is,
and move on." She swallowed. "I will spend more time here, but I'm going
to tell Dev that I can be his girlfriend now."
Keeve's hold remained firm. "What? What are you talking about? What are
you pulling here, Talara?"
"Just that, I give up, Keeve," Tala said. "Dev's been asking me to be his
girlfriend for three months. He likes me a lot, and he enjoys the time we
spend together. He says that he's never seen a girl who can ride a
hoverboard better than he can. But, I like him too, and since whatever
chance of being with you is gone, I might as well tell him I'll be his
girlfriend. I do like him a lot, Keeve. He's a wonderful boy, and he's a
good friend. It doesn't mean that we're getting married or moving in
together. It just means I'm going to be his girlfriend. That's all."
"To spite me." Keeve laughed bitterly and finally released Talara. "You're
going to go run off with that boy to make me jealous, to get a rise out of
me. Is that it? Is that the game you're playing?"
"Don't flatter yourself," Talara said. "I can't believe I ever loved you or
thought I loved you if that's what you think of me. I'm not your mother,
Keeve. I don't play games with other people's emotions. I thought there
really might have been a chance for us, but I can see it was always
impossible because of your low opinion of me. I only wanted your love,
Keeve. I guess it's your inflexibility and unwillingness to change that
makes it so you can't see when other people have changed." She stepped back
away from him. "I'm going down to Dev's. I can't be around you now, not
knowing how you really think of me."
"You've seen enough of him for one day. You should stay home," Keeve
advised curtly. "Why don't you go upstairs and...meditate or something."
"I'll be back in an hour, Keeve," Talara said. "He deserves to know that
I'm his girlfriend. I won't be gone long, and then I'll be back so you can
tell me how evil sex and boys and friends are again." She turned and
started toward the front of the apartment.
"You got the first two right," he called back to her, resisting the impulse
to give chase. "You're acting crazy, Tala! You've lost it!"
Talara turned around. "I'm not the one shouting, Keeve. Dev's my
boyfriend. I thought he'd like to know he's my boyfriend. He's the only
friend I know who actually has time for me. You're always working or with
Kim. You leave the room when I enter. Zari's got her baby now; Kallia has
her babies. No one has time to be my friend except for Dev. Unless you
don't think I need friends."
"You don't care what I think," Keeve spat. "You stopped listening to me
long ago."
"Right when you stopped caring about my feelings," Talara answered back.
"Keeve, I just want a friend, and it's clear you can't be my friend."
"A friend you can spread your legs for!" he hollered back, being
unintentionally
vulgar. "You don't want my friendship - you want to share my bed!"
Without realizing it, she'd closed the distance with him. Her open palm
cracked against his cheek. "You bastard," she rasped. "I wanted your love
and your friendship. Being able to love you would have come with it, but
you didn't want that. I wanted your friendship, I wanted us to have fun
together, but you seem to be under the impression that you're either eighty
years old or that adults aren't allowed to have fun. You're afraid to get
on a hoverboard. It's like someone shoved a durasteel rod up your ass and
you haven't bothered to remove it yet. I can't imagine why I thought you
could love me or be my friend because you've never even made an effort to be
my friend. You're too intent on what I'm not supposed to be doing and how
I'm the worst slut on the whole planet, than on just trying to be the friend
I need."
She jabbed her finger into his chest. "Want to know who the last person I
had sex with was? It wasn't one person, it was three people in Jadda's
Palace
when I was a prisoner there. I can't tell you their names or what they
looked like, but I can tell you they smelled terrible. They weren't people
I chose or even wanted to. I was forced into it because I was their slave,
presented to them by Nieme and Dani because I turned against them by helping
you escape from the palace. As punishment before handing me over, they tied
me up out in the courtyard of the palace and let all of the mercenaries have
their way with me. The last person I had sex with that was actually my
choice was you, but you shoved me off of you when you realized I wasn't
Maeren. When I was finally rescued from Jadda, my boyfriend couldn't even
touch me because I wasn't ready. Incidentally, he couldn't hack that and
went on to start raping Zari over and over until he got her pregnant." She
looked up at him, unshed tears shining in her eyes. "And every time I've
talked to you, you practically call me a slut to my face and tell me how
terrible I am. Fine, you don't want me, but Dev does. And...and gods,
Keeve, I need someone who can hold me and tell me that things are okay and
that I'm not all the things you tell me I am."
The muscles in Keeve's cheeks flexed and relaxed repeatedly as he clenched
and unclenched his jaw to force back his shame. Not a thought had been
given to Talara's hardships - Keeve had been too focused on avoiding her to
suspect she may not have yet recovered. When he tried to speak, his voice
caught. He refused to even consider that grief was responsible for
constricting his throat and tightening his chest. Instead, he mastered
himself by taking a moment to ponder the wall before him and clearing the
knot in his throat. "I didn't know," he managed to say, his voice quiet and
strained. "You never...never indicated that was still bothering you. I
thought you were happy."
"I was trying to be," Talara said softly, trying not to sniffle. "I was
trying to be a Jedi. I was...I was trying to be grown up. I like Dev a
lot, and we kiss and hug, and are really close. But I don't think I'm ready
to have sex with him yet. Even if you wanted to be with me, I don't know if
I could. But...but I want to have someone who can be close to me, and help
make everything alright."
"If you'd just told me...I would've been all that for you," Keeve insisted,
trying but failing to look at her. "I would've listened.... I thought all
along you were just...trying to seduce me."
"Only a little," Talara said. "I thought you really did like me, but didn't
want to because of Kim. Or that you weren't sure how you felt and would
eventually realize. I didn't want to give up hope...because I didn't think
I could handle it. I thought you wanted me to be strong and like a Jedi,
not a little girl in over her head and trying to cope."
"I do," he exclaimed, finally gazing at her. "I want you
to be a Jedi and forget about all these distractions, like love, and sex,
and relationships. You're special, Talara. You could be the most powerful
Jedi ever to live if you'd just focus on your training. All I want for you,
and will ever want for you, is to be happy and fulfilled. I just don't
think your current path will lead to that."
"But, I don't want to be alone, Keeve," Talara whispered. "And you only
want me to be a Jedi to keep me away from Dev. When it comes to being a
Jedi, you don't want me doing anything dangerous, and I should stay in here
and hide."
He laughed incredulously. "What do you want from me?! I want to keep you
safe because you're my friend, Tala! But when I worry and try to protect
you, you accuse me of being a jerk. I don't know how else to express my
concern except by making demands. Maybe I go about it the wrong way," he
allowed, "but can't you see I mean well?"
"I can," Talara said. "Keeve, if I can't be your girlfriend, I want to be
Dev's. I do really like him, and he really likes me. If it's not going to
be you, since you were first, then it is him. I know you're trying to keep
me safe, but don't over-protect me." She moved closer to him. "If you
aren't jealous of Dev, that means you think he's truly a danger. I really
don't see how you can think that since he's just sixteen years old, he's not
a Jedi, and he's a very nice boy. If you're not going to be interested in
me, make sure you're not jealous of him."
"Then how about I stay out of it entirely?" he suggested sardonically. "I'm
making a mess of things...so from now on, you just do what you want, Tala.
This way I'll never make you miserable again and you can live happily with
Dev without my jealousy ruining everything."
"Are you jealous, Keeve," Talara asked.
He smirked, realizing he'd stepped into his own trap. "Would that change
anything - the knowing one way or the other?"
"Probably not," Talara said. "If you're not willing to express or act on
your feelings, then you'll just have to live with your jealousy and knowing
that someone else is where you could have been."
"Where I could be," he corrected, "if I weren't going to marry Kim. I won't
be that man, Tala. I'd rather sin in thought than action. It makes it
easier to live with oneself. If I'm jealous of Dev, it would only be
because you don't resent him like you do me. Because he can make you laugh,
and smile, and bring you joy. I can't do that so...." Clearing his throat,
Keeve straightened, stiffened and admitted grudgingly, "So, in that
respect...yes, I'm jealous. You're closer to him than you ever were with
me. Of course that irritates me. Why shouldn't it?"
"Because it doesn't have to be that way," Talara said. "Because everything
could be different. But, I know it won't be, and it makes me very sad.
We're on Tae'Karada where a man can have as many wives as he wants, as many
wives as he can support, and I fell in love with the one who doesn't believe
in that. We're on a planet where you could have both of us if you wanted,
but you limit yourself to what you think is proper. I know it won't ever
change because you don't accept it. You can do all those things if you try,
Keeve, even without loving me like you love Kim. It's a lesson that life
isn't fair, and I don't know if you're suffering like I am, but a part of me
hopes that you are so that it means that you really do love me and wish we
could be together. And, this is the last chance. Once I go to Dev and I'm
his girlfriend, I can't turn back unless the relationship doesn't work. I'm
going to do everything I can to make it work. So, if there's a chance you
think you could bend and allow yourself two wives or a wife and mistress
like is allowed on this stupid planet, then say so now. I--" She quickly
closed her mouth, knowing she could say no more without being reduced to
tears. She didn't want to go to Dev, her new boyfriend, all puffy-eyed with
tears dripping off her nose.
Keeve lowered his gaze, unable to experience anything but guilt at the sight
of Talara's grief. She would never understand that her suffering caused his
own; he was a prudish, heartless jerk, that's all she would believe until he
relented. It wasn't so easy, yet nothing could convince Talara of that.
He couldn't, however, leave her hanging any longer - she was too dear for
Keeve to perpetuate her anguish in this way. Speaking through clenched
teeth, Keeve uttered tautly, "I won't stand in the way, Tala. Just...be
happy. If that means going to Dev...then that's all I want for you. Just
to be happy."
Without realizing she was doing it, Talara found herself pushing her way
into Keeve's embrace. Her head laying against his chest, listening to his
heartbeat, she held him close. "I wish it could be different," she
whispered. "I wish...I wish it could be okay. If it ever is with you,
Keeve, if you ever realize you can share your love and heart with me too,
please tell me."
Keeve smiled wanly, allowing himself one concession by stroking Talara's
hair. "You'll be the first to know. Deal?"
"Deal," Talara said as she slipped out of his arms. "But, I am going to
really miss kissing you. I'm going to go down to talk with Dev and let him
know. I'll be back soon, and...and maybe we can talk about stuff. I really
want to go to a show at the White Noise. Do you think we can go?"
Doubting his ability to speak without his voice wavering, Keeve nodded and
gestured for her to go to Dev. "Go on," he whispered, finding it easier to
mask the unsteadiness of his tone.
Talara backed away from him. Just before turning and starting toward
the front door, she hurriedly said, "I love you, Keeve." With that,
as the tears started to fall, she fled their penthouse.
He couldn't watch, and turned fully with his back to the wall for support.
"Crazy, headstrong women," Keeve grumbled somberly. Emotions were a plague
on humans...especially when conflicted. Although having convinced himself
he felt nothing remotely near to love for Talara, his jealousy of Dev seemed
inexplicable in the face of such a denial. You're just being
overprotective, he assured himself, but failing to do so with much
conviction. Keeve shook his head briskly to clear his mind, then pushed
off the wall for the door. "Zari! I'm going out for a while!"
"Okay," Zari called out after him. "I'm just putting Kellin down for a--
Keeve?" As she stepped into the hall, she found him already gone. With a
shrug, she turned back into the nursery to make sure the little one was
comfortable. She just hoped that when Keeve and Talara came back, they
wouldn't start yelling again.
"End of Discussion, Part 2"
By: Talara Sorenne
Dev [NPC+]
Sathis [NPC+]
Reinrich Tas [NPC+]
Location: Dev's Apartment, Yesdol, New Plouton; Reinrich's Office, Yesdol, New Plouton
Date: Lythe 26, 5 ABY
***
Once she had wiped her eyes free of the tears and regained her composure,
Talara finished the journey from the lift to the front door of Dev's home.
It was a penthouse similar to Keeve and Kim's. She knocked softly, and she
heard sounds inside.
The door opened and a tall man who looked like an older version of Dev was
standing there. He looked shocked for just a moment before recovering. He
gave Talara a smile that sent a shiver down her spine, and for just a
moment, she thought of bolting back for the elevator. She'd never met Dev's
father, but as he gazed wolfishly down at her, she wished that would have
continued to be the case.
"You must be Talara," he said, then offered his hand. As she placed her
hand in his, he held it firmly and continued, "Dev has spoken very highly of
you, but I believe he neglected to mention just how beautiful you were.
Please, come in."
Finally releasing her hand, he stepped back to allow her to enter. She
could feel his eyes upon her, undressing her, and it made her very
uncomfortable.
"Is Dev here," she asked.
There was a pause as the man continued to watch hungrily. "He is," he said
after some delay. "Devan! Your friend Talara is here to see you."
Dev appeared a moment later, and when he saw Talara there, his face lit up.
"Hey, I didn't expect to see you again until tomorrow."
"Keeve and I had a talk, and I had to come see you." She glanced aside
where Dev's father stood waiting. "Is there somewhere we can talk?
Sending a peevish glare toward his father, he motioned for her to follow
him. "Come on, we can talk in my room."
They disappeared quickly, and Talara could feel the oily gaze of Dev's
father still on her back as they disappeared down the hall.
As Dev closed the door behind them, he turned and grinned at her. "You look
great," he said.
She glanced down at the blue mini-dress she wore. It was sleeveless and
fell to the middle of her thighs. She wore a pair of short boots and
tights. "This is what I was wearing earlier, silly," she said.
"You still look great, but you've been crying." Looking concerned, he
reached out and took her hands.
"Just Keeve," she said. "You know how weird things are, and the reason I
haven't said I'd be your girlfriend." He nodded. "Well, I do want to be
your girlfriend now. I really do, Dev, and I'm completely free of Keeve."
The fact that he was her second choice didn't bother him at all as he swept
her into his arms and they kissed. As long as she was his, he was happy.
And by her words, he was certain that she was his for certain.
***
The link in Reinrich Tas's office lit up with the incoming
communication from his business partner Sathis Exan. As Reinrich
pressed the key that would accept the call, Sathis's form appeared
holographically standing before the desk.
"Reinrich," he said with a predatory smile, "I believe I have a means
to secure our key to finally thwart Merrick Braston and Analesse
D'vrishay." He paused, waiting for Tas to ask him to continue so
that he could dramatically lay out his plan.
Showing little outward interest, Reinrich took a pull from his drink before
indulging Sathis. "So...what is so brilliant that I haven't already thought
of it myself?"
"Well, it appears that the shining knight of the White Noise had a
few weak moments that were broadcast out to anyone with an open comm
frequency." His image was replaced with a holographic scene that was
unmistakably Merrick Braston with an attractive young girl, both
naked and coupling madly. After a moment, the image returned to
Sathis. "That beautiful little darling is in my son's room and
apparently his new girlfriend. And, you know how particular Analesse
is about things like this. I have a feeling we can use this little
beauty to drive a wedge between the two, and then the White Noise,
and Analesse D'vrishay are yours again."
Reinrich's beverage was of little interest to him now; he set it aside to
lean forward for a better vantage of the show before him. He grinned
slowly. "So...what's the plan? A rebroadcast of this juicy home movie for
all of Tae'Karada to see?"
"It turns out that the little minx servicing Braston so expertly is
none other than the Jedi Padawan who's been featured in the news, or
was before the Jedi were branded traitors. She's living the mundane
life with my neighbours upstairs. The thing is, she's still a Jedi,
and that's a no-no. So, the plan becomes obtain her loyal assistance
under penalty of revealing who she is, where she's staying, and all
the little people who are helping her to the authorities. We then
use her to become a foil between Braston and D'vrishay. I figure
with those antics she's showing with him, she might be able to put on
quite a show at your club. Considering she's got him shoved down her
throat like that--" he indicated the display "--maybe she can
sing. But, wouldn't it be a delight to show up at a party with her
on your arm and him staring wide-eyed and ready to bolt lest his
dirty secret is revealed. I'm sure, once they've split, we can get
rid of the girl unless you want to keep her as a trophy or set her to
working for you. She seems to be quite talented."
Reinrich chuckled deeply as he dragged a finger over the holoimage, tracing
the arch of Talara's back and momentarily disrupting the projection. "I
think I could have some fun with her....
Her expertise is wasted on that foppish musician." No thought was
necessary; the decision came far too easily to Reinrich. "When do we begin?
I want a look at her up close."
"The door just closed a moment ago, so she has returned to her home," Sathis
said. "Undoubtedly with the misplaced affection she has for my son, she
will return tomorrow. I will present this new arrangement to her tomorrow,
and when she cannot refuse and therefore accepts, I will bring her to you at
once."
"And you're sure she won't give you trouble?" He smirked. "I don't want
her pretty face marred."
"Oh, quite sure," Sathis said. "She will be unharmed, and I will make it
very clear that any resistance on her part will be very bad for her loved
ones. I'm sure when I tell her what will happen to that cute little blonde
and her baby once they are taken into custody, she'll be very cooperative."
Reinrich was clearly pleased with Sathis' ruthlessness. "I'm glad we met,
Sathis. This is just what we need to ruin my Analesse. Contact me once
you're ready."
"I will contact you before we arrive," Sathis stated. "I will make certain
the little minx is prepared for you."
"Just don't use her up before I get a spin with her."
Sathis grinned. "I'll bring her to you untouched," he said. "At least, I
will not touch her. I give her to you, and if you have a wish to share her,
I'll take my spin then. And, if you make her your wife, you own her
completely. Not only will she be bound by the threat of danger to that sad
little family of hers, but she will be legally bound to you."
Reinrich chuckled. "You've thought this over long and hard. You'll be
rewarded well, my friend. Don't be long."
"I expect the girl will show up here quite early," Sathis said. "Expect our
arrival shortly after that." His image winked out.
"Oh, Analesse," Reinrich purred, sinking against his chairback. Languidly
stroking his chin, he envisioned finally seizing Analesse from Merrick's
clutches, using Talara as the very tool to do so. Analesse would submit to
him,
whether it be to punish Merrick or truly acknowledge her desire for
Reinrich; in either case, he awaited that day eagerly...as did the appendage
placing increasing pressure against his pants.
"Seeking Guidance from Unlikely Sources"
By: Kaysa Tregat
Aria Tregat
Keeve Zenarr
Location: Kaysa and Zale's Residence, Yesdol, New Plouton
Date: Lythe 26, 5 ABY
***
Aria's eyelids were finally drooping when the intercom chirped. Kaysa
winced, knowing her efforts to put her daughter to bed had been wasted. The
young girl's keen hearing picked up the alert and her eyes snapped open.
She smiled up at Kaysa, who sighed defeatedly and wanly smiled back.
The
intercom located on Aria's wall continued chirping. With the girl cradled
in her arms, Kaysa made her way towards the annoying device and received the
transmission.
"Mrs. Tregat, sorry to disturb you--"
"No you're not, Yoltesh," she informed him with mild irritation. The man
had been hired by Zale, following the move to their new home, to guard the
gates fencing in the property. He communicated with them via an intercom
routed throughout the home, and disturbed them no matter what the situation,
at all hours of the day. Zale had insisted on the security measure, but
Kaysa was prepared to send the man on his way. Zale would have none of
it, so instead, Kaysa needled the man ceaselessly. It helped to relieve
frustration. "Yoltesh, what's the problem? Has a bird landed on our side
of the gate again? Do you wish permission to shoot it?"
Yoltesh sighed. "No, ma'am," he replied flatly. "That was only one
time...and it could have been an espionage device disguised as a bird. It
was a risk I couldn't take."
Kaysa chuckled, despite her slowly waning patience. "Then what is it?"
"Mom! This idiot won't let me pass!"
"Keeve?" Kaysa hadn't spoken or seen her son in months - Keeve's choice.
Now, he was standing outside her gate, waiting for passage. Aria babbled
away while Keeve and Yoltesh could be heard bickering on the other end.
Overcoming her surprise, Kaysa interjected. "Let him pass, Yoltesh. It's
my son."
Yoltesh emitted a resigned affirmative and severed the transmission. Kaysa
was already on her way down the staircase, reaching the front door just as
Keeve did. She opened it before he could activate the door chime. They
stared at one another, Kaysa in uncertainty and Keeve with a doleful, sullen
expression.
Aria had squirmed her way upright and was reaching out to her
brother. How she even remembered him, Kaysa knew not, but she was insistent
about seeking his embrace. It did coax a smile from Keeve, who took his
sister into his arms and kissed her cheek. Chocolate coloured eyes stared
up at him in wonderment, and Keeve gazed back with equal amazement. "She's
so different," he breathed. "Still looks like Zale...but she's got our
eyes."
"She is your sister," Kaysa reminded him fondly, stroking her daughters
curls. "She hasn't seen you in a while. I was afraid she'd forget you."
Keeve smiled crookedly in challenge. "Never."
Chuckling, Kaysa ushered him into the home. She gestured him to the sofa,
upon which he sat, propping Aria on his lap. The child giggled as he
tickled her belly. Kaysa, seated on the adjacent armchair, watched them
contentedly in silence for a time before saying gently, "You look horrible.
What's happened?"
The joy Aria had brought to his expression faded quickly. Keeve was
frowning noticeably again. "I had an argument with...someone again."
"Kim? Maeren?" Kaysa smiled faintly. "How is she? I haven't seen her in
so long."
"She's fine," he answered distractedly. "But it was neither of them.
You...you know Talara, right?" Kaysa nodded. "Well...she...sort of...."
He sighed, frustrated with his inability to form his thoughts into coherent
speech.
"Don't worry," Kaysa consoled him, "Zale already told me about it. She
still has a crush on you?"
"It's more than that," he snapped, then smiled contritely. "She thinks--
She loves me and I refuse to have anything to do with her...in that way."
"So...what's the problem? You can't just force yourself to feel the same
way because you pity her."
"I don't pity her!" he informed her rather poutily. Aria stopped blubbering
and gaped up at Keeve, startled by his raised voice. Keeve sighed and
kissed her brow apologetically. "Look," he continued calmly now, "the
problem is that she's completely in love and I feel horrible about it
because I know...I know I could love her back if I let myself. But I don't
want to."
Kaysa asked softly, "And why don't you?"
"Because, Mom," he explained petulantly, "she's too young - even though she
doesn't act her age - and I've got Kim. It'd be too complicated."
"Well then." Kaysa exhaled deeply and leaned forward to pat her son's knee.
"You'll just have to come to terms with your own guilt. Is there any way
you two can continue living with one another without making her miserable,
and yourself?"
"Well...she's got a boyfriend now. She seems happy." Keeve shrugged, while
Aria grabbed at his nose. Kaysa laughed tenderly at the sight of her two
children at play. Keeve continued, voice now nasally as Aria pinched closed
his nostrils. "I just can't get over the fact she loves me. It makes it
hard to be her friend."
"Oh, stop being so arrogant," Kaysa stated pithily. "My son, you are just
like your mother - always thinking the world revolves around you, and
meanwhile missing out on everything as life somehow carries on without
you." She smiled. "Funny how that works, hm? So concerned that your
actions are deeply impacting others, meanwhile you barely register on their
radar. That's where I went wrong, Keeve. I was so self-involved, that I
barely noticed everyone around me was slipping away. You just have to
relax!" Kaysa advised him cheerfully. "Things seem to just...fall into
place when you stop trying to control everything. Try it sometime. You'll
be much happier if you do."
Keeve sighed heavily, still frowning dourly. Kaysa pursed her lips and
lightly slapped his thigh. "Keeve...loosen up! You've always been such a
serious boy. I...I blame myself for that." She smiled wistfully. "I blame
myself for a lot, but I'm trying to make up for it all...and I'm glad you've
forgiven me."
"I never blamed you, not really. I was just hurt that you didn't want me in
your life, and I admit, I acted out." Kaysa laughed and Keeve chuckled.
"Yeah...that's an understatement. I was a brat...still am."
"No, you're not," she told him affectionately. "You're my son, and you're
still feeling your way through this whole adulthood thing. Give yourself
some time and you'll get it right. We can even help each other out with
that part," Kaysa suggested jovially.
"Yeah," Keeve agreed, laughing in spite of himself and his sullen nature.
"I can teach you how to be serious and stern, and you can teach me how to
have a little fun."
"Great! We'll start tomorrow," she decided, rising from her seat and
plunking down next to Keeve on the sofa. "You, me, and Aria will go out for
the day. She loves the park around the corner, then we'll go for dessert at
the café down the street. Sound good?"
Keeve watched his mother, marvelling at the ebullient, happy woman who had
replaced the temperamental lunatic he'd known previously. She seemed
momentarily taken aback when he impulsively kissed her cheek. "I love you,
Mom. I want to spend the day with you and my sister." He smiled.
"Definitely."
Kaysa grinned tearfully and embraced her son. Aria mimicked her mother and
did the same, clutching her brother's shirt-front with tiny fists. Keeve
sighed serenely, and finally experienced, for a moment, confidence that he
would resolve his issues with Talara. And he had his mother to thank, and
his adoring sister. "I should've done this a long time ago," he whispered.
Tomorrow, he'd tell Talara the conclusions he'd come to this night and begin
the friendship with her he'd been missing out on for far too long.
"Fighting the System"
By Selena Rellik
Plus Several NPCs
Location: New Plouton
Date: Lythe 26, 5 ABY
***
Many days had passed since the aliens had invaded. People were still rather
confused as to this new regime, though it was obvious that most disliked the
fact that they were under the tutelage of a leader they had not chosen. But
they also feared these aliens for their obvious displays of power, and those
who did dare to speak against them or act against the new imposed laws would
somehow disappear, never to be heard from again.
It seemed rather similar to going back to the older days of the Empire, when
fear also was used as a control agent, only perhaps worse because this time
she knew nothing of them. Actually, they had seemed to come out of nowhere,
and not even Red Eye could find previous information that could prove
useful... And with the blockade, no ships were going in or out.
Not that Selena would step away from Tae'Karada now... After all, she was
more needed now, in this place where people were constantly being made to do
things that they didn't want to, than anywhere else. And fighting such a
regime was the ultimate goal for someone who believed in freedom and in
righteousness, even if that meant taking the fight up to them.
The past few days, Selena had kept a low profile and had tried to study the
aliens. They were strong, but certainly they would not be impervious to an
attack, and they were not immortals either. Now that time was reaching the
imposed curfew, the streets were deserted. It was that which caught Selena's
attention. A woman was facing one of the aliens who patrolled the streets,
and they were having a discussion of sorts... Selena concealed herself and
tried to eavesdrop on them.
"You must go home. Curfew is approaching," one of the soldiers said in deep,
rumbling Basic.
"But...my daughter. She's sick," a young woman wrapped in a cloak pleaded.
"I need to get her medicine. Please, just a little while!"
The second alien seemed just as unmoved by her entreaties as the first.
"Return home," he told her firmly. "Or you will be arrested and punished
accordingly."
The woman sobbed and shook her head briskly. "Please! My daughter--"
"What is the commotion?" another voice boomed - a third soldier, one with a
metallic sash angling across his broad chest. He came up beside his
compatriots and studied the woman briefly. "She will miss curfew. Hurry her
along."
"We have been, Taka'a," the first alien replied. "She resists."
The woman attempted a feeble protest, but would not be heard by the Taka'a.
"Apprehend her," he ordered. The two lower ranked aliens obeyed without
hesitation, moving forward to seize the woman. She screamed and attempted to
flee. Both soldiers upholstered their rifles and aimed.
"Drop it!" Selena warned as she approached the aliens. She already had her
blaster aimed in their direction and was holding a thermal detonator on the
other. "And before you even think on shooting, know that if you do, you kill
us all with the blast..."
"We are not afraid to die, woman..." one of the soldiers stated, a mocking
grin on his face. "Kill her!"
Selena cursed something inaudible and opened fire, while the alien soldiers
turned on her. She was sure to hit one of them in the chest, but the blast
seemed to do little if anything at all. She then realized that they had some
form of personal shield. Taking cover behind a parked speeder she breathed
in deep while thinking how to get rid of them. She knew that the detonator
would probably work, but it would also take the woman and the child.
Taking a glimpse from the side, Selena could see that they were already
moving in on her - all three of them. She knew she had little time before
she had to come up with something, so she decided to take her vibrodagger
and move in up and close. They were all rather close, which could still work
to her advantage.
She waited until they were close enough and jumped from behind the speeder,
jumping in on them. One of the soldiers - the closest one - tried to take
her out with a shot. But Selena dodged and was able to move in on them. She
slashed away with her bladed weapon and was able to cut one of the alien
soldier's cheeks.
He jerked in pain from the hit, and Selena didn't lose time, pushing him
with a kick towards his comrades. So, they are impervious to blaster bolts
but not bladed weapons... Only thing was that they can still fire from
afar... she told herself.
"You will pay for that human!" the soldier promised.
Selena noticed that the woman was now gone, and perhaps she had better run
as well. But as she turned away, the aliens opened fire. They were much too
determined to get to her, and chased her. Selena noticed that there was a
nearby wall that was in a rather bad shape... With less and less time to
think on a plan, she ran and leaped onto a large container, then turning
around to face the wall. On the other side she had a balcony, her best way
to get out of there.
The soldiers fired at her, while she ran and leapt. But the shots hit the
already crumbling wall, damaging it even further. The wall could not sustain
the damage any longer and crumbled, making debris fall over the soldiers.
Two of them were fast enough to dodge it, but the third one got caught and
was clearly squished under the rubble.
Alas, that only served to infuriate the remaining ones even further, as they
shot at the balcony Selena was in. The structure was also not in its prime
condition and could not sustain the damage from the large guns, and started
to shake, just seconds before detaching itself from the building it belonged
to, falling on the streets below.
With the fall, Selena became slightly injured, but not to a point where she
could not fight. She got up, and immediately noticed that she had lost her
vibrodagger. And since the blaster didn't work, she could now only use her
own hands.
One of the aliens rushed towards her, gun in hand. Selena noticed a pipe
with a sharp edge near her feet and kicked it up, taking it into her hands.
She was then forced onto taking cover behind some of the rubble as one of
the incoming soldiers opened fire. As the alien soldier approached she took
a swing at him with the pipe, hitting his weapon and taking it from his
hands. The soldier moved fast and punched her across the face, sending her
staggering back a few feet. He then took out a bladed weapon, not bothering
too much with the loss of his projectile weapon. This was clearly the mark
of a well trained soldier, or a madman with an obvious desire to kill her.
Selena readied herself, while still on the lookout for the third soldier, as
he could still fire from afar. While still catching her breath, she watched
the alien and let him make the first move. When he lashed at her, she was
able to parry the charge, then grabbing hold of his arm and twisting it,
making him turn. She then head butt him and kicked his groin, a thing that
she was sure to work.
Alas, the alien looked back at her with a mischievous grin. "Wrong species!"
he told her as he punched her across her jaw. Selena fell down to her knees
and the alien lost no time in kicking her in the chest, sending her back a
few yards.
Badly hurt and with a substantial loss of air, Selena tried to get up as
fast as she could, knowing that if she did not she would surely die. She
still had a hold on the sharpened pipe, though at this point she wasn't sure
she could do much with it. Trying a desperate lash at the alien, she managed
to get him in the chest, though his armor seemed to absorb most of the shock
from the strike.
The alien, in turn, took a swing at Selena with his bladed weapon. She moved
back but was still superficially cut in her upper leg. The cut hurt like
hell but not enough to send her back down. It was then that she noticed the
third soldier approaching. Why he had taken so long she did not know, but
things were all the more complicated now.
The third soldier was already near her and took a shot at Selena. But she
had moved aside and dodged it, then making a run towards him in hopes of
being able to at least disarm him as well. But the alien was no rookie and
fended her off with the butt end of his weapon, then turning around and
shooting at her. She had moved, but was still scratched in her left shoulder
by the projectile, which hurt more than a blaster since it didn't cauterize
the wound.
Mustering all the strength she had, Selena threw the pipe at the third alien
soldier, then leaping forward and punching him in the face. She then took
control of his weapon and twisted his arms, then kicking him in the knee.
The alien was indeed strong and not too injured from her attempts, but she
was still more agile than he was, and in a close combat she had an advantage
over him. Being able to block most of the alien's attempts, she knew that
she had little time before the other alien came back at her. Once she saw an
opening, Selena parried a punch, then taking into her own hands one of the
bladed weapons from the alien soldier's armor and drove it into his neck,
where he had no armor.
She was about to turn to the last remaining soldier when she felt a piercing
sensation that was followed by excruciating pain in her abdomen. When she
looked down, she saw that she was hurt...fatally. The last alien soldier
stood there, weapon in hand, looking over her, as she fell down with the
loss of strength. He had gone back to get his projectile weapon and had got
the best out of it.
"You are impressive human," he told her. "You managed to kill two of my
comrades, which is more than anyone can say. Tell me, who sent you and why
did you attack us."
Selena could feel the blood in her mouth already. "There will be others...
Others like me who will fight your system of government. And you will lose.
Soon..."
"Who sent you?" the soldier persisted. "You are dying, so you might as well
not take it with you... We will find out, you know."
"You want to know my greatest secret? Come closer and I'll tell you," she
said as she coughed up some blood. She was near her death... She could tell
that much. But the alien was not interested in getting close and still had
his weapon raised and pointed at her. She sighted, feeling weaker and weaker
by the second. Mustering all that she had left within her, she showed him
the thermal detonator, already activated.
"I'm not afraid to die!" she said as she released the trigger. There was an
explosion which took what remained of Selena, and appeared to consume the
Taka'a. Perhaps someone would know what had happened there, perhaps not.
Only one thing was clear. This would certainly stir up doubts...though
perhaps it would also bring someone hope.
***
"She appeared to be working alone - a vigilante who was foolish enough to
interfere in Jau matters." The Taka'a, after having spent some time in a
regeneration chamber, now stood before his superior, apprising him of the
day's tragic event. Two of their own had been callously dispatched. But,
their replacements were already developing in the gestation capsules; their
loss would not be felt for long.
"An example will need to be made," Mun'daq said. As the right hand of
Sa'Taka Gal'traq, military matters were his to deal with. "I believe five
citizens will be sufficient. For this woman's actions, five will be publicly
executed. Their families will be sent to the operation in the desert. This
rebellious cannot be tolerated." He looked over the Taka'a and nodded
gravely. "You will be honoured for this." He touched the officer on top of
his head where three crests already stood. "You may allow the fourth to
grow."
The Taka'a bowed his head in dutiful gratitude. It was the greatest honour
one could be bestowed. "I shall wear it with pride."
"Once your injuries are treated, see to the gathering of the citizens for
the executions. They will be conducted in New Plouton."
The alien's scaly lips pulled back to reveal jagged, sharp teeth - a sneer
of a smile. "I will enjoy the choosing." He thumped his chest with a fist,
and then turned to depart. An example would be made of this rebel to ensure
none would follow in her misguided footsteps. The Jau's power was absolute.
All would know this, soon enough.
"Alone"
By Titus Moss
Location: Unknown
Date: Lythe 26, 5 ABY
***
As Titus open his eyes he found himself looking at a strange roof. Titus
sat up and began to notice that he was in different clothing. He grabbed his
clothes and began to throw them on, the last thing Titus remember was coming
into the Tae'Karada System, his ship had come under attack, he had taken
command of the RSS Naboo when the entire command crew had been killed while
he was in the Axillary Command Information Center when a Tie Fighter took
out the Bridge.
Titus pulled out both his blaster and began to move into halls, as he
moved down the hall he began to here voices.
"...don't know, he a Commander in the New Republic." a female voice said.
"Well, what the hell do we know?" a male voice asked.
"Sir, from what I could get from on all the sensors," she said, "Of an
entire crew he and ten other are the only one who were left alive."
"We have and NRI agent on the way, until then keep him guarded."
Titus rounded the corner and looked at them and said, "May I ask who the
hell are you."
The two people turned and looked at him, both saw the blasters in his hand
and then looked at him, they both wore robes and looked at him. Titus turned
his laser on and leveled them on the two.
The male looked at him and yelled, "Blast it, Commander lower you
weapons."
"First, you will tell me who the darned are you," Titus replied charging
his weapons.
"I'm Colonel..."
Titus never heard what he said because a hand that he didn't see knocked him out.
"New Plouton Shuffle - Part I"
By Brayton Val - former Tae'Morad Officer
Location: Yelldon District, New Plouton
Date: Lythe 26, 5 ABY
***
The Pink Monga. One of the more frequented bars in Yelldon, it seemed to
offer access to a wider variety of clientele than some of the more exclusive
establishments found around New Plouton. Plus, they didn't have any form of
dress code, which sat well with Brayton.
Sitting in a booth, alone, he kept his business to himself, while watching
the other patrons come and go. After all, ever since the aliens invaded, he
had little if nothing to do. Curfews, patrols, new rules for the population
and firm punishment to those who opposed the aliens... Made Brayton wonder
whether it would be best to simply go back to Kiffu rather than stay where
he was. On the other hand, he didn't have much of a choice, since nobody
seemed cleared to leave the planet anyway.
It was then that someone came by his booth and sat down, opposite Brayton -
a middle aged man with grayish hair wearing a trench coat. Nothing peculiar
about him, except for a smirk he had.
"I'm peculiar with whom I drink with..." Brayton muttered.
"Name's Jorga. I'm from out of town," the man said.
"Listen, Mister Jorga..."
"Just Jorga," the man interrupted. "The reason I'm in town, in case you're
wondering, is to find you. I hear you're the man nowadays to find other men
while offering protection to the man who employs you..."
"So?"
"So, I represent someone who wants to employ your services. You see, we're
looking to find someone...someone who owes my boss quite a lot of money from
a gambling bet," Jorga explained.
"I'm no bookie... Find someone else," Brayton answered.
"Terrible thing, gambling debts. This guy got himself on a string because he
heard about something that required a lot of planning. The kind of stuff
that falls on deaf ears mostly... People connected only by the slightest of
events. Like places in the night that never forgets even when most people
do," Jorga explained. "It starts with a swoop race. It's what they call a
techno-handicap... A guy wants what the other calls a sure thing, so he
schemes to make it so. He calls in the tech, a guy known for his savvy but
not for his discretion. The same could be said for the tech's jelly on the
side, Lorra... Which brings us to a man named Abe, because Lorra was too
much jelly for one outfit. She finds out and tells Abe about the fix. Now,
Abe wasn't a nosy fellow, but he had a nose. And right below his nose was
his mouth, so he tells a friend of his in a club. Only, the bartender is
around and hears the conversation, so he tells his nephew. And before you
know it, folks are getting a big dose of the gimmies... And so this new guy
goes down to a bookie to lay down an illegal bet. Only the deal goes sour
because the racer couldn't handle the power, and so this guy ends up owing
us a lot of credits... Alas, he disappears."
"Lucky guy, I guess... But that's your problem, not mine," Brayton answers.
"True as that may be, my boss is willing to make it up to you if you find
this man for us, unharmed. You see, we would gladly place a bounty on his
head, but with the aliens and all, my boss cannot be implied or caught, so
we need to do this with an outsider. So, can you do it?"
"It can be done..." Brayton told him. "With a New Plouton Shuffle."
"What's that?"
"New Plouton Shuffle is when you make them look left while you go right.
Hard to explain, and requires a lot of planning. But in all cases, that's
why I have to deal with your boss directly."
"I'm afraid that's not negotiable. You deal with me directly and I take it
up to the man. You don't get to see the man."
"Then I guess your boss doesn't get to see this guy he's looking for," the
Kiffar answered simply.
Jorga frowned and touched his ear. No doubt he had a communicating unit to
link him directly to his boss. He mumbled something and heard back what he
needed to know. He then turned to look at Brayton once more. "Very well...
You will be expected at the Segrelat Tower, floor number 52. Now, order me a
drink."
"I told you, I'm peculiar about whom I drink with," Brayton answered him as
he got up and walked out of the Pink Monga. He had a new job outlined for
him, and a lot of planning to do before he did it.
"The Cult of Personality"
By: Rylaa Lyssander - Crimelord
Location: New Plouton
Date: Lythe 26, 5ABY
***
Sitting deep underground in the bunker system under New Plouton, Rylaa Lyssander idly smoked a fat cigar and read the report that had crossed his desk. His Dawn Seekers had sufficiently infiltrated the New Republic Intelligence enough that even personal messages between intel heads were being passed along. He couldn't stop himself from chuckling, the New Republic had certainly done their homework. Even with the Jau occupation of Tae'Karada and Rylaa's being stuck here, the New Dawn had spread and prospered even further.
Eyes Only: Colonel Itk Absath
Subject: New Dawn Cult
Classification: Top Secret - Magik code 3
Itk,
You asked me to look further into the growing cult of the New Dawn. While it appears that they are still a criminal organization, they are continuing to cloak themselves in mysticism and rituals. Every time we turn around they seem to have added more and more to their various systems. They even have a bible, of sorts, and they are attracting a lot of followers with their message. They have been preaching, openly, about serving the self and just doing what you want.
Not much has changed from their criminal origins in terms of leadership, but those leaders are now responsible for BOTH sides of the card. The religion, and the underground. If they are not up to par they are replaced, quickly, with someone more qualified to be there.
The New Dawn as been sponsoring parties and social gatherings on many of the planets they are present on (a number which as grown swiftly in the last couple months) and usually distribute spice and other 'social drugs'. Even the leaders and administrators of many of these planets are not immune to the vices that the New Dawn preaches.
They have no God that they worship at all, but instead say that the truest form is the one that they have now. They say that reincarnation is a real thing, that people are reborn all the time, but which little or no memories of their past lives. The only way to regain these memories, they say, to by ingesting spice and dancing as well as going through many of the rituals they have set up seemingly out of nowhere.
Other than that, they seem rather harmless. I don't personally see where this 'religion' thing is going to go since no matter what, they are still a criminal organization and should be treated as such.
One thing to note, however, is their cult of Dawn Seekers. The are the intelligence and special operations wing of the New Dawn, and they're good. Real good. Most of them are ex-Imperial Intelligence or private mercenaries that have thrown in their lot with New Dawn. They have even set up a training program in order to put out more operatives. They are a very close knit organization and work in a cell system. We have yet to be able to infiltrate a man that far.
Glenta is also wondering when the next time you and Tashja are going to come over for tea. She hasn't seen you two in the last couple weeks and you know how lonely she gets sometimes with me away.
Regards,
Vicenle Trebora
Rylaa looked at the few spatters of Ikt's blood that stained the sheet of flimsy. Too bad the colonel had figured out one of his men worked for them. He puffed his cigar several times then touched the glowing end to the paper. It flashed brightly then disintegrated into a fine ash.
"Recruiting"
by: Rylaa Lyssander
Lorgal
Various NPCs
Location: New Plouton
Date: Lythe 26, 5ABY
***
Yashi Newsta looked over his shoulder in case one of the Jau patrols happened the walk past where he was. Nobody was in the streets at this time of the morning, lucky him. The can of spray paint was whipped out of his backpack and he started to spray an anti-Jau slogan on the side of the building.
"Hey, you there!" a deep voice called in accented basic. The young Rodian turned and swore several times to himself. A Jau street patrol was standing there, four members strong. "Get over here," the lead Jau said, obviously an officer.
In response Yashi dropped the spray can and took of running. One of the Jau chuckled to himself as his weapon coughed twice. Blood sprayed from the Rodian's back and he went down, sliding in the dirt. The other Jau in the patrol chuckled as well and they continued on their way.
High up the building, two people watched what had happened. They spoke briefly with each other then went downstairs to talk to someone they had heard about.
***
The human couple that entered the dive bar in the Yallder District were in their late 40s and look rather frightened to be there. Any sane sentient would be frightened to enter a dive bar in that district, so no one paid them any mind. The husband walked over to the bar and said quietly, "We're looking for a man we were told would be here."
The bartender, a squat humanoid with a fat face leered. "There's a lot of men in here, looking for one in particular."
"Ummm," the man glanced around nervously, "I was told to say, 'A new day comes'."
"Oh," the bartender looked more serious, "In that case, you want booth ten. Over in the corner." A jerked thumb pointed the way.
"Thanks," the man said before the couple shuffled to the booth. In the shadows they could see a pair of eyes just this side of glowing. "What," came a deep sibilant voice, "do you want?"
"A new day comes," the man said. His wife just hugged his arm.
"Oh," a scaled reptilian face leaned forward, grinning. "Don't be scared, we're here to help. Sit down."
The couple sat. "I'm not sure where we go from here," the husband said, growing a bit bolder.
"It's simple, I give you a comm. unit, and you will soon be contacted by the leader of a cell in your area."
"C-cell?"
"What, you think everybody knows everybody? No no, we work in a cell system. And we work quietly."
"Oh, ok. So that's it then?"
"That's it," the reptilian alien said, leaning back into the darkness. A second later, a tiny round comm. bead came rolling out. "Put that in your ear, almost completely undetectable."
The couple nodded and the husband picked up the bead before the scurried out the door. A click came from the dark. "51," the deep voice said.
"New Plouton Shuffle, Part 2"
By Brayton Val - former Tae'Morad Officer
Location: Segrelat Tower, New Plouton
Date: Lythe 26, 5 ABY
***
As he walked through the large main doors of the Segrelat tower, he was
immediately approached by a concierge, who seemed a little distasteful as to
the clothes Brayton wore. Perhaps he was not the type of person who usually
walked in there...
"May I help you, sir..." he started.
"Brayton Val. I'm expected at floor 54, by someone. No name."
"I see..." the concierge frowned. "Let me just check that," he asked in a
polite manner, as he went back to the front desk and checked the computer.
"Ahh yes, mister Val. I have it right here. Please go up elevator number two
to the 54th floor. I will inform them of your arrival."
Brayton gave him a nod as he walked through to the elevator. As he entered
he pressed the 54th floor button and was transported up. Once he got there,
there were two thug looking men waiting for him, though one was obviously
larger than the other.
"The boss wants to see you," the large security stated.
"Who?" Brayton asked.
"The boss," the large man pressed on.
"And who might that be?" Brayton sighted.
"The man we work for... Now come in here before I have to drag your punk ass
down to the boss!" the smaller man insisted. For someone not that large he
was certainly full of himself.
Brayton smirked and gestured for him to lead the way. He would certainly
love to kick the heck out of them both, but that was not why he had come to
the Segrelat Tower in the first place. The larger security pointed to a door
up ahead in a hall.
"The boss is right up there."
Brayton walked in through the doors he was shown. It was a nice furnished
room with large windows and a black marble floor. There were also some
columns that seemed to be made of some kind of metal, though adorned with
red wooden patterns. A man was looking through the window, his back to the
room doors.
"So listen," Brayton started. "If you want me to work for you we're going to
have to deal by my terms..."
"Are you familiar with the Goo, Mr. Val?" the boss asked as he turned
around. He was an older looking man, with grey hair and dark brown eyes that
hid under bushy eyebrows. "A children's toy that I used to love as a boy,
the Goo was a lovable creature really... Laid eggs, gave milk, and died of
sheer ecstasy when looked at with hunger. The Goo loved to be eaten, and it
could taste like any food you desire. Goo hide, cut thin, made fine leather.
Even Goo whiskers made excellent toothpicks. In essence, the Goo supplied
all of the galaxy wants! I only bring up the case of the Goo because it's
relevant to you and to why I summoned you."
"I'm sorry...who are you?" Brayton asked.
"I'm the boss."
"That doesn't cut it. Half truths are not what I came here for," Brayton
replied.
"But they are not lies either," the boss answered. "What if I told you that
I wanted to give you a hundred thousand credits?"
"You want to give me a hundred thousand credits?" Brayton asked.
"No... You want to give me a hundred thousand credits?" the boss asked.
"Nope," Brayton answered shortly.
"Then I suggest you find the man who does owe me such an amount. And do so
fast, Mister Val," the boss stated, as he turned away to look at the window.
"And who might this be?"
"The Law of retaliation... A pact was broken. Jaalib Mereel was hired by my
archenemy to murder my son, and so now he must suffer the same fate or
worse."
"And where do I fit in?" Brayton asked.
"You're the trigger man. And I don't think I have to say anything as cliché
as go to the authorities and you're a dead man..." the boss said.
"First, I am the authorities... These aliens are just a pest in the way. And
secondly, I think you just did," Brayton frowned.
"So I did..."
"Well then, I'm going to need specific detail on the target as well as this
archenemy of yours as well as names, locations, known schedules. Supply all
this, plus fifty thousand credits and we have a deal."
"Fifty thousand?! I could hire a bounty hunter for much less!"
"Not with the aliens running around and blocking all entrances and leaves of
the planet... And the price has gone up. Sixty thousand credits," Brayton
answered.
"Very well..." the boss sighted. "You drive a hard bargain, Mister Val. I
expect things to be done in a quick manner and one that does not lead up to
me or to this place. Now, will you join me for a drink?"
"I'm peculiar with whom I drink with..." Brayton answered and walked out the
door. Things were picking up and he knew what he had come for. Now to find
this wanted man and take the next step.
"Heading City Side"
By: Kalista "Klay" Volaris
Mordous Krull
Date: Lythe 26, 5 ABY
Location: Forests Around New Plouton
***
As Klay felt her body go through its basic procedures she could tell
that is was morning at last. She slowly sat up and looked around
trying to remember where she was. It took her awhile before the
memories of the crash and rescue flooded back in and she let out a
short gasp. "The floor is probably freezing,...oh well." She slowly
rolled out of bed then stretched. "God I can't see a thing, where are
my glasses." She felt around until she found them on one of the tables
in the room. She put them back on then blinked twice to allow her
eyes to focus and let out a long sigh. "And I was hoping this entire
thing was going to be a dream." She let out a long sigh the attempted
to open the door. It was still locked. "Hello!" she called out
"Hello is anyone awake out there, I would really like to get out of
this room," she called. Still no answer. Klay punched the door then
pulled back shaking her hand.
"You do realize that door is made of reinforced platisteel and hurts
when punched right?" she heard on the other end. She gave a small
stupid grin while she rubbed her hand.
"Thanks for the heads up," she snapped. "What do you want, you can
come in if you like..." she grumbled. She listened as the door
unlocked and waited for a few seconds as the bounty hunter entered
carrying what appeared to be a tray with some kind of meal on it.
"Breakfast for the prisoner...how thoughtful of you." He looked at her
then set the closest table.
"As soon as your clothes are dry you can leave ok." He pulled a few
items out from beside the doorway and set them in front of her. Her
daggers and vibrosword cane seemed to be in perfect condition but she
would have to check them out later. "But I think it would be best if
you left the flight suit and Helmet here with me, that will attract
way too much attention." She nodded then sat down and checked the
food.
"This isn't drugged or anything is it?" she asked. Mordous looked at
her and she nodded. "You're not the type to resort to that kind of
method, I've read your file, which confuses me, you're not the type to
get caught out here, what happened," she asked.
Mordous looked then
shook his head.
"Come on, It's not like I'm asking for details here
just give me a clue as to why you are here, does it have to do with
your daughter?" she asked gesturing towards a photograph of a young
girl standing next to Mordous. He nodded
"I got suckered into a bounty I had a limited time to complete, and
well If I don't complete it soon something may happen to my daughter,
I can't let that happen to her so I've got to take care of it," he said.
"It's just the targets have been impossible to track." He let out a
long sigh. "Who knew a pair of female smugglers would be so much
trouble." Klay took a sip of water and looked at him.
"Who are these so called Smugglers that seem to be giving you the
slip," she asked. "I might be able to help you....if it's just talk to
me." He looked at her. "Consider it thanks for breakfast and the rescue
last night," she stated.
He looked at her then shook his head. "All I know is their names, Brenna and Marsar, something like that, I
don't know much more than that, look If I catch them I'm going to talk
to them before I decide what I'm going to do with them."
Klay felt her
appetite fade. She knew his targets, they had saved her life twice in
the past when her usual extraction wasn't possible, she had been able
to just bum a ride with them when her cover had been compromised.
They were both friendly and had helped her without question on both
occasions. She couldn't let this guy near them they would be in
danger...however he didn't seem like that bad of a man but still he
was under pressure, lots of it.
"Never heard of them," she lied as she finished off the rest of the
meal then stood up. "I need to get going," she told him. "I better
change, I need to get going, what of mine aside from these," she asked,
picking up the weapons and setting them down again. "I could use my
clothes and boots now."
He let out a sigh then snapped his fingers.
Slowly the door opened up and a droid, one like she had never seen
before entered the room carrying her duffel from the ship. Saying
nothing the droid proceeded to set the bag on the bed then turned and
left. Klay looked at the droid then looked back to Mordous. "Thanks,
do you mind leaving the room for a few moments?" she asked.
He gave
her a puzzled glance, she shook her head and looked at him again. "Can
I change in private or do you have to watch?" Mordous quickly got the
idea then stood up and walked out, closing and locking the door behind
him. Klay let out a long sigh then walked over to the duffel bag and
opened it up. "Let's see what command packed me today."
***
Klay finished adjusting the straps on her boots then tugged on them
one last time to ensure they were tight. Once again they had given
her the usual attire she liked, the colors on the other hand were not
her favorite choices. "Dark green with silver...I need a new fashion
consultant," she told herself as she hefted her bag over one shoulder.
She double checked the straps that held her daggers in place under her
over shirt and double checked her sword cane to see that it was still
in working condition. "Well I'll be off," she stated looking back over
at the ship behind her. She nodded towards it and headed in the
direction of the city. Hopefully she would reach it before nightfall
but that didn't seem likely.
***
Mordous watched her leave and looked to Selkis. "And your sure she
didn't find the tracker," he asked the droid. It nodded and Mordous
smiled. He had to keep tabs on this girl, not only did she know where
his ship was but she also knew who he was talking about. "She will
lead me right to the Butterflies I know it, I just have to wait."
"To Defend a Simple Family"
By: Kel Deneb, Bounty Hunter
Date: Lythe 26, 5 ABY
Location: Arcadia
***
Kel looked around the place, the familiarity of it starting to implant
itself into his new memories. With the occupation going on, his own
personal history would have to be put on hold. He may have been a
murder in his previous life, he was not sure yet whether he had killed
his sister in cold blood, or if there had been a reason, he vowed to
help out the normal people on this planet in any way he could. If that
meant going alone in trying to repel these invaders, he would. Perhaps
it could help right any wrongs he may have done in the past, standing
up for those who were unable to fight back any way. He had been
observing these Jau for some time now, and their skin provided one of
the best natural barriers he had seen in recent memory.
He watched from his position above the streets in the darkness, his
fully armored person hidden from all but the most powerful of sensing.
He had figured out how to work the suit with ease, which was
apparently his. Somehow, his subconscious knew how to activate and
operate everything, making Kel an efficient killing machine. He
noticed a movement below, and zoomed his optical sensors in to have a
look as to what was going on. Apparently, a Jau patrol was taking
exception to the fact that a family was returning to their housing
unit after the curfew.
Unblinking, Kel pressed a few buttons, and was able to discern the
conversation from the background noise. He listened..
"What are you doing out at this time of night, human?" the apparent
patrol leader demanded.
"We are returning home, our speeder broke so we had to get a ride from a ca..."
"You know the rules, you should have returned earlier," he continued,
obviously looking to cause problems.
"But..."
"Are you questioning us?" the patrol leader demanded, approaching the
man who was talking. He elicited the reaction he wanted, the man
shrinking away from the imposing figure.
"N...no," he said, obviously comprehending what may happen to him for
talking back to the Jau patrol.
The Jau felt like being a bit mean, so backhanded the man hard,
causing him to fly backwards with the force of the impact. The man's
daughter let a yelp out, while her mom held her close, fearing what
may happen.
At this point, Kel decided it was time to act. He leapt off the
building, enjoying the free falling sensation that it elicited. About
20 meters above the street, the wind whistling past, he fired the jets
on his backpack, coming to an easy landing near the group. "Is there a
problem here?" he asked, the voice-coder easily masking his identity.
"Who the hell are you?" one of the Jau patrol members asked, raising
his fire arm, pointing it to Kel.
"A simple observer who thinks you are overreacting to this situation.
These kind people apologized, and I'm sure it won't happen again," Kel
said calmly.
"You're damn right it won't, especially since we plan on taking this
person into custody," the leader said, storming over to Kel and
staring at him, his face inches from Kel's mask. He noticed that the
armored being didn't even flinch.
"I see, probably on some sort of drummed up charges. I don't think I
can allow that to happen," he added.
"And you can join him," the leader added, grabbing Kel by the
shoulder. Kel reacted swiftly, releasing a vibroblade implanted in the
gauntlet of his suit, and burying it into the Jau's face, causing what
remained of it to stagger backwards and fall, a gaping hole left in
place of one of its eyes.
The remaining two Jau opened fire with their dart weapons, which
easily were deflected by Kel's armor. It had, after all, been designed
to withstand light sabre combat, so mere simple weapons were not a
match for its protective plating. Kel calmly turned, and activated
another gizmo he had found on his suit, a rocket launcher. Aiming it
at the nearest of the two, he left fly with high impact rockets,
obliterating the Jau's protective scales, and piercing its internal
organs. Kel turned to the other. "You may flee if you wish."
The Jau thought for a moment, then quickly vacated the area, obviously
overmatched at this fight. He would report to his superiors about this
armored foe that had come from no where.
Kel turned to the cowering family. "Return to your home. They did not
get your names, so you should be safe for now."
"Who are you?" the man asked as he stood up, in awe for now at the
person who had just saved them.
"Someone who would like to make things right in the world," Kel said,
and walked off into one of the dark alleys.
"Arrival and Back Alley Brawls"
By: Kalista Volaris - New Republic Intelligence Agent
Date: Lythe 26, 5 ABY
Location: Yemol District - New Plouton
***
Klay rubbed her eyes as the transport craft hovered along the skyways
towards the terminal. It had taken her a little longer to get into the
city than she had expected but thankfully she hadn't been spotted by
the Jau yet. However on a minus note no one she had come across
seemed to want to tell her what the hell had happened on this world,
at least not in too much detail. "Probably scared," she muttered as
she put her glasses back on. As the shuttle neared the ground she had
four main objectives going through her head, number one -find a place
to call home for the time being, two - take a shower, she hadn't had
one in two days, three - get some kind of drink to chill her nerves
and four - find the Jade butterfly and tell them about Mordous.
However objective number 3 seemed to be nagging at her enough to turn
into number one.
"Driver. Hey driver can you tell me the way to the
nearest place to get a drink?" she asked. The shuttle pilot gave her
a funny look then pointed straight at a small outdoor cantina looking
place.
"Not the best place but its prices are decent, and speaking of
price...that will be 45 credits for the transport fee."
Klay nodded
then withdrew the credit disk that had been issued to her via rebel
command, there were enough credits on that disk to make sure she
didn't have scrounge for credits anytime soon. She waited as the
driver swiped the disk, taking his fee then took back her disk and
headed for the cantina watching her surroundings carefully. The bar
in question was right down through an alley way and looked to be
clear.
"Well this is...strange but everything has been ever since I've
arrived." She continued to head down the alleyway but felt something
creeping up behind her. She slowly turned around and spotted a trio
of thugs approaching her from behind. "OK keep cool, Klay they're
definitely following you but they're not Jau so this might just be a
coincidence."
As she took a few more steps forward she spotted a fairly
large Trandosian blocking her path. "Go figure," she uttered as she
stopped moving and dropped her bag on the ground. She slowly turned
toward the three behind her and assessed the threat. "Three in front
one behind. Typical odds." She pulled a small hair tie out of her
pocket and quickly tied her hair in a fashion so that it wouldn't get
in her face if she had to fight. Slowly the three approached her from
behind allowing her to get a better look at them, a Rodian and a pair
of humans. One of the humans, a thug who looked to be on his last
legs.
"Well little girl you've got a serious problem," the thug stated. Klay
adjusted her grip on her sword cane and set it so the safety lock was
off.
"I don't know why, I'm just walking through nothing more," she stated
as she got into a minor defensive stance keeping a firm grip on the
sword handle. She wasn't going to pull it unless she had to. The
thug moved closer to her and smiled at her showing his disgusting
yellow teeth. She felt a little disgusted but kept the comments to
herself, not wanting to provoke them anymore.
"This is our alleyway...in order to pass you must pay a toll, say
10000 credits." The thug closed in on her taking three steps closer to
her. "However if you can't pay in credits," he whispered moving within
arm's reach of her and putting a hand close to her cheek. "I think us
humans can work something out, what do you say?"
She gave him a small
mocking smile then shoved the point of the sword cane into his gut.
The man reeled back in pain and turned to face her. "Or we could beat
the payment out of you...and then some."
Klay adjusted her stance to
prepare for attack.
"I'd like to see you back that up," she laughed. Before she could move
she felt something grab her from behind putting her into a choke hold,
lifting her off the ground. She struggled vainly against the trendo's
iron grip. "Damn it let me go!!!" she coughed as she tried to break
free. The Rodian and one of the humans attempted to her restrain her
legs as she struggled against them.
"Hold her, she is nothing more than a civilian with a fancy walking
stick."
Klay gave a little smile then brought both legs up and kicked
forward hard connecting with the two thugs in front of her sending
them back sprawling on the ground. In the confusion Klay threw her
head back hard, catching the Trandosian in the nose, causing him to drop
her and reel back in pain. Klay added to the trando's pain by
executing a spinning back kick into its midsection causing it to
reel back in pain and collapse. Klay paused for a moment then rubbed
the back of her head.
"Well that was easy," she stated as she looked at the downed trando
then looked to the three others. She spun the sword cane then dropped
into a standard low attack stance allowing the weapon to brace itself
across her shoulders. "Well are we going for a round two?" she asked.
The leader of the group looked at the downed alien then looked to
her. He quickly shoved the guy forward and gestured to her.
"Get her, she's only one woman." The head thug shoved rodian towards.
The Rodian approached her nervously and moved in for an attack. Klay
evaded his strike the added in her own strike slamming the hard metal
end into the base of the Rodian's skull knocking him senseless. She
spun around in time to see the other man letting loose with a hard
right catching her in the side of her head, causing her to fall to the
ground. Her cane stumbled out of her grasp as did her glasses from
her face.
"She's down," the second stated as he grabbed her, trying to immobilize
her so the other thug could get his hands on her. She twisted and
turned her body attempting to wrestle free from his vice like grip but
there was no luck. "I'm going to slam her into the wall, that should
take the fight out of this bitch."
Klay's mind was racing, since she
couldn't find her glasses she could hardly see, let alone fight back.
She could see a dark blur growing closer and figured that it had to
be the wall. With seconds remaining she kicked her legs forward
making hard contact with the wall. She pushed off hard then threw her
body back as hard as possible. Using the momentum she broke free of
the man grip landing on her feet. Before the man could react she let
loose with a reckless round house causing both her and the man to
collapse to the ground. Klay scrambled to her feet searching for the
sword cane as she moved. The last man could easily take her in her
current state if she didn't find some way to defend herself. After a
second she found her weapon and turned to face the man. Though she
couldn't make out details on the guy but could easily see his outline
as it blocked out the light behind him.
"Listen pal, you have a chance to get out of here, you don't want to
try my patience." The thug let out a little laugh then withdrew
something.
"Lady I'm going to cut you to pieces," Klay smiled then withdrew the
vibrosword from its sheath. The thug dropped his dagger then ran.
Klay smiled then crouched down to check the ground for her glasses.
After a few seconds she found them. She cleaned them off them put
them back on. Amazingly there was no damage. "Ok," she uttered as she
resheathed the sword. "Now it's time to get that drink," she muttered
retrieving her bag and heading away from the alley way.
"Time to Heal Fully"
by Chun Li - Escort Pilot
and Vincenzo Lapenta - Neurosurgeon
Location: New Plouton Institute for Neuroscience
Date: Lythe 26, 5 ABY
***
Li was sitting in a waiting room of the New Plouton Institute of Neuroscience. She had gotten back to Chimaeria for some supplies to get her base operational and also to get her arm fully fixed. While she could do most things, she still didn't have full motor control over it.
"Dr. Lapenta will see you now, Miss Li," a nurse said as she entered the room. Li stood up and followed her into the doctor's office.
Vincenzo was behind his desk, but he stood up when Li entered.
"Welcome, Miss Li," he said, "please have a seat and explain what's wrong."
"Thank you," Li said, sitting down, "About three months ago my fighter was hit in a space fight. Due to the shorts it experienced I got some electricity in me as well, which gave an effect a bit like being stunned. For some reason I don't know my arm was severely affected and I couldn't use it. an Two-onebee droid managed to give me back 80% of usage, but the facilities at that moment were not good enough to give full recovery. Which is why I'm here now."
"I see," Vincenzo said, "You have a list of what the two-onebee has done?"
"No," Li said, "but it involved a Zirko XHG-34 machine. I've seen that machine for hours on end."
"Okay," Vincenzo said, doing a quick search on that type of machine on his terminal.
"I have it here," he said, "it's an older machine, but still good. Okay, let's start an examination."
He did a scan, drew some blood and also let her do some exercises with the arm while he pressed on certain points.
"There is indeed some nerve damage," Vincenzo said, "but nothing we can't fix though. As there's already much done, it will require two treatment courses with a two week gap."
"Can't it go faster," Li asked.
"Unfortunately not," Vincenzo said, "repairing neurological damage of this kind is not difficult, it just takes some time."
Li shrugged. There clearly was nothing she could do about it, and she had almost full use of her arm anyway.
"Okay, when can we start," she asked the doctor.
"How about tomorrow," Vincenzo said, "I'll need some time to set it all up, so let's say tomorrow at 14.00."
"Okay," Li said, "I'll be there."
Saying goodbye, Li walked out, going back to her Drogen apartment. Time to get some planning done to get back at Rylaa for trying to kill her. First she put everything she had on what she had to do for him on a datapad. This also included the location of the turbolift to his private apartment on Drogen which Li had used the one and only time she had met him. All the information would be send to a lawyer for safe keeping. If she didn't call in regularly it would be distributed according to a prefixed schedule.
"Unexpected Guests"
By: Brenna Hennely - Smuggler
Date: Lythe 26, 5 ABY
Location: Yemol District New Plouton, Brenna's Apartment
***
It was late late afternoon when Brenna finally arrived. As she
approached the building something didn't seem right. Brenna hadn't
been back to her place to pick up anything in weeks and was slightly
worried but she knew she would be fine, Mar on the other had was
paranoid and swore that she wouldn't leave the room without Republic
Issue body armor. Brenna knew the guy wasn't crazy enough to try
anything out in the open so she knew she would be fine. All at once
however she noticed a lot of activity in the lobby.
"Maybe I should
just turn around before...." Before she could turn and walk away the
owner of the apartment complex pointed in her direction.
"That's the person I leased the apartment too, talk to her I have no
clue what happened up there." Brenna froze in her tracks then spotted
a pair of Jau moving in on either side, giving her two choices.
Either she could run for the nearest shuttle but then the Jau would
probably find some kind fake reason to track and arrest her, or she
could go with them and still get arrested but it would show that she
was cooperative and they might let her go....at least she hoped, she
couldn't handle a labor camp. Slowly the Jau approached her and looked
her over.
"Human, are you Brenna Hennely."
She swallowed and nodded at them.
"What's the problem?" she asked. She felt a vice like grip on one of
her arms and felt the Jau dragging her back towards the building.
"Hey, hey take it easy I'm willing to cooperate no need for the harsh
treatment."
As they reentered the building they shoved her forward
causing her to stumble and fall to the floor. She landed on the
ground hard knocking the wind out of her. She slowly picked herself
up and stood facing yet another one of the Invaders. This was
starting to look bad.
"Um, hi, how can I help you?" she asked.
The Jau
glared at her and then gestured for her to follow. Not wanting to be
treated like luggage again she followed behind the Jau who seemed to
be in charge. As she followed him up the stairway he started to speak
in her direction.
"You have a father with the Empire do you not."
Brenna swallowed hard. "Unfortunately, but we don't talk."
The Jau did respond to that comment
just kept going. Brenna was now officially worried, if these guys
didn't like the Empire, there was no telling what they would do to the
daughter of a Captain in the Imperial Navy.
"And you run a cargo hauler am I right?"
Brenna nodded.
"Interesting
line of work...you own a ship yet you lease a apartment here, Explain
yourself."
Brenna swallowed again then spoke. "Though I doubt you have to worry about it, some days I just get sick
of staying on my ship and I like the real household feel some days, is
that a crime."
The Jau said nothing again only walked down the hallway
that Brenna's apartment was located on. There was a strange scent in
the air but she ignored it, for all she knew it was the Jau. As she
approached the door to her apartment her eyes went wide. There were a
pair of bodies laying on her floor, rotting away with time.
"Wha...what.....wha what happened here?" she asked. The Jau officer
looked back at her and glared.
"You tell me, this is your apartment, why are these men dead."
Brenna
felt all color from her face drain as she heard those words. There
translation was simple, even if you didn't know anything or do
anything they would place the crime one you. She looked around hoping
to find some means of escape, but with the Jau blocking the escape
routes she couldn't make a move.
"I really don't know," she insisted trying to avoid incriminating
herself. "I haven't been back here in..." The Jau cut her off as she
circled in front of her.
"At least three weeks, care to explain that?"
She swallowed hard again
then nodded. "Yeah actually I can, with all the insanity that has been going on
since your inva...I mean your arrival I was afraid that someone
might attempt to steal my ship and leave the planet, possibly getting
it destroyed in the process." She coughed then looked around, was the
smell of this place not getting to anyone else or something. "So my
copilot and I decided to spend out time on our ship...until things
calm down." She looked at the Jau that surrounded her and gave them an
uneasy smile. "Is that too hard to believe."
The Jau said nothing to
ease her tension just looked at one of the bodies.
"Have you ever used a Slug thrower?"
Brenna shook her head right away. "I have a thing against killing people, even in self defense, why do
you ask these questions anyhow, I've been very cooperative and forgive
me if I sound rude but I deserve a answer here."
Two of the Jau raised
there weapons to cover her and Brenna froze... "Unless that is you
don't know either, I mean with all the goings on right now it's hard
to...."
The Jau who had been asking questions lifted his hand causing
Brenna to stop talking and both of guards to lower there weapons.
"That's enough, take what you came here for and leave...now."
Brenna
didn't argue, she grabbed Mar's backpack and a few other items that
belonged to the two of them and headed out. She made a b-line for the
nearest shuttle and climbed in. "The Starport Hangers.....now," she
demanded.
As she left the Jau officer looked at his two men. "Make sure she is
watched, there is something about her story I do not trust. If she has
anything to do with that unknown fighter, I want to know," he ordered.
Both guards followed and the Jau checked the bodies once more, whoever
killed these men had been after the girl, he was sure of it.
"Tusken Hermit"
By Jeron Kes-Allia
Location: Tae'Sollar Desert
Date: Lythe 26, 5 ABY
***
Three months had passed since Jeron had found himself alone. The aliens
known as Jau had invaded and Master Gideon Kherris had instructed Jeron to
be cautious at all times, but most especially when they went into contact
with civilization. And yet, Jeron had gone for a simple morning run once and
had come back to their encampment only to find that Master Kherris was gone.
At first, Jeron thought that perhaps the Jedi Master had gone on an errand
or perhaps to get more supplies, even though they were stacked for quite a
while. But he had not returned by the end of the day, nor the day after. Not
sure what had happened, Jeron wondered whether Master Kherris was testing
him, so he decided to keep his training schedule and wait for Kherris' safe
return.
But three months had passed, and the Jedi Master had not returned, nor given
any signs of his well being. Even when Jeron went into the city to get some
more supplies, he saw no evidence of Jedi or that which could imply that his
master had been caught by the Jau. He was, however, surprised to find that
Thanatos was not mostly serving as a complex of sorts for the labor camps
with mines where the aliens sent those who opposed them. Exactly who they
sent in and what they extracted, Jeron did not know. But he kept mindful not
to attract too much attention, just like his master had instructed him to
be.
Back in the Tae'Sollar desert, Jeron found peace and quiet. Not even the Jau
seemed interested in that particular part of the planet, and others deemed
it uninhabitable, so Jeron had it mostly to himself, if not for a Podrace
every once in a while. Paying no attention to those who came to race, Jeron
spent his days practicing with his training saber, every time trying to
raise the level in the training drone, and sometimes trying to go against
two at the same time. He also improved his physical condition so he would be
faster and stronger, and often meditated. He was beginning to feel a lot
more comfortable with lifting large heavy objects with the aid of the Force.
Always wearing a mix between his Tusken attire and the Jedi robes, Jeron
always said a Tusken prayer by the end of the day. It was a ritual to ask
for safe passage for those who were out of camp. Jeron did it not because he
believed, but because it was a way of remembering the Jedi scattered across
the planet, while in hiding.
He was, after all, alone and living the life of a hermit.
"Big Trouble is Easy to Find"
By: Titus Moss
Klaista Volaris
Date: Lythe 26, 5 ABY
Location: Yemol District - New Plouton
***
Titus' eyes open as he looked around he notice that the room was dark
expect for where he was, a light shone down on him, "Well, it nice to
see you awake."
Titus looked up as a face appeared out of the darkness, "Who are you?"
"I'm just a man," he replied, "someone that about to find out who you
are. Now tell me who you work for?"
Titus looked at him and replied, "I'm just a pilot."
Titus flew back as he was hit in the face, he thought he saw stars
going around his eye. The Nameless man said as he picked Moss up, "Mr.
Moss, your not any pilot, are you."
Titus didn't say anything as he was hit again.
Outside Klay could heard something that didn't sound right. She had
caught the tailwind of some kind of conversation but couldn't make out
the rest of it, but she could swear she heard voices coming from one
of the walls. "Hmm this doesn't seem right," she stated as she knocked
on wall next to her
.it was fake. Slowly she pushed against it. The
wall gave way into was appeared to be some kind of hallway. "This is
too good to pass up, I better check it out," she told herself moving
farther in.
The Dark Man was suddenly losing his grip as he yelled, "Who are you,
Mr. Titus."
Titus tasted blood in his mouth as he spat on the floor, "Go to the sun."
Klay had caught the last few comments that had been stated in the
other room then pulled back. "I have to get help, this isn't my
problem but
." She heard the sound of a blaster powering up and turned
around. As she turned she found herself starring right down the
barrel of a heavy blaster pistol. The man on the other side smiled at
her.
"Well looked what the Kath hound dragged in," the man stated as she
grabbed her by her turtle neck's collar. "What are you doing here?"
he demanded. Klay gave him a nervous little smile then looked around.
She couldn't hit him with her cane and hope to enough damage to knock
him out, however she couldn't easily talk her way out of it either.
"I was umm
.site seeing," she joked. The man shoved the barrel of the
blaster against her stomach and smiled.
"Well you can't miss this land mark now can you." With that the man
spun her around and grabbed the back of her over shirt, shoving her
through the door into the room where the interrogation was taking
place. She stumbled and fell, hitting the ground hard.
"Oww, that was unnecessary." She looked over at the man in the chair
and shook her head. "Listen I can forget I was here I swear," she
insisted. The man who had dragged her in the room tossed her bag and
cane into a corner then kicked her hard in the stomach.
Titus looked up as another person enter the room this time with a
hostage, Titus looked at the Dark Man who smiled, "Now who are you."
Titus knew his mission but mission be damned, "I'm Commander Titus
Moss, Commander of the 8th Gold Wing, New Republic."
Klay looked back up at him and her eyes went wide. "Uh oh," she
coughed as she looked back at there situation. The man who brought
her slowly approached picking up Klay's sword cane
"Judging by the tech so is she, I've only ever seen one of these," he
said pulling the cane from its location and withdrawing the sword
from it. "Once before, and if I recall from my imperial days, it was
carried by a female Rebel Operative." He turned his face showing the
scar that started down his temple to his cheek. "Look familiar?"
Klay
swallowed again then looked around. "Maybe I should add one to your
face." She started to scramble back then bumped up against the chair
they were keeping Moss in. As the two men started to discuss
something she looked over at him and spoke, quiet enough so that they
couldn't hear her.
"Fancy meeting you here," she stated, "any idea how to get out of this mess?"
Titus looked at her and smiled, "I'm a pilot, but I'm also an agent,
my shirt has a blaster inside it."
Titus looked over at them as she grabbed the blaster, he had made a
point to hid some of his gear and some of the body fat on him was fake
with his gear inside it.
She gave him a nervous grin as she removed the blaster then looked
at it, "I'm a crappy shot, hold one, let me see if I can cut you
loose." She slowly reached up into her over shirt and removed one of
her eagle daggers from it, moving towards the restraints she looked at
him. "Don't move, I may miss."
Titus moved over a bit and nodded to her, after she cut him loose the
two agents turned around. Titus took the bigger of the two going into
an unarmed combat stance. Klay withdrew her second dagger and got into
a low defensive stance as the other thug approached her. The man
withdrew the sword from its sheath and approached her.
"I'm going to cut you to ribbons little girl what do you say."
She gave
a nervous smile then looked around. "I say you're crazy," she stated waiting for his attack
Titus ducked as the Dark Man took a swing, as he came back up he
punched him in the jaw and watched him step back. Titus did a spin
kick as he walked forward, he heard a cracking sound as he turned
around he looked at the other agent.
Klay ducked a second reckless swing then spun blocking another enemy
attack. "This is not what I wanted to do this morning!" she yelled as
she stumbled back from the impact as the blades kissed. Klay regained
her footing and shook her head. "You're going to owe me big for saving
your sorry
" she ducked as the man swung at her again.
Titus looked at her and decide to help her out he went to the floor
and did a swing kick bring the second agent to the floor, before he
could get up, Titus placed his foot on his chest, "How big?"
Klay retrieved a blaster from its resting place and leveled it at the
downed man firing twice then rotated to the other man and fired once.
She tossed Titus the blaster then picked up her sword cane. "I'll tell
you when we get out of here, there bound to wake up sooner or later
and I don't think killing them is the best idea," she insisted.
Titus nodded to her as he followed her, once outside in the shadows he
leveled his blaster at her, "Who are you?"
Klay slowly looked back at him and shook her head. "You're going to
shoot me, after what I just did for you back there?" she demanded.
Titus didn't move at all as he replied, "Ma'am, that could have been a
set up, so who are you truthfully, because I have a job to do."
"I've already risked my cover enough by getting pulled into your
little mess," she said keeping her hands away from her daggers and
keeping the sword cane locked. He probably reset his blaster to kill
setting. "I can't and I wish I could tell you but were on the same
side here."
Titus looked at her before replying, "Well allow to tell you who I am,
"Command Titus Moss, New Republic Fighter Command."
Klay shook her head. "I know who you are, I heard your name when they
were beating you senseless." She commented, "If you get my name, and
they get you again I'm as good as dead because it seems you can't hold
information." She wished something would get her out of this mess. "So
you have two choices, leave me alone or see if you can shoot a woman
with glasses." She watched him for a reaction but got no response, that
scared her.
Titus looked at her and holstered his weapons, "Ma'am, are there any
Jedi on this world?"
She had never heard that word before in all her time with the alliance
or on Chandrilla for that matter "Jedi? What's that?" she asked. All
at once she heard the sound of something metal bouncing against the
ground. She glanced down in time to see it then covered her eyes as it
detonated filling the ally with light.
Titus cover his eyes as the light filled the alley, after it ended he
looked around for her and gave up as he started walking toward the
street.
Klay hugged her bag close to her chest as he left, breathing slowly so
she wouldn't attract his attention. After he was completely out of
sight she let out a long breath then exited her hiding spot. "That's
twice I've been saved
who threw that
?" she shook her head. "To the
cantina
.I need a drink
.now."
"New Alliances, Part 1"
By: Kel Denab, Rylaa Lyssander
Date: Lythe 26, 5 ABY
Location: New Plouton
***
Kel let out a slight sigh, sitting at a bar alone. He had been doing
the vigilante bit for a few days now it seemed, but was barely making
a dent in any of the patrols. It almost seemed like they were daring
him to continue his attacks. Perhaps these Jau people were starting to
learn his tactics, and would soon be able to counter them. If that day
came, it would definitely spell the end of his personal attack against
these foes from space.
The stool next to him scraped against the badly kept duracrete floor
of the bar and a reedy man wearing a non-descript jumpsuit slip into
it. The man had a tousled mop of brown hair and average brown eyes. He
had what could be called a "face-shaped face" and could probably slip
into any crowd in the universe and simply vanish. "Give me a
Thunderstroke '65," he said to the bartender in a soft tenor. His voice
had the tight control noticeable only in singers and public speakers.
"You know you are a hard man to kind, Kel."
"Evening," Kel said to the man, his rough gravelly voice a stark
contrast to the man who was beside him. "Quite the past few days isn't
it?" he added, taking a drink of his plain beer.
"Aye," the man says, "It has been. What with this armored vigilante
going around annoying the Jau and all." His drink arrived, a bubbling
blue concoction that appeared to be trying to climb out of the glass
to attack something. The man took a sip. "Have you heard the latest
decree from the aliens, by the way?"
"No, I haven't," Kel told the man. He smiled inwardly, so he was
being noticed by people. At least, hopefully, it gave the populace
some hope. "What have they said?"
"For every Jau attacked, five people will be chosen at random and sent
to those mines out in the desert. For every one killed, five people
will be executed." The man took another drink of his brew and grimaced
slightly. "Tastes a bit like boiled pomegranates."
Kel actually had not heard that one yet. Had he known, he might have
found another way to resist. "I see.. bit brutal isn't it?" he told
the man. "Seems to me that it should be a signal that these aren't
exactly passive people here to help out..." he said, not really caring
if this man sitting next to him was an informant. If he was, Kel would
just eliminate him later.
The man and the bartender shared a look for a brief moment before the
bartender turned and walked away to the other side of the bar. "There
is a growing group of people that agree with you, Kel, and the ones
who are leading it have noticed your activities."
"Whoa, you know my name, and what I've been doing?" Kel said,
immediately going on his guard. "You need to start talking fast..."
The man turn and smiled at Kel. The smile didn't reach his eyes.
"Don't be so hasty, Kel, we just want to talk, that's all." He turned
back to his drink. "You see we need a man like you, more importantly
we need the capabilities that your armor provides."
"You mean you need someone who can go toe to toe with the Jau, and
live to tell about it," Kel snorted, taking a drink of his beer. "So
who is this group? And, if people die when I kill a Jau, isn't that
counter productive in the eyes of the populace?"
"Bingo," the man replied, shooting a finger at Kel. "And we don't need
you to kill Jau, just yet. For the time being passive resistance is
best. Graffiti, flyers, random desecration, that sort of thing." He
leaned back in the barstool and gave Kel a calculating look. "Of
course, if aren't interested I can make sure that you won't be bothered
again... ever." The emphasis placed on the last word told Kel
truckloads about the finality of the statement.
"So, I can tell that this is a 'join us or you won't be heard from
again' type of proposition. Seeing as I have no where else to go, why
the hell not," he said, drinking his beer again. "And defacing doesn't
seem to require the need of a guy in a suit that can walk up to a Jau
and punch him, and live to tell about it.."
"Well no," the man shrugged, "that's not what we need you for. That
can be done by the rabble that grows each passing day. No, my friend,
you will be working with a very... err, select group of individuals."
He slapped down a couple of credit chips on the bar then reached a
hand out to Kel. "I'm sure we will talk again, Kel, and you will be
hearing from my associates soon." His entire manner of speech had
changed, as had his body language. The man's eyes met Kel's, then he
pointedly looked over Kel's shoulder towards the entrance of the bar.
"I look forward to the next meeting," Kel said, and turned his head
slightly to see what the other man was looking at, after shaking his
hand.
Kel feel something cold and metallic in the man's hand and he quickly
realizes it's a small communicator. He palms it as he turns to look at
the door. A pair of hulking Jau soldiers stand there, regarding the
thin clientele. "We are looking for a man named Najub Doors," the
tallest of the two said. The bartender spat on the floor.
"That bastard ain't welcome here no more," he told the aliens. "He
owes me almost 400 credits and I says to him that if he can't pay, he
ain't allowed back."
"Good day to you, Kel," the man said one more time before walking
towards the aliens. They spared him only a glance and then looked back
towards the bartender. "We don't believe you," the Jau growled.
Kel raised an eyebrow, and sat back down at the bar, taking a drink.
He wondered how this situation would play out.
"Well that's too bad," the bartender said. "You can search the bar if
you like, even the back room, but you won't find him here. If you're
really looking for him try down the street at the 'Wayside', though he
probably owes as much on his tab over there."
The Jau grunted then tried and stare down the bartender who stared back.
Surprisingly, the Jau backed down first. "Very well, we will check at
the 'Wayside', but we better not catch you lying to us." They both turned
and left and a collective gasp was heard from the patrons holding
their breaths. The bartender plopped down another beer in
front of Kel as well as a small plate of nachos.
"It's on the house," he said before turning to help another customer.
"Thanks," Kel said. God he hated the Jau... they were brutal and
without any sense of honor. He took another drink, and decided what to
do next.. probably wait for a call on this communication device.
Within minutes the communicator vibrated.
Kel jumped slightly, and picked up the comm device, putting it in his
ear. He activated it, and listened for whomever was on the other end
to say something. They would know he had activated the link.
"Go out the back door of the cantina and turn right. You should see a
metal door on the other side of the alley leading into the warehouse
there. Go inside and speak to nobody, they will deny your existence
anyway. In the center of the warehouse you find a small service
elevator leading down the lower storage levels. Activate the lift and
when you reach the bottom you will be further contacted." The
communicator shut off then fizzled slightly. The air smelled like
burning electronics.
Kel calmly took the comm out of his ear, and slipped it into his
pocket. He did as he was instructed, making sure there was no patrols
around while he did this. Kel walked in, and found the elevator just
as he had been told, and activated the elevator. He wondered what he
had gotten into, exactly...
A small faded company logo could be seen above the warehouse and
inside there was a massive bustle of activity as people moved boxes
and crates from shelf to shelf and into waiting trucks. Nobody even
glanced in his direction as the elevator took him to the lower level.
The air grew chilly as the lift descended lower, eventually arriving
at and passing the lower warehouse. It continued until the lift
stopped deep below the planet's surface.
"New Alliances, Part 2"
By: Kel Denab
Rylaa Lyssander
Date: Lythe 26, 5 ABY
Location: New Plouton
***
The air smelled stale and faintly of mold. In the dim light provided
by several wirecage-wrapped glowbulbs Kel could just make out a figure
standing there, waiting for him. He was dressed in a dark cloth wrap
and a veil covered his face except for his eyes, which glittered gold.
"Welcome, Mr. Deneb," the figure spoke in a rich bass. His accent gave
an exotic lilt to the language.
"Wow, you guys certainly know a lot about me," he said, keeping
guarded that he barely knew himself. "Looks like I came to the right
place."
"When we want to know about someone, Mr. Deneb, we like to know as
much as possible." He extended a hand clothed in a slick black glove.
Several wires and a couple of thin tubes ran from the top of the glove
and up into the sleeve of the man's robe. "I'm called Rashid, and if
you would follow me, there is someone who would like to meet you."
Kel smirked, and went ahead of the person who introduced himself. It
appeared this man was partly cybernetic, or was a droid, one of the
two. "Well, I look forward to meeting whomever this is."
"Mr. Deneb you do not want to do that," the man said. He moved with a
catlike grace and his footsteps made no sound. It should have been a
sin that anyone as tall as he should be able to move with so much
stealth. "The tunnels that we are in are very much like a maze and it
would be very easy for you to get lost. Not to mention, fall prey to
the defenses we have set up."
"Oh, lovely..." Kel said, falling into step behind the cloaked greeter.
"Keeps you safe, doesn't it?"
"Well we have yet to test it," Rashid explained. "So we're not
actually sure if everything will work the way it is supposed to." The
tunnels are like a warren as the veiled man leads Kel around numerous
turns and curves until he feels as though he as no idea where he is at
all. Piping of all sizes and colors jut from the walls and ceiling,
sometimes running for several lengths of tunnel and other times
practically curving in on themselves.
"Well, now that I'm fully lost, I hope you can get me out of here,"
Kel said, joking slightly. "And I guess you could say it's a good
thing you haven't tested them yet," he added as they approached what
appeared to be the end.
They came to a pair of reinforced doors. As the echoes of their
footsteps died away Kel could hear the soft whirrr of a camera in
one of the corners. Rashid seemed to hesitate for a brief moment
before walking over and banging on the doors twice. One of them
creaked open on hinges worn with rust and age and a cowled figure
popped his head out. Kel's guide and the doorman spoke in hushed tones
before Rashid turned and gestured towards the open doorway. "Please,
enter," he said.
"Nice place," he said, stepping through the doorway into whatever
waited on the other side for him.
"It suits our needs," Rashid said, following Kel inside. The room they
entered looked as though it had once been an office for whatever
workers used to be down in these tunnels. It had since been converted
into a kind operations center with a bank of large computer consoles
covered in monitors, buttons and lights on one side and a large
cork board covered in flimsisheets of detailed maps of the underground.
The center of the room was dominated by a large grey table with the
black bulge of a holoprojector in the middle. Seated at the table,
smoking a thick cigar, was a short fat human with long greasy looking
hair and a thing oiled mustache. He was going over something on a
small red datapad he held and was talking to someone behind him.
It was then that Kel noticed the massive shadow behind the fat man
was not, in fact, some sort of vehicle, but a living creature. A
living creature wearing ceramaplas plates over what appeared to be
gleaming black scales. The reason his initial glance had first missed
the Barabel, because that's what it could only be, was that nothing
should ever be that big and hidden in the shadows. The fat man finally
looked at and noticed Kel and his guide. "Ah, Rashid and Mr. Deneb,
excellent," the fat man said with a rich vibrant voice practically
dripping with charm.
Kel nodded his head slightly, looking at the man. Quite the help he
had surrounding him. "I assume you must be the leader of this group I
was 'invited' to join?" Kel asked, getting straight to the point.
"For the time being, yes," the fat man replied with a smile. "My
name's Rylaa Lyssander, and I'm glad you could join us." He threw out
his hands, "This is our little home away from home, so to speak, and
where we have begun planning our operations. We're small, for now, but
people are flocking to us daily. Us course certain people, like
yourself, require special attention and must be approached rather than
seeking one of the recruiters I have around the poorer districts."
"Well, I tend to get peoples' attention when I act," Kel said with a
slight smirk. "Perhaps in the wrong way, but maybe it was giving
people some hope."
"It was, it was," Rylaa said, sitting down once more, "and that's one
of the reason we approached you. One of my plans, Mr. Deneb, is for
you to be our poster child, so to speak. Our masked vigilante!
Striking from the shadows and poking a stick in the eye of the Jau!"
"Really?" Kel said, raising an eyebrow. "First, if you figured out who
I was, what's stopping the Jau from figuring that out. And secondly,
if I keep poking a Jau, they just kill people I heard. That's not
exactly a great cause for freedom, is it?"
"You are missing my point there Mr. Deneb, poking at the Jau and
attacking the Jau are two different things. And no, the Jau won't
possibly know who you are because they have nowhere near the
intelligence resources at their that I do. Besides, we'll give you a
new name, something heroic that the people can look up to and whisper
in their homes. No offense but Kel Deneb just seems too... grim."
Rylaa stood suddenly, tossing the datapad he had been holding across
the table to Kel. "The type of operations I'm planning against the Jau
for the moment if more like interrupting their infrastructure than
anything else. Jau deaths will result in citizen deaths and that is
something that I simply do not want to see. Most of the attacks will
be carried out at night, or early hours of the day, when few people
will be present."
"I see," he said, picking up the datapad. "Mining installations, droid
convoys, these are all easily overcome," Kel said, scanning the
datapad. "And grim? Thanks. I'm going to be a pop icon now..." he said
with a snort.
"It's better than being a nobody, isn't it Mr. Deneb? Who knows, when
this business is all said and done and we reveal your true face, there
might just be somebody out there who can help you with your memory
problem."
Kel's head snapped up, and looked at him. "How the hell do you know
about that, and start talking...now," he said. Only three people knew of
that, himself being one of them.
Rylaa simply stroked his moustache. "I have my ways and my
connections. There is no secret so absolute that nobody but yourself
and a few others know about it, Mr. Deneb. A secret is safe between
you and one other person, probably, but it is lost when you add a
third."
Kel scowled a little. "No wonder you came to me. What better person
for a cover than someone who has no memory," he said with a slight
smirk. "I applaud your abilities of organizing and recruiting, Mr.
Lyssander."
"Exactly!" Rylaa exclaimed, shooting a finger at Kel. "I'm glad you
understand. And I will take that as a compliment as well." He snapped
his fingers and the huge Barabel behind him picked up a small box from
the floor and placed it on the table. It too was slid over to Kel.
"Take that, inside you will find various things to aid you. I've heard
the Jau are practically impervious to energy attacks so inside
you'll find an electronic slugthrower that I believe you will enjoy.
You'll also find a small commbead that when placed in your ear in
practically undetectable."
Kel picked up the box, and opened it. He pulled out the commbead and
placed it in his ear, and pocketed the slugthrower. "Are you saying my
rockets are too messy?" he said with a smirk. "And yes, they are
impervious to blaster shots, it's why I stopped employing the blasters
on my suit. So, what sort of name are you going to give me, anyway?
And do you have a place to stay? My normal apartment isn't safe."
"Well actually we haven't thought of a name yet, thought I've got some
people working it." Rylaa grinned. The Barabel leaned down and
whispered something into his boss's ear. Rylaa nodded and pulled out a
thin piece of plastic out from a pocket. "Here, this card will access
a safehouse in the Yallder district. It isn't much but it's out of the
way and quite comfortable." The card lands next to the box.
Kel picked up the card, and slipped it into his pocket. "Great. That's
where I'll head to then. Will you let me know when any of these go
down?" Kel added, gazing across the table with a cool eye at Rylaa.
Rylaa nodded. "Of course. Rashid will show you how to get out."
"Thanks," he said with a nod. "Look forward to this little game we
have going on," Kel added with a smirk, and was shown the way out.
"Walking Around"
by Chun Li - Escort Pilot
and Axon (R2X1) - Droid (NPC)
Location: Drogen Shipyards
Date: Lythe 26, 5 ABY
***
Li was walking around on Drogen, seemingly aimlessly, but that was only to the casual observer. With Axon following her she was trying to get a feel of the situation on the station. She also wanted to find Rylaa Lyssander and ask him a couple of questions, starting with where here 20.000 credits were and going from there. But first she had to find him. After asking Axon to record everything she had walked through the corridor the hidden door to his apartment had been in. She hadn't lingered as she knew there had to be holocams, but she wasn't really concerned about being recognised. She was wearing a suit with helmet and while she wasn't large, there were more small people out there. As she hadn't lingered in the corridor she wouldn't stand out among all the people that used that particular corridor every day.
With that done, Li headed towards a bar. Not the best, but not the worst either it was a bar on the middle levels. While sitting at the bar nursing a drink she listened to the conversations around her to get a feel of the general mood on the station. From what she could understand most people weren't too happy with the aliens, but the harsh measures taken by the Jau made that they kept silent at the moment. One thing the Jau seemed to have done was cleaning out the bottom levels of the station in a general effort to reduce crime.
For Li this was both an advantage and a disadvantage. The advantage was the Rylaa would have lost a number of people, including snitches not part of his organisation but who told him things. The disadvantage was that the remaining people, Rylaa included would probably have dug themselves in and would be more difficult to find.
After paying her drink she went back to her apartment where she asked Axon to load the recorded data on her holopad so she could have a look at it. The little droid obliged and she started going over it, for a couple of moments of their walk even frame by frame. She also made a drawing of the corridor on which she also put her notes. Now she only had to find a way to use this. She had two options. One was to tip of the Jau and let them check it out and the other was to tip of a rival of Rylaa. She decided she would first take a good night's sleep and see tomorrow.
"Room For A Rebel"
By: Brenna Hennely
Marsar Tilimit
Klaista Volaris
Date: Lythe 26, 5 ABY
Location: Yelldon District Starport Hangers- New Plouton
***
The sun had just finished setting as Brenna stepped outside her ship
to get a good look around there hanger for any sign of trouble.
Brenna shivered slightly and looked around. "It's colder than usual
tonight," she muttered as she pulled her jacket on tighter to shut out
the cold. The Jau hadn't come after them yet thinking that they were
involved in the incident but it still worried Brenna that someone had
been gunning for the two of them that night. She let out a long sigh
then heard a noise coming up behind her. Slowly she reached around
into the waistband of her pants for her blaster when she head the
sound of a Vibrosword clearing its sheath. "Only a fool brings a
knife to a gun fight," Brenna echoed as she felt the grip of her
blaster.
"And only a fool brings a stunner to a fight where real weapons are
involved Miss Hennely," Brenna glanced over her shoulder at the
speaker and laughed.
"And only fool doesn't have all there bases covered right Mar?" The
sound of a E-11 Blaster rifle hummed to life as Marsar leaned out of
the loading ramp, rifle balancing in one hand.
"Damn not again, you two always do this to me," the intruder stated as
she exited from the shadows, a duffel bag slung over her shoulder and
both hands her arms trying to warm up. "Well no hug for an old
friend?" she asked. Brenna shoved the blaster back in it's place and
walked toward the woman and smile spreading from ear to ear.
"Klay, what are you doing here," the woman smiled at them as she
approached still rubbing her arms.
"Long story, I'll tell you if you guys let me on board, and offer me
something warm to drink, I'm freezing," she stated. Marsar lowered the
rifle and smiled.
"Come on in, but be quick," she stated "There is a lot going on here
that I do not like." Klay walked up the loading ramp dock to her and
laughed.
"You never change, always paranoid it seems," she stated as she walked
into the ship next to Marsar. Brenna scanned the hanger one last time
then walked onto the ramp and hit the button on the inside closing it
off as she stepped on board, unaware of the figure that was currently
stalking the ship.
***
"Care for some more Miss Volaris?" Marsar offered as she approached
with another cup of the warm liquid.
"Yes thank you," to exchanged the empty mug with a second one of the
sweet liquid and smiled at Marsar "You still into the sweets I see,"
she said as she cracked her neck. The three were sitting cross legged
on the floor of the ship, resting for the time being but still on
alert to anything out and around the ship.
"You know me to well, and what with you being a spy and all, I'm
guessing you aren't here on vacation," Marsar said as she sat back down
next to her furry little friend. Klay watched as the little creature
placed both of it's front paws onto Mar's leg and whined slightly.
"I can't say fully but it had to do with a communication blackout in
the general area, but it appears to have been more than a blackout,
How long has this been going on for anyway, the occupation I mean?"
Klaista asked them.
Brenna and Marsar looked at each other for a
minute then started to go into detail about what had happened and what
was happening in the general area. The explained everything from the
Invasion, to the Occupation and what they knew about the Jau. As they
spoke Klay listened intently to everything they said and slowly put
the pieces together in her mind. The Republic base had probably been
taken first so that the New Republic wouldn't receive word of the
invasion then they moved on to other locations that would allow the
world to send out a distress signal. As for the scouts that had been
sent initially were either capture or most likely killed within
seconds of arriving this sector.
"...and that's all we care to know, we don't want to ask questions or
attract unwanted attention," she stated. Klay nodded then took another
sip of the sweet concoction. "Which leads us to how you arrived here,
I find it rather odd that you just show up after two bodies were
recovered." Marsar nodded and Klay looked down to see a small red dot
centered on her chest.
"Ok want what happened to me, I got shot down over the lake on the
city outskirts and pulled from the water by a very dashing looking
bounty hunter, the one who is hunting you." Marsar's eyes went wide as
she looked at her.
"You lead him here didn't you."
Klay shook her head. "No, I had no clue you were in the general area until he told me,
besides were friends right, I would never turn you in." Klay finished
the contents of the cup and looked at her. "He said that a Kel hired
him, name ring a bell."
Marsar disarmed the dartgun and lowered it.
"My older brother hired him, go figure what's the price." Klay let out a
sigh then looked at her.
"His daughter's safety it seems," she stated. "I didn't get the whole
story but he's only doing this because he loves his daughter, he's
worried for her safety and well being." Brenna shook her head.
"So the way he's going to take care of her is by killing two other
girls...that's twisted." Klay glared at her and watched Brenna's
reaction. "Sorry I think I touched a nerve there didn't I."
She
nodded.
"So what's going to happen to us now."
Klay shrugged. "He said if he caught you, he would want to know what exactly you did
to anger this client and then he would decide the course of action."
Klay insisted, "And If it does come to him attempting to cash in on the
bounty, I won't let him," she said tapping her vibrosword. "Now I know
I've asked you a lot tonight, but do you possibly have a spare
blaster....and a shower, I haven't had one in a few days." Brenna
laughed and nodded.
"Yeah, I believe you do need one?" Klay looked at her then sniffed the
collar of her shirt. It did smell pretty rank from the days events,
and hiding in the trash pile didn't help her that much either.
"I smell that bad?" she asked. Marsar looked at her and laughed.
"Trust someone who has almost no sense of smell from working on
engines too long, you smell so bad...even I can smell you from where
I'm sitting," she stated picking up a towel from one of the small
storage containers behind her and threw it at her. "We have something
to that effect down near the cargo area, Impossible to miss, we'll
stay up here until your done."
Klay nodded at them and smiled. "Thank you guys, your always on top of things it seems," she said
picking up her bag and the towel then heading in the direction of the
cargo area, closing the hatch behind her. Brenna let out a sigh then
opened the weapons locker and removed a single heavy blaster from it
and tossed it onto one of the cots then went into another crate and
removed a small rope hammock from another one and started to put it
together. Marsar stood up and started to help Brenna put it together.
"So can she be trusted." Brenna nodded.
"She may lie for a career but, she's a good person, If we were in
danger she would tell us flat out." Marsar looked back towards her
little Sevie Pup and smiled.
"And my furry little friend can sense danger as it is...can't you." The
creature let out a little bark then rolled onto it's back. Marsar
laughed at it's antics then looked at Brenna. "So who gets the hammock?"
Brenna looked at her. Then pulled a coin out.
"Heads or tails?" she asked.
"Dark Dealings"
By: Mordous Krull - Bounty Hunter
Date: Lythe 26, 5 ABY
Location: Yadller District - New Plouton
***
Mordous took a sip of his drink once more then looked around the shady
location that he was currently sitting in. This was the fourth
location he had scouted in the past six hours since dropping the flash
grenade to give the rebel agents some time to lose each other and
give him a chance to slip away. He coughed as he sent the glass down
and looked at the bartender. "What's this poison called again." The
bartender glared at him then took the glass back.
"Stick to water if your going to insult me," the bartender stated.
Mordous gave the man a face at the mention of the water.
"I'll pass on both...." he insisted, getting up and walking away from
the counter and head toward the exit. He knew his contact was going
to stiff him again so he better just get out of there before it was
too late. As he approached the door he spotted a familiar face among
the gamblers closest to the door. There was his contact, Mordous
could pick the man out of any crowd, he recognized the Vibroblade scar
that he had given the man. "Drex!" he called out. "There you are I've
been looking all over the place for...." All at once several blasters
armed themselves and raised simultaneously all pointing in his
direction.
"Mordous, Mordous, Mordous, you never learn do you," Drex stated walking
up to him. "What made you think you could just walk in here and collect
the bounty on my head again." Mordous looked around then remembered.
"I already collected on that bounty stupid, remember...unless there's a
new one that you think I can collect on." He looked around. "Which I
won't." Drex had been one of Mordous' first bounties with the Empire.
He was a well known blackmarketeer in the smaller circles that had
stolen Imperial Supplies back in the years of the Rebellion. The
Empire had put a hefty contract out on his head, Alive only. Mordous
caught up to him and after a long drawn-out knife fight Mordous managed
to bring him in...minus one eye.
"Give me a reason why my men shouldn't just shoot you now?" Mordous
looked at him and held up a datapad with a set of credit disks
attached to it. He knew this was risky but it was the only way he was
going to live through this one. Drex stopped then looked at him.
"That might just work, sit down and no funny stuff." Mordous sat at
the table he gestured to and Drex joined him. "Ok what do you want?"
he asked. Mordous slid the data pad across the table then looked at
him.
"Doing some repair and modification on my ship, since your one of the
few dealers that escaped the Jau's detection network I could use you
to get me some parts." Drex lifted the pad up and read over the parts
and items that were currently scrolling over the screen while Mordous
slowly placed her slugthrower under the table and waited for a second.
As the datapad beeped he pulled the hammer back and waited. No
response from Drex.
"Hmm these are odd items for a man who owns a HWK Frigate." He looked
up at Mordous as he gave him some of the highlights. "Repair and
replacement parts for a class two hyperdrive. A concussion missile
rack plus missiles, military grade canopy glass and parts for a
MandelMotors military grade engine. Do you own a fighter that your not
telling me about." Mordous looked at him.
"Your asking too many questions, just can you get those." Drex looked at him.
"Even before the Jau's arrival getting this kind of hardware wasn't a
picnic, but with there arrival it's become even harder, you can't just
find this gear laying around you know." Mordous shook his head.
"Does this mean I need to go to another dealer." Mordous was about to
slip his weapon into his boot and leave when Drex grabbed his arm.
"Hey, hey, hey take it easy, I've got connections here, It will take a
day or two but I can think I can get a good deal of it, but I need
payment now 15000." Mordous shook his head.
"Do you think I was born yesterday Payment on delivery." Mordous tossed
him a credit disk. "That's 5000 credits, get me the parts and I'll pay
the 10000 deal." Drex looked at him and waved him off. Mordous pulled
her coat tight and left.
As Drex Watched him go he looked over the list again then smiled.
"These are parts for a Star Viper which means he knows the pilot, I
bet my people would love to get there hands on that pilot..."
"Family Reunion, Part 2"
By Vincenzo Lapenta - Neurosurgeon
Master Liam Zaneth
Kael Selrid - Jedi Knight
Orinth Neerou [NPC+]
Vaela Jor (Yelara Neerou) - Patient
Leshie Zaneth [NPC+]
Location: New Plouton Institute of Neuroscience
Date: Lythe 26, 5 ABY
***
The scene played out just as it had the day before. This time, however, Liam was accompanied by Yelara's grandfather and his son, as well as Kael Selrid. Orinth Neerou stood at his side while Leshie bounced happily in his arms. Kael stayed back a few steps while Liam talked to the receptionist. As the day before, he was told to wait while she notified the doctor.
Vincenzo was going over another set of budget figures. While his lab was getting close to completion, there still were a couple of last minute details that had to be taken care of.
"Dr. Lapenta," he heard over the comm, "I have some visitors for you."
"Show them in," he said to his secretary. One minute later two men arrived in his office.
"I'm Dr. Vincenzo Lapenta," he said, "what can I do for you, gentlemen?"
"We are here to see Vaela Jor," Kael stated while Liam entered the office behind him with Va'Lesh in his arms. "We are expected, as far as I know."
He glanced at Liam, who nodded. "In the past, Ms. Jor has been a patient of mine, and this gentleman is her only living relative. You already know Mr. Mordin, and the little bundle in his arms is Ms. Jor's son."
"Yes, I was expecting you," Vincenzo said, "before we go just two things. Try to keep it as quiet as possible and when I say the visit is over, it's over. I'm not saying this to annoy you, it's for Ms. Jor's health. She's still recovering and she has more surgery tomorrow. Okay. Please follow me."
"Of course," Liam answered as they followed after the doctor.
Vincenzo lead them towards Yelara's room. Again he unlocked the door and let them all in.
"Yelara," he said when the door was closed, "there are some visitors for you."
She looked their way, already smiling, albeit weakly, but was invigorated by the sight of her son in Liam's arms. Yelara cried out and impulsively tried to surge up from the bed, yet only succeeding in raising her head.
"Va'Lesh," she called tearfully. "Va'lesh!"
Liam was already moving forward with their squirming son. The happy, squealing noises were an indication of his pure happiness at seeing his mama again.
Kael moved to the other side of the bed, and reached out to touch a hand to Yelara's arm, infusing her with Force energy as he had so many months earlier.
Leshie was lowered towards Yelara, their faces drawing close, until Va'Lesh's cheek was within reach. Yelara kissed it ardently, and wished she could wrap him in her embrace. For now, she satisfied herself with a kiss alone. "My gods," she breathed, "he's grown so much, Liam. Where did you find him?"
"He was with Orinth and Tralesha," Liam said. "Apparently Meer'esh took him there, possibly when he brought you here."
Yelara lowered her eyes to absorb Liam's admission. She had resented and despised Meer'esh for so long, but to learn he had done everything in his power to protect she and Leshie proved difficult to accept. Her mind shifted from pondering the revelation to the surge of energy she felt. One look at Kael,
concentrating deeply with his hand upon her arm, and Yelara suspected he was the cause. She smiled back at Liam. "Is he making me better, then?"
"He's trying to," Liam said as he glanced aside at Kael.
As both of their gazes touched him, Kael did look up briefly. "I think it would be nice if you could hold your son during your reunion," he said softly.
"I'm doing what I can to make that happen. Afterwards, I would like to see the doctor's information. I'm not certain how much help I can be, but I've learned quite a bit in the last four months."
"What exactly are you doing," Vincenzo asked. He didn't know why but he just knew that Kael was doing something.
"If you could be so kind as to not do anything to the patient without asking me," he said, "whatever it is you were doing it might interfere with what I've been doing and cause some serious side effects. As a doctor you should know that."
"I'm not licensed as a medical practitioner yet," Kael said. "Though, I would hardly call what I'm doing as practicing medicine at the moment. In fact, if the authorities knew what I was doing here, they would want to arrest me."
As he continued to infuse Force energy into Yelara, giving her strength as he had the last time he'd seen her, he looked up at the doctor.
"They would more than likely want to arrest you as well, Doctor, though my talent with the Force would be much more identifiable than yours. However, as to what I'm doing, I can perhaps teach you in time, but I assure you that right now you wouldn't understand in the slightest. I assure you, though, I would
never do anything to cause Yelara harm." With that, he removed his hands from her and stepped back. "How do you feel, Yelara?"
She took a deep breath and exhaled, feeling revived. "Better, thank you, Kael." She smiled, though somewhat curiously. "What did you mean by that, Kael? About the doctor...."
"He's Force-sensitive," Kael said, and glanced toward the doctor. "I can see something of an aura around him, and it's stronger in here near you, but it's definitely there. I wouldn't be surprised if the Force doesn't come into play, subconsciously, when he's with patients. Actually, from my research, the aura is indicative of that."
Vincenzo looked at Kael. Then he began to realise what the man had said.
"So that's what happened," he said. "Sometimes I just know what is wrong with the patient, even though I can't say way. And sometimes during operations I just know that something's going to happen. Like with Yelara. While we were doing the first operation I simply felt that her third vertebra was brittle and it was."
"Many who are not found early in their lives go through much of what you just described," Liam said. His hand was holding Yelara's as they marveled at their son.
"Can you teach me," Vincenzo asked, "not now of course, but after all this has gone away. It would be useful to know to use this consciously."
"Of course," Kael said. "Just remember, as long as the Jau are here, and as long as the laws remain as they are, using the Force can get you killed. But, I will teach you what I know."
"It can wait," Vincenzo said, "and unless they can see Force-use one way or the other they can't detect me, as I'm not doing anything fancy. And if I ever get one of them on my operating table I can always go with only scan readings."
He took out a scanner.
"Let's see what you actually have done," he said to Kael, "I'd like to keep aware of what happens with my patient."
That was one thing he, and most doctors with him, were quite possessive about.
"He's done no harm," Yelara assured the doctor kindly. "I'm actually feeling like I have more energy and not so much pain.... That has to be a good sign, right?"
"Normally yes," Vincenzo said, "but I don't know how this will interfere with the surgery tomorrow. Maybe when all surgery is done and we're in the final recovery phase."
Yelara nodded reluctantly but explained, "I...I just want to hold my child, Doctor. It's been so long..."
"I understand," Vincenzo said. "I just don't want any surprises tomorrow."
He took out his handheld scanner.
"Let me first see what has been done," he said.
Nothing significant had changed in Yelara's readings, but a slight increase in signal conductivity throughout her nervous system was detected. She watched the doctor expectantly. "No harm done...right?"
"It looks okay," Vincenzo had to admit, "it would be nice to be able to do that as well."
"We can begin training you soon," Kael said. "We should probably wait until after Yelara's operation. I can come back, when you have time, and begin teaching you about the Force."
"Maybe a bit longer," Vincenzo said. "I'm currently in the middle of setting up a neurotoxicity lab which takes about all extra time I'm not spending with patients. As soon as that is working."
Yelara laughed gently. "Too busy to be a Jedi," she mentioned ironically. "Hopefully my husband can take a cue from you."
Liam leaned in and planted a kiss on Yelara's forehead. "I definitely plan to focus all of my attention on my wife as soon as she's well enough to have all of my attention. The Jedi can wait in line for awhile. My family needs me more than the planet does."
"I'm glad you've finally come to your senses," she teased fondly.
Leshie let out a joyous squeal.
"I think that makes three of us," said Liam with a laugh.
Vincenzo waited at the side. This was something for the family to enjoy together. But he stayed in the room, just in case.
"Doctor," Liam said, not taking his eyes from Yelara, "may I have some time alone with my wife, son, and Orinth?"
"Ten minutes," Vincenzo said, "not more. She has surgery this afternoon and we still have to do some preparations."
With that Vincenzo left the room.
Taking his cue, Kael excused himself to go check on his own wife, departing with, "It's very good to see you looking better, Yelara." With that, he slipped out the door.
Yelara smiled at Kael's departing back, and her eyes strayed to the older man who had entered the room with Liam and Kael, yet remained standing quietly in the corner. Her smile turned onto him and grew larger.
"Grandfather," she whispered.
The old man laughed with joy and finally moved towards them, no longer fearing Yelara would fail to recognize him. Leshie giggled, feeling Orinth and Yelara's elation; when the old man leaned over his granddaughter to kiss her brow, Leshie babbled excitedly. Orinth's eyes were tearful, and
Yelara's matched. "I remember," she assured him. "I remember everything."
"I know. It was always in you," he whispered ardently. One thin, weathered hand smoothed back Yelara's raven hair. Her expression revealed a desperation to take his hand and kiss it fervently.
"I'll be better soon. Things will be as they were," she assured him.
Orinth smiled. "Yes. But you need to rest to make that so."
"But I'm not tired," she insisted.
"Mama!"
"Yes, Leshie, that's mama," Liam said. "Soon she'll be with us all the time. The doctor's going to make her all better, and we can get our own home." He exchanged a look with Yelara and smiled. "I'm
looking forward to that."
"A hideaway...." Yelara sighed dreamily and closed her eyes to explore the glorious future Liam was promising. She grinned. "I'm going to walk again," Yelara vowed. "Va'lesh and I can learn together."
"Perfect," Liam said as he leaned in and kissed her. "And now, you should get some rest. We want you ready for the operation, so we can get our lives back as soon as possible. We'll stop by to see you
before the operation, and then we'll see you after."
"I-I'm scared," she whispered, her joyous expression regressing to fear. "What if--"
Orinth squeezed her hand. "You'll do fine," he assured her, his smile comforting.
Yelara sighed and mustered a smile. "I love you all." She looked to Leshie, who was grinning at her. "I'm glad I'll never forget any of you again."
"And we'll never be far from you again," Liam said. "Rest well, my love. We'll see you again very soon."
The small group said their good-byes, Orinth shuffling out first with Va'Lesh in his arms. Liam was the last to depart, but not without a final kiss for his wife that gave her assurances she would survive the operation, for the gods would not have returned him to her only to tear him away again. So it was with a tranquil spirit that Yelara went to sleep, ready to face anything that was to come when she awakened.
"Hasty Decisions"
By: Dani
Raeila Selrid
Zari Zathmir
Jae Dyn Brael
Yara Brael
Location: New Plouton
Date: Lythe 26, 5 ABY
***
Kael had gone ahead with Liam and the older man, leaving Dani and
Raeila to make their way to the clinic behind them. It gave them a
chance to chat while glancing in store windows at the clothing and
other displays. They hadn't spent much time in the city, given the
trouble with the Jau, as well as preferring the pace of life away
from the bustle.
"I'd get an equadi," Dani said, indicating one of the transparent
gowns as they passed, "but I think I'd give the Jedi a heart
attack. Zarrak would approve, though."
"Of course he would," Raeila replied. "Though he'd like you better naked."
"Do you think Kael would approve," Dani asked. "I bet he
would. Maybe I could get one for the next time we try to have a
baby. The three of us could have a nice-- Oh, isn't that Zari over there?"
Raeila squinted, peering with slitted gray eyes into the distance. She
hadn't seen Zari in so long, it was nearly difficult to remember what she
looked like. "I think," she answered uncertainly, and decided there was one
way to find out for sure. "Zari!" Raeila waved her hand high above her
head. "Hey, Zari!"
The girl paused as she was walking, and turned. The recognition
dawning on her face was only moments in coming, and she waved
back. On bare feet, despite the chillier weather, she raced to meet
Dani and Raeila.
Dani caught her in an embrace and held her tight. "It's so good to
see you," she said. "We were very worried."
"I've been living with friends," Zari said. "You guys look
great. How are you? What are you doing here? I'm looking for
Talara. She disappeared, and we don't know where she is."
"Disappeared how?" Raeila asked. "Like...ran off?"
"We don't know," Zari said. "She's had this thing for Keeve, and
they finally agreed that it was never going to work, and the next
morning she disappeared. There was a boy downstairs and
they liked each other. He wanted her to be his girlfriend, and since
Keeve couldn't be anymore, she agreed. And then they were
gone. They might have run off together."
Raeila giggled. "How thrilling! They eloped. Isn't it romantic?" She
sighed dreamily.
Zari looked a little said. "She's my best friend, and she just
left. And she didn't even say goodbye to Kellin. Though, he doesn't
really know who she is yet."
"Well, if she did run off," Raeila explained in consolation, "then she'll be
back. Maybe they've just gone on a vacation alone together." She wrinkled
her nose in thought then asked, "Who's Kellin?"
"He's...he's my baby," Zari said.
Raeila looked down at Zari's now flat stomach, then up at her in
astonishment. "You're married?"
"No," Zari said. "It...the baby, he's Ferrig's, from what happened
at the Temple. I had to leave the Temple to have the baby, and...I
guess that means you're his auntie, Raeila."
The idea of having a nephew seemed overshadowed by the shock of learning who
had fathered Kellin. Raeila gaped, her ears filling with the pound of her
heartbeat. "What?" she whispered. "No...you must be wrong. It's some
other man's." Then, her mood darkened and she hissed viciously, "Lying
slut," before shouldering past the young woman and marching on.
"I didn't...Raeila...please...I wasn't..."
"I'll go after her," Dani said, then chased on after Rae.
"Everyone, Dani," Raeila was ranting while still walking briskly down the
path. "Everyone can have a baby but me! This is...insane!"
Before Dani could say a word, a voice piped up from
behind. "My...Kellin, he needs a real mommy...and...and as much as I
love him...I can't..."
Raeila halted, unable to comprehend Zari's audacity. She whirled, stopping
the girl short of colliding with her. "You're selfish," she whispered
harshly. "You had a child - were given a wonderful gift from the gods - and
you're complaining?"
"Raeila, I wasn't ready to have a baby," she said, her voice growing
frosty. "Your brother raped me daily and told me if I didn't go
along with it, he would tell the Masters what I was doing, and they'd
put me out of the Temple. He put a baby in me, and it would have
been wrong of me to stop the pregnancy. So, I had a baby, but...but
I'm still a Jedi. I love Kellin with all my heart, but I can't take
care of him. Not the way he deserves. You can't have your own baby,
but could you love one that you didn't carry? Could you love Kellin
and raise him properly, be a good mommy?"
All sign of aggression and resentment vanished from her posture to her
features as Zari's offer registered. Raeila wept soundlessly. "You...you'd
let me?" she whispered. "I can have him?"
Tears filled Zari's eyes and her resolve wavered slightly. "I have to give
him up," she said, the strain in her voice obvious. "We'd have to do all
the legal stuff, but...but yes. I know you've wanted a baby, and...it's
harder than I thought it would be. He's very easy to love, Raeila. You'll
see."
"It won't matter," she assured Zari, "I'll love him just the same." Smiling
eagerly, and with a vague glint of hunger in her eyes, Raeila pleaded, "Can
I have him now? When can I have my child?"
Zari blinked and stepped back. "He's at home," she said. "Master Brael's
watching him while I search for Tala. I have to go home to feed him soon."
"Then I'll come," she volunteered. "Me and Dani both."
Dani put a calming hand on Raeila's shoulder as she gave Zari an encouraging
smile. "It'll be nice to see Master Brael again."
"We can go now if you'd like," Zari said. "I'm sure Kellin won't mind
getting fed a little early."
"And it wouldn't hurt to get him all packed up," Raeila suggested, still
grinning elatedly. She leaned forward and kissed Zari's cheek. "Thank
you," she whispered. "You've made my dreams come true, Zari."
"I'm glad," Zari said. "I...come on, home is this way."
Raeila took Zari's hand, then Dani's. Linked inextricably, Zari led Raeila
and Dani to the apartment she shared. Raeila fairly skipped alongside them.
"I've been trying forever," she confessed to Zari. "But something's wrong
with me. I can't carry a child. Was it...was it nice - giving birth?"
"It wasn't...really nice," Zari said. "It hurt a lot, and I was really
uncomfortable for the whole last month. But, when he looked at me for the
first time after he was born, it sort of made everything else alright. He's
got Ferrig's darker complexion, but my eyes and hair. He doesn't have a
whole lot of hair yet."
"I still have to talk to Nieme about that," Dani said. "If she can remember
what she did, she might be able to undo it."
"It doesn't matter now," Raeila told her, "Kellin will be my child now.
He's my blood. That's what's important."
They stepped into the lift and started up toward the penthouse where
little Kellin slept peacefully.
"Of course," Dani said. "Though, in time, he may want a little
brother or sister."
"Only if he wants," Raeila allowed. "But I'd rather Kellin was spoiled as
much as possible first." She beamed. "Kael's always wanted a boy, I think."
The door opened and Zari led Raeila and Dani inside. "He's this
way. He sleeps in my room with me."
Jae Dyn Brael appeared, little Yara toddling along behind
her. "Zari, Raeila, Dani."
"Raeila and Kael are going to adopt Kellin, Master," Zari said.
"Zawee!"
Zari grinned. "How are you today, Yara?"
"Wawa two!"
Zari giggled, and motioned Rae to follow into the bedroom where the
crib was set up for little Kellin.
When Raeila saw the sleeping child she couldn't resist rushing forward to
peer down into the crib. Tears drowned her sight. "He's...perfect," she
whispered. "My perfect little boy...." She reached out and stroked his
hair tenderly.
Zari came up behind her. "You'll need to get some formula for him," she
whispered. "We don't have any here since I've been breastfeeding him. The
doctors say he's very healthy, and I've got all the certificates from the
hospital and my doctor."
In the crib, Kellin fidgeted slightly as he started to wake.
Raeila gasped softly in adoration and scooped up the child without waiting
for him to rise. She cradled him in her arms and kissed his brow. Blue
eyes stared up at Raeila when she pulled back. She frowned slightly. "He
doesn't look much like Ferrig...but I guess there's still time."
"He may have Ferrig's nose," Zari suggested.
Dani grinned as she brushed a finger down Kellin's arm. "As long as he
doesn't have Ferrig's judgement and lack of common sense, we're okay. He's
beautiful."
"He is," Raeila cooed. "You're making the right decision, Zari. Thank
you."
"I just want him to have a good home and lots of love," Zari said softly.
"I know I can give him love, but...but he deserves better. Besides, you're
married and it'll be better for him."
"You can visit," Raeila assured her. "Anytime you want."
"Thank you," Zari said with obvious relief. "I think he likes you, Raeila.
Look how he's looking at you."
Raeila watched the child studying her wondrously and chuckled with joy.
"He's perfect. Who knew I'd wake up this morning without a baby, and have
one even before the day's out?"
"The galaxy does work in funny ways," Zari said. Tears shimmered in her
eyes as she watched Kellin, and she was forced to bite her lip to keep from
breaking down. A reassuring hand found its way to her shoulder and she
looked to find Dani there, looking at her with understanding clear in her
eyes.
Oblivious to Zari's grief, Raeila asked brightly, "Can I take him home now?
Kael will be so surprised!"
"Yes," Zari said, sniffling slightly. "Let's get his things."
While Zari and Dani packed, Raeila clung fiercely to Kellin, depriving his
mother of time to say goodbye. Even when he fussed, Raeila would not
surrender him. If she had things her way, she would never let him go.
Once all of the outfits had been put in a bag, as well as all the other
sundries necessary, Dani collapsed the crib. With the bag set near the
door, Zari brought in the stroller that she'd bought.
"There," Zari finally said. "Everything packed. I...I think he might be
hungry. He usually is when he wakes up from a nap."
"I'll feed him," Raeila volunteered. "I have to learn, right?"
"We'll need to go buy formula for him, then," Zari said. "And it'll need to
be prepared."
She was hesitant, but Raeila finally relented. "You...you can breastfeed
him. One last time."
"Okay," Zari said, and came forward to take Kellin from Raeila's arms.
There was a compulsion to jerk away from Zari, twisting Kellin out of reach,
but Raeila mastered her fear and slowly handed Kellin to his mother.
Zari took Kellin and moved to sit on the edge of the bed. She smoothed his
hair back, smiling sadly down at him. With a sigh, she unfastened the strap
holding her top in place on the left side, and pulled the fabric down to
expose a swollen breast to the infant. He eagerly took the nipple into his
mouth and began to feed while she looked up at Raeila and Dani. "He's got a
big appetite," she said, her voice somewhat tremulous.
"He'll be fine," Raeila mumbled, entranced by the sight of Kellin feeding
from Zari. It was a bond she would never share with the child, and one she
wished to sever immediately. She would be his mother, no matter who had
given birth to him. Difficult as it was, Raeila managed not to look away in
disgust.
Dani put a hand into Raeila's and gave it a reassuring squeeze. "Don't be
angry with her," she whispered. "You're going to have a child, but he could
pick up the negative emotions you're feeling. You don't want him to do
that."
"I can't be a mother in the true sense of the word," she whispered bitterly.
"Maybe Kellin will help me get over that...in time."
"Maybe you can when Kael finds a way to fix you, or Nieme undoes whatever it
was she did," Dani suggested quietly.
Raeila nodded slowly, still fixed to Kellin greedily suckling on Zari's
nipple, and hating every moment of it increasingly. Finally, she mustered a
smile for Dani and announced softly, "I'll comm for a hovercab." She kissed
Dani. "I'll be back."
"Okay," Dani said.
As Raeila reached the comm station and started making her connection, a
little, dark-haired shape bumped into her leg.
"Hi," came a tiny voice at her side.
Raeila started, and looked down. The most darling face she had ever
witnessed stared back up. Raeila couldn't help laughing and lifting the
girl into her arms. "Oh my...you're so adorable," she gushed. "The most
beautiful little girl I've ever seen! Do you know that?"
"Yawa two!" the little one said as she leaned forward and gave Raeila a
kiss. "Hi!"
Her heart melted and she embraced the little girl ardently. "You speak...
My gods, you're perfect. The perfect darling." Raeila chuckled tearfully
and kissed Yara's soft, plump cheeks fervently. "If I had a girl," she told
Yara lamentably, "she'd be just like you."
"What you name?" little Yara asked as she watched Raeila happily. "I Yawa."
"You can call me Auntie Rae." Raeila grinned. "Would you like to be my
friend, Yara?"
Yara's giggle was answer enough and then to certify their new friendship,
she leaned in and gave Raeila a kiss. "Wae!"
Raeila giggled with the young girl. "Maybe we can play together, Yara. Do
you like games?"
"Yes," Yara said and nodded vigourously. "Game!"
"Great! You hide and I'll try to find you, okay?" Raeila started counting,
then stopped to remind the girl, "You have to be very quiet, okay?"
With a squeal of delight, Yara darted away from Raeila and around a corner.
Hide was a game Keeve and Tala played with her all the time, so she knew it
well. And soon, she was hidden as well as a two-year old could be.
Raeila smiled and set about searching for Yara.
***
"Raeila?"
Dani glanced around, wondering where her friend had disappeared to. The
comm station was waiting in standby, but a call hadn't been placed.
Frowning, she chewed her lip as she casually looked around.
"Yara?"
Dani looked over at the doorway, startled out of her musing. Master Brael
stood there looking concerned. She glanced around the room, and then
settled her gaze on Dani.
"Have you seen my oldest daughter? About this high, topknot, and cheeks
that just ask to be pinched?"
Dani shook her head. "I haven't. I just came out to get Rae. We're about
ready to leave, and she's supposed to be calling a speeder for us."
With a sigh, the Jedi Master motioned for Dani to follow her as they set off
in search of their lost charges.
It was some minutes later that a hushed voice was heard in the kitchen.
Listening hard, they followed the trail to one of the lower cabinets where
someone could be heard whispering, "Kellin's coming...you can come too.
Wouldn't that be fun? All of us together?"
"We hide," came the small voice of Yara.
There was a smile in Rae's voice. "Exactly. Would you like that?"
"Mommy come?"
"She can visit," Rae allowed.
Yara giggled, more than likely from some tickling, as Dani and Jae Dyn
exchanged a look. "You baby," the little girl asked from within their
hiding place.
"Mine," Raeila affirmed tearfully. "All mine."
"See baby!"
Chuckling, Raeila informed Yara, "It's you. You and Kellin. My babies
both."
The cupboard door swung open and Dani and Jae Dyn's faces came into view.
"Actually, this little one has to take a bath now," Jae Dyn said.
Raeila appeared startled, but covered it well with a beaming smile. "We
were just playing. Sorry for keeping her so long, Master Brael."
"It's alright, Raeila," Jae Dyn said. She held a hand out and Yara bounded
out of the cupboard to take it. "Come along, let's go get you all clean."
"Mommy!"
As the two wandered off, Dani couldn't help grinning. "She's a cute little
girl, isn't she?"
"The perfect little girl," Raeila corrected, crawling out of the cupboard
herself. "Do you think Master Brael would let her come over to play
sometime?"
"I think so," Dani said. "Though, I think Kellin will need to get a little
bigger before he can really play."
Raeila shrugged, undeterred. "He can watch. But I'd better go get him
before Zari changes her mind. You'll comm a cab, right?" She smiled
guiltily. "I got distracted playing with Yara. Gods...doesn't she have the
brownest eyes you've ever seen?"
"She does," Dani said. "She's absolutely adorable. It's really hard to
believe that Dargus was her father. I'll make that comm call."
Raeila nodded then excitedly scampered back to Kellin's room to retrieve her
baby. Zari still held him, rousing Raeila's jealousy again. She smiled,
still. "Ready? The cab is waiting downstairs."
Zari reached up and wiped away her tears. "I was just...just saying
goodbye," she said. "I didn't think it would hurt so much."
"He won't be far," Raeila consoled her. "Don't be sad. I'll send you an
image of him, if you'd like."
"Yes," Zari whispered, then looked up at Rae as she hesitantly held Kellin
out to her.
Excitement seizing her, Raeila rushed forward and took Kellin into her arms.
She turned the infant away from Zari's sight and started for the door.
"Carry his bags, please?"
"Of course," Zari said, then hurried to grab Kellin's bags, and then
followed after Raeila. "When...when I want to visit him, where
will...where are you staying?"
"Kael and I have a place," Raeila told her. "I'll comm you with the
address, okay?"
"Can...can I come with you? I can help you get him settled in."
Raeila paused in the hallway, thinking. "I don't know if that's a good
idea," she decided, without turning. "It's best to make a clean break...you
know?"
"I...I can still visit though," Zari said, her eyes tearing up
again. "I mean, if I can visit, I can...I should be...I can
help. I...I understand though, Raeila. I...it's painful."
Dani appeared at the other end of the hall. The pain she felt from
Zari was breaking her heart. She gave her an understanding look, and
picked up the stroller. "Everything's ready," she said.
Kellin began fussing as Raeila turned to Zari. She gave her a sympathetic
look. "He'll be fine, I promise. I'll comm you later, alright?"
"Okay," Zari said. "I'll be here waiting. Oh Kellin. I love you,
but...but this is for the best."
Looking over her shoulder, Raeila said, "I'm glad you agree." Then Kellin
was carried away, leaving Zari's life as quickly as he had entered it.
Dani glanced back at the girl, and gave her a comforting smile,
before moving on again at Raeila's side. When they got downstairs,
the speeder was waiting for them. The driver quickly grabbed the
bags and strollers while Dani held the back hatch open for Rae.
After Rae and Kellin were settled, Dani joined them in the rear. Raeila was
entranced, watching the child in her arms. When the vehicle started off,
Raeila whispered, "Kael will be so surprised."
"He definitely will," Dani said softly as she smiled at Rae and
Kellin. "I hope everything's okay with him and he's not too worried
where we are."
"He won't care," Raeila assured her, smiling lovingly at Kellin. "Not once
he sees my son."
"Will you want to move back to the desert now," Dani asked.
She shrugged. "Whatever Kellin wants." Brushing her lips against the
infant's brow, Raeila whispered playfully, "So do you want, Kellin? You
want to move to the desert?" Then, Raeila frowned pensively and mused, "I
should change his name...don't you think? Kellin doesn't suit my child."
"You'll have to talk to the people at the hospital, I think," Dani
said. "That way his name will be legally changed. So, what are you
going to tell Ferrig?"
"That I have a baby," she answered. "He doesn't need to know it's his.
It'll be too complicated if he knows."
"I definitely think you're right," Dani said. "If you and Kael want
the room to yourselves tonight, I can stay in another room."
Raeila smiled fondly at Dani. "Thanks. We need some time to get to know our
son." She sighed and gazed down at Kellin. "Our son... I never thought
I'd say that. It's been a long time coming."
"Yes it has," Dani said. "Do you know what you'll name him?"
"Kael and I will have to discuss it, but..." Raeila teared up and
whispered, "Miaken. My little miracle."
"That sounds perfect, Rae," Dani said as she reached to stroke the
little one's brow. "The perfect miracle."
"Enforced Labour"
By: Yara Brael
Va'Lesh Zaneth
Location: Slave Mines, Tae'Sollar Desert
Date: Lythe 26, 5 ABY
***
"This is not your designated rest period. Up, grau'aka!"
A shock stick wielded by a powerful, scaled arm was driven between the
fallen Rodian's shoulderblades. The alien arched, mouth open in a
rictus of wordless agony. Blue-white fingers skipped and crawled
along his exposed flesh, the perspiration coating it only increasing
the electricity's conductivity. He spasmed and thrashed, while the
others watched on. Some turned away in horror, knowing the same fate
might befall them once exhaustion prevented they, too, from working;
others, those who had been there long enough to become desensitized to
such displays, merely continued with the day's labours. They saw no
reason to risk similar punishment for neglecting their work. The Jau
were merciless - their slaves were there for a single purpose and no
defiance or indolence was tolerated.
The mines were run strictly, organized. There was a precise schedule
for everything, from two allotted breaks per day, to the six-hour long
time-slot allocated for rest. Otherwise, the slaves worked, and
arduously so. Buried deep within the desert, in hollow caverns
excavated from the mountain ridge separating Thanatos from Tae'Sollar,
those who had fallen into disfavour with the Jau were relegated to the
blistering mines of their new leaders. It was said they had only just
escaped death, working the mines the alternative punishment for those
who had displeased the Jau, yet death seemed a far better option to
those plying the mine shafts.
Although located in the depths of cool, dark rock, the conditions were
unbearably hot, day and night. Physical exertion contributed to the
uncomfortable environment, but the Jau's somewhat archaic equipment
emitted a majority of the heat. The huge smelting chambers located on
the far end of the shaft generated scorching temperatures; only water
offered at specified intervals by slaves appointed to the task
alleviated some of the discomfort, for nothing else was offered by the
Jau, who were immune to the intense thermal conditions.
None of the slaves knew what they were mining - all were instructed
only on what to look for and how to extract it; they had no idea how
valuable, how fragile was what they were mining. Such delicate work
was entrusted only to humanoids, and they provided free labour.
Droids malfunctioned and required maintenance, whereas a humanoid, if
ill or dead, could easily be replaced, and they required little
programming - one prod from a shock stick, and they fell into line
easily enough. They necessitated sustenance as well, but nutrient bars
were inexpensive and provided the required nutrition. Their tools
were rather primitive as well - hydropicks among them - and required
much strength and little skill to operate. Even hover mine cars
transported the ore to the smelting chamber in the slaves' stead - the
Jau believed the workers had it easy.
The prisoners worked in shifts, and barracks were assigned so those
not labouring away could benefit from the restorative powers of sleep.
Showers were allowed once weekly, simply to spare the Jau from that
offensive odor of filthy, sweat-soaked bodies confined to a single
space. The only clothing permitted were the Jau-issued jumpsuits,
which were clearly not tailored for the different body types that
comprised the slave ranks - they seemed to expect their thralls to be
in pique physical condition, and their form-fitting uniforms reflected that.
Those who had once enjoyed a comfortable life of inactivity were
stuffed into the undersized jumpsuits, corpulent flesh spilling from
the opening they were unable to fasten fully shut; for others, the
outfit sagged limply and draped over their limbs to provide an
encumbrance; but it was for the Jau's model workers that these
outfits were truly meant to fit: Dargus' clones - the teenaged
counterparts to Yara Brael and Va'Lesh Zaneth, who had been seized
from the palace and put to work at the mines. Their athletic, slim
bodies filled out the jumpsuits perfectly. They were the epitome of
all the Jau hoped for in a slave - agile, strong, bearing
inexhaustible stamina, and obedient. And there were many of them.
Among the clones were two Jedi Padawans - Yara and Va'Lesh - and from
the corner of their eyes, they watched the writhing Rodian. They
exchanged a knowing look of disappointment, but knew better than to
speak. That was punishable by far worse than a shock. They had been
there for months and knew the routine, had studied every corner of the
mines...yet still they were unable to discover a path to freedom. But
they had not given up - they would not. They were Jedi.
***
Va'Lesh Zaneth deposited the load of material into the mine cart and
turned back to where he'd been digging. His eyes met his companion's
as he returned to extracting the mineral. When he spoke, his voice
was quiet, pitched only for Yara to hear. "I still do not see a means
for us to escape this," he said. "We will need to continue to bide
our time until an option presents itself."
"Our brothers and sisters can help," Yara responded, lips barely
moving. They had adopted various techniques for communicating without
giving the appearance of doing so. Thus far, they had avoided
discovery and its accompanying punishment. Chipping away at a deposit
with her hydropick, Yara murmured, "If we could speak with them, I
know they would join us in planning a revolt."
"We can attempt to communicate with them when we are given time to
sleep. They can pass the word amongst themselves if they are willing
to assist." He dug into the stone with his pick. As he paused to
shift the rock, he leaned slightly to Yara to speak again. "Our shift
is nearly over. We will be able to speak to our brothers and sisters soon."
"The Jau will be listening," she reminded him. "There is no
fraternizing. We have not even been able to touch since coming here."
"We will find a way," he answered. "And then we will find a way out
of here and back to our Master."
A howl erupted as another ineffective worker was hauled away. Yara
watched briefly but was discouraged from doing so further by a passing
Jau who barked a warning at her. She resumed her labour, gathering a
hefty chunk of rock and tossing it into a passing mine cart, then
turned back to the wall. "We'll find a way," she affirmed, sweat
rolling down her cheek as she hammered at the rockface. "We are Jedi.
As long as the Force flows, there is always hope."
Va'Lesh gave the passing Jau a hard look and turned away to resume his
work. He thought the guard would step closer to beat him for his
insolence, but the alien moved on further. "Yes," he affirmed. "And
as long as we remain together, we will always find a way through such
hardships."
A horn blared in the vast cavern and a flurry of Jau marched in to
herd the slaves out in time for the next shift to move in. Yara and
Va'Lesh dropped their tools and joined the file. After a meal, they
would be expected to rest for their next turn in the mines. There
would be no showering or towels to dry the sweat, but accustomed to
living without luxuries as soldiers, Yara and Va'Lesh were unaffected
by such privation.
Va'Lesh fell into line behind Yara. They were led out of the mine and
into a large hall filled with tables and benches. As they sat, other
slaves entered with carts filled with a simple meal designed to
nourish. Taste was not a concern. The entire proceeding was
supervised by Jau guards. Any trouble would result in harsh punishment.
Seating himself beside Yara, Va'Lesh waited as a plate was set before
him. The only utensil he had to consume his food was a spoon.
Picking it up, he scooped up some of the gruel-like substance and
brought it into his mouth. "This is unpleasant," he said once he'd swallowed.
"But we must consume to maintain our strength," she reminded him
before sampling their dinner. Yara swallowed without complaint or
distaste altering her features. Scooping up another spoonful of the
sludge, Yara glanced about the cafeteria, assessing their fellow
thralls. Only a small portion of clones were in the room. "They are
keeping us separated," Yara concluded. "They suspect we may band
together and attempt to overthrow them."
Imperceptibly, Va'Lesh nodded. "Yes. I fear eventually, they may try
to separate you and I."
The spoon paused at her lips, a drop of gruel splatting onto the table
as Yara cocked her head to one side quizzically. "But...we cannot be
separated, Va'Lesh. You are my chosen. We must remain together."
"If we must attempt to guide events through the Force to remain
together, we shall," he answered. "They may try, but we will not
allow them to."
"Even if resistance means death?"
"We will have to give them no reason to suspect," he said. "We can do
it, my dearest. Despite our predicament, the Force is with us."
Yara smiled and cleaned off her spoon. As she chewed, her expression
became wistful and pensive. She sighed. "I wonder if my mother and
my sisters are alright. I desire to see them again."
"We will visit them as soon as we are free from here," Va'Lesh said.
"I believe I would like to know your family better."
"As would I. I did not get much chance to know my mother. But I am
told we look much alike," she informed him.
"We will find her once we are free," he said "There is so much we can
teach your little sisters too."
"And your brother," she reminded him. "Do you believe he is speaking now?"
"It is a possibility," he answered. He was quiet for a moment before
adding: "I hope my mother is alright."
Yara nodded compassionately. "I am sorry we could not get to her, to
rescue her. Perhaps if we had been better Jedi..."
"I believe we were competent enough," Va'Lesh said. "We were not able
to act in time."
"We will not make that error again," Yara declared. "That is why we
must" -- she paused to glance around for passing Jau-- "plan. Then,
we may again share kisses, as we have not been able to for some time."
"I do miss our private time together," Va'Lesh said. "And, that
jumpsuit is not as flattering as your usual attire."
Yara studied her outfit, stained with perspiration and dirt. "I
agree. Entirely unflattering." She watched Va'Lesh curiously. "I
hope that does not cause you to alter your feelings for me."
"It does not," he answered, a smile showing for her only in his eyes
since if his face showed anything but impassivity, he would be
punished. "It does assist in my focus on our liberation."
"Then I shall use it as a point of focus, as well." Yara ingested
more of their dinner, noting how much easier it went down amid
thoughts of the glorious day when they would be free. Such struggle
and adversity was part of their journey as Jedi; Yara and Va'Lesh were
enduring it with optimism that once they emerged, both will have
gained strength from it. Perhaps, they would even attain the rank of
Knight. Yara and Va'lesh would not be broken - they were soldiers,
Jedi. They would prevail.
"Back Where You Belong"
By: Maeren Shivral
Kimara
Keeve Zenarr
Zari Zathmir
Kallia Brael
Raeila Selrid
Kael Selrid
Dani
Location: Various, New Plouton
Date: Lythe 26, 5 ABY
***
It had been an interesting talk with his mother, and as much as her advice had helped, Keeve was still exhausted physically, and mentally regarding the trouble with Talara. He looked
especially dour as he stepped into the living area.
Kallia appeared across the room with Yara toddling along behind
her. She met Keeve's gaze, and he could tell right away that all
wasn't well. She approached, and sighed.
"There's a problem," she said. "You know how the Jedi stated that if
Zari wanted to remain a Jedi, she'd have to give up Kellin? She
couldn't be a mother and a Jedi Padawan at the same time. She gave
Kellin away to a young woman from the Temple, the wife of Jedi
Selrid, who is unable to have children of her own. She's in her room
now, and hasn't come out since they left. And, she's in a rather bad
state."
"What in all hells-- How could you let her do it!?" Keeve roared. "Kellin's
her baby - you should've stopped her!"
"It was done before I could do anything," Kallia said. "I was trying
to get the twins down for a nap, and then Yara needed her bath. I
didn't realize what was happening. I thought they were just friends
here to visit, or friends helping with the search."
Keeve exhaled through his nostrils and shook his head. "You should've
commed me, Kal. But there's still time to get him back."
"I'm sorry I didn't," Kallia said.
"You go talk to Zari," Kim said. "Maeren and I will get the speeder ready."
She and Maeren hurried away, leaving Keeve and Kallia alone.
"I'm sorry, Keeve. I hadn't meant to...to cause trouble. I've been
so busy with the girls, I wasn't paying attention."
"And I haven't been here to help," he admitted, giving her shoulder a tender
squeeze. "It's not your fault. Zari's not a child - she knew what she was
doing." Smiling, Keeve added, "You go and rest. I'll come visit you and
the girls when I finish talking with Zari."
"Alright," Kallia said. "I'll see you soon." With that, she walked
off toward the room she shared with her daughters.
After taking a moment to centre himself, Keeve started calmly towards Zari's
room. As he raised his fist to the door, prepared to wrap, he could hear
Zari sniffling. He sighed and invited himself in. "Zari...what's
happened?"
"Rae was...she was so upset that I had a baby, and I was going to
have to give up Kellin so I could be a Jedi. But, but now I...now
I'm not sure. I...I think I'd give up being a Jedi for him. But, I
can't anymore."
Keeve frowned and moved to the bed, where Zari was seated with knees tucked
under her chin. He sat, watching her sympathetically. "It's not too late,
Zari. Kellin's still yours, no matter what. You don't really want him
gone, do you?"
"I thought I had to," Zari said. "But now...now I don't want to."
"Then we'll get him back," Keeve insisted. "We'll go right over there and
get Kellin back." He held out his hand to her and smiled encouragement.
"Together, Zari. We can do this."
"I don't know where he is," Zari said, "but I can feel him. Thank
you, Keeve. I don't think I could do this without you. I know how
much this is going to hurt her. Raeila, I mean."
"Kellin's yours," Keeve pointed out. "She had no right taking him to begin
with. Now let's go." He grinned. "I'll let you drive if you want."
She gave him a smile. "Thank you so much, Keeve," she said. With a slight
colouring of her features, she gave him a hug.
"Don't ever make a decision like this without me again," he whispered
against her ear and gave Zari a comforting squeeze. Pulling back, Keeve
motioned his head towards the door. "No time to lose, hm?"
Zari hurried along at his side as they got to the lift and rode down to
where the speeder waited.
"All set," Kim said as Maeren jumped out from behind the controls. "Go get
him. Let us know when you're on your way back with him."
With a feeling approaching relief, Zari moved over and got into the other
side of the speeder while Keeve got behind the controls.
Looking at him, she smiled. "Ready."
Keeve nodded and sped the vehicle forward, with Zari questing out through
the Force to uncover the correct path. He watched her sidelong. "Someone
must know where she's staying. She's not entirely a complete stranger if
you were willing to give Kellin to her."
"I knew her at the Temple," Zari said. "She's Ferrig's sister, but...but
she's not evil." She pointed with her eyes still closed. "They're that
way. Near the beaches, I think."
Keeve steered the vehicle that direction and continued glancing aside at
Zari from time to time. "You wanted to be a Jedi this badly, Zari? Badly
enough to give up the one thing you love most in the world?"
"I thought I did," Zari said. "Not now. Not anymore. I want my little
boy, Keeve. If I have to give him up, I don't want to be a Jedi."
Keeve smiled. "Now you're making sense. I never could understand what
everyone finds so amazing about being a Jedi."
"You'd have to be one to understand," Zari said. "I think if I hadn't had
Kellin, I'd want to still be one. You're a part of something bigger than
yourself, something where you help others. But, Kellin needs me more than
the Jedi do."
"And that means," Keeve told her softly, "you're definitely ready to be a
mother. So...we'd better get that boy back, hm?" With a wink, Keeve asked,
"Which way now?"
"Keep going," she said, pointing out of the city. "Go toward Vendra. It
feels like he's that way."
"This could take a while," Keeve sighed. "Vendra's a long way off." He
smiled. "I'll get us there...and fast. Rest assured, Zari. They're not
getting away from us."
"Okay," she said. With a smile that carried all of her gratitude, she
reached over and rested her hand atop his. "Thank you, Keeve. For all of
this. I'm really glad you're my friend."
***
"There," Zari said, pointing. They'd been in Vendra for nearly an hour,
following intuitive sense of where her little boy was. "That building
there."
Keeve located a suitable place to park the speeder, just outside the
apartment complex. He frowned deeply as he watched the building. "I hope
they haven't gotten too comfortable with him...because it's time he comes
home." His expression softened when he regarded Zari again. "You ready?
I'll be with you the whole time."
"I'm ready," Zari said. She slipped out of the speeder and waited for him,
then they walked up to
the front door together.
With a calming breath, Zari stepped inside after
Keeve opened the passage for her. Within, they spoke with the man tending
the front desk and located the apartment belonging to Raeila and Kael.
Keeve wrapped a comforting arm around Zari's shoulders as they started for
the lift. "It'll be fine. You'll see."
She gave him a smile. Keeve was entirely unconvinced she was confident
about their present course, but he was determined Zari should stand firm.
Kellin was her blood, and a child deserved the right to know its mother,
something Keeve was robbed of. The same mistake would not happen again.
Reaching Raeila's apartment, Keeve knocked insistently. He gave Zari a nod
and returned his eyes forward. When the door opened, he was momentarily
taken aback by
who answered. No one mentioned a man would be at home.... "Hi, there."
Keeve
smiled. "You wouldn't happen to have seen a baby around here, would you?"
"Yes," came the answer. "Raeila brought him home earlier. Hello,
Zari." The girl acknowledged him with an embarrassed nod. Turning
back to address Keeve, he continued: "So, what brings you here?"
"Well...." Keeve cleared his throat, but his eyes never moved from Kael's.
"Zari wants her baby back. She's changed her mind."
Kael Selrid glanced between them, and then gave an understanding
nod. "Raeila's going to take it very hard," he said. "Nieme did
something to her, and now she is unable to have a baby of her own. I
haven't seen her as happy was she was when she came back in a very
long time. Her reaction to giving up the baby will not be...good."
"I know," Zari said, the anguish in her voice palpable. "But,
I...I'm so sorry, Kael. I didn't mean to cause trouble, but I
realized I want him so much and I can't...can't give him up."
"The Jedi gave her an ultimatum," Keeve explained. "Either she give up her
baby, or she leave the Order. She was confused. Can you blame her?"
"I see," Kael said. "And, I can't blame her. He's a beautiful
boy. He's cried for a bit, so I have a feeling he misses her." He
sighed. "Come on. This won't be a good situation, but it has to be done."
He led them both further back into the apartment.
"Raeila," he called as they came into the room. She looked up from
where she was putting a new diaper on Kellin.
Tears were already falling from Zari's eyes and she hated
herself. She didn't want to hurt Raeila, but when they took Kellin
away, it was more painful than anything she'd ever felt. "I'm sorry,
Raeila, but...but I can't...I need my baby. I'm so sorry. I know
you hate me, and...and I hate myself."
Raeila was already pulling Kellin close to her chest protectively and
shaking her head. Desperation and anguish registered in her gaze.
"He's...he's my baby," she informed them. "You can't have him, Zari. He's
mine now, remember?!" Her focus shifted to Kael, to whom she pleaded.
"Don't let them do this. Our baby, Kael!"
"We can talk to Nieme tomorrow, Raeila," Kael said. "She can undo
what she did, and then we can have a baby of our own. I know it
hurts, but wouldn't you rather have a baby we made together?"
"And if it never happens? I won't give him up only to end up with nothing
in return!" she shrieked. Kellin then began crying. Raeila scowled
at Zari. "See what you've done?" she accused harshly. "You've upset my
baby!"
"He's not yours," Keeve pointed out indelicately. "Zari gave birth to him.
Now she wants him back."
"No!" Raeila backed away, shaking her head violently as she did. The room
whirled dizzily around her; she nearly tripped over the nightstand. Keeve
started forward, but Raeila recovered. She thrust a warning finger his way.
"Stay away," she rasped. Her hand slid over Kellin's face; the child's
cries became muffled and laboured. "I won't let you have him," she
whispered tearfully. "He's mine..."
"Raeila, don't," Zari said. The tears were now gone, replaced by
something darker. She reached out through the Force to calm Kellin,
and to be ready to stop Raeila from hurting her baby.
"This isn't right," Dani said, entering the room. She'd already
released pheromones into the air to calm everyone. "Hurting him
isn't the way, Raeila." Adding the strength of suggestion into her
voice, she continued: "You want to give the child back to Zari
now. You and Kael will make one of your own."
Raeila blinked in confusion, but her mind was already surrendering to Dani's
suggestion. Her hand slowly, reluctantly, slid away from Kellin's face,
which was now dark red from crying. Entire body trembling visibly, Raeila
repeated haltingly, "I want....to give your child back, Zari. Me and
Kael...we'll make our...our own." Then, she held out the child at arm's
length. Keeve rush forward and snatched Kellin from her grasp, watching her
as one would watch an obviously mentally unstable person.
As Kael and Dani moved in to comfort Raeila, Zari was at Keeve's side
and making sure Kellin was okay. Tears spilled down her cheeks as
Keeve let her take him, and she held the little one protectively to
her chest. She kissed his cheek and forehead, and whispered tenderly
to him as he stared up at her with his big blue eyes.
"His bag's right here," Dani said softly as she came over. She
indicated the bag Zari had given them earlier. "I'll bring the other
things by tomorrow when I can. You'll be alright otherwise?" On the
other side of the room, Kael was leading Raeila away.
Zari nodded. "Yes," she whispered. "Will Raeila be okay?"
"I don't know," Dani answered. "We'll do our best. You should go
though, just to be safe. I'll see you tomorrow, Zari. Keeve, please
give my best to Maeren, and tell her I'm very sorry for everything
Nieme and I did to her. Things were really bad then."
Keeve glanced past her to Raeila, looking back fixedly at Kellin and
mumbling incoherently. He sighed. "I think they're about to get worse.
I'll pass on the message. You just...take care of your friend."
"I will," Dani said. "Goodnight to both of you, and I'll see you tomorrow."
Bouncing Kellin gently in her arms, Zari turned and started toward
the door. "You have his bag, Keeve?"
Keeve raised it into view, then hefted it onto his shoulder. Stroking
Kellin's head affectionately and smiling to Zari, he whispered, "Let's go
home. There's nothing more for us here."
"Yes," Zari said. "I think Kellin should get a bath when we get
home. And, maybe a treat. I'll ready him a story, I think." She
looked up at him as they departed. "Thank you, Keeve. I love you."
He rolled his eyes and complained playfully, "That's my problem - I'm
irresistible to women...." They left the apartment behind laughing gently,
despite what had occurred, and relief in knowing that if Kellin had not been
retrieved when he was, Zari's son could very well have been harmed by the
hands of a madwoman.
***
"There's still time. You can get him back." Raeila paced the room briskly,
a caged animal on the brink of hysteria. She whirled on Kael and shrieked,
"If you kill them, we can get him back!"
"I can't kill them, Rae," Kael said. "We'll make our own
baby. We'll talk to Nieme tomorrow and she'll undo whatever it was
she did, and you'll be able to have a baby. Our baby."
"How do you know!? You couldn't do anything. Maybe she can't!" Raeila
wept shrilly and threw herself onto the bed. She kicked and beat at the
mattress, screaming into it until she was breathless. "I want my baby! You
let her take him!"
"Rae, she changed her mind about the baby," Kael said. "I'm sorry,
but there wasn't anything I could do that wouldn't have gotten us in
trouble. What were you trying to do to him, Rae? With your hand
over his face?"
Raeila's head raised slowly, but Kael only saw the back of it as she
answered quietly, coldly, "He was...crying. I couldn't bear to see him
crying, Kael. I would've made him stop." When she twisted her neck to
bring her face within view, something disturbing could be glimpsed behind
her deadened eyes. "I would've made him quiet...as only a mother knows
how."
"Raeila. We'll have a baby of our own. We don't need Zari's
baby. We'll have our own soon enough. Our own, not someone else's."
"He was Ferrig's," Raeila informed him. "He was as much mine as anyone's.
And I will have him back...or no one will have him."
"Raeila, you can't mean that," Kael said. "Whatever connection
Ferrig has to the baby is something he'll have to take up with
Zari. But, you can't start issuing ultimatums with the baby. We'll
figure out a way to have our own baby, because we can't have Zari's."
She surged upright in the bed, hollering, "We can! And I will, Kael, with
or without your help!"
"You don't want to do that, Raeila," Kael said. "If you get caught,
the Jau will send you to the desert."
"I'm Kir'Thana - I'll thrive. I need him. You don't understand because
you don't feel what I do...but I need him!"
"But why that one, Raeila? Why can't you and I make one of our
own? Nieme can fix what she did to you, and then you'll be able to
carry our baby."
"You don't know that!" she shrieked. "If I wait and it doesn't work, our
baby will be gone!" Raeila flew from the bed and gripped Kael's shirtfront
desperately. "Please," she whispered, "you have to let me. I-I need to get
him back."
"You can't just take him, Rae," Kael said, desperation entering his
voice. "You can't just take the baby. We will find another way,
but Kellin isn't that way now. We will find a way, a different
way. I promise."
Raeila's eyes narrowed. "His name...is Miaken," she rasped and pushed away
from Kael. "You just don't understand.... How could you anyway? You're a
man! You don't know what it's like!"
"What I understand is my wife is so desperate to have a child, she
wants to take one from another person," Kael said. "She is so
desperate, she can't wait one day for us to see if whatever was done
to make her incapable of bearing children can be reversed. I see my
wife willing to steal a child because she doesn't care about anyone's
needs, except her own. I want this baby to be ours, Rae. I want
to make a baby with you, if Nieme can fix what she did."
"How can you trust her after what she did?" Raeila smirked and accused,
"You just want to see her again. You can't stay away.... This has nothing
to do with a baby!" Raeila thumped her fists against Kael's chest then
shoved. "You selfish bastard!"
Kael didn't move, and instead reached up and calmly took her
wrists. "I really hope you don't believe that," he said. "I really
hope that is only your anger talking. You need help, Rae. What
you're saying and what you want to do, it's wrong. I know you want a
child, but you can't just take from someone else."
"Why can't I?" she asked snidely. "My child was taken away - why can't I do
the same? Isn't it only fair!?"
"No, it's not," Kael said. "It's not right. Zari should have
thought it through more before giving him to you, but he's still
hers. We can go to the proper people and adopt a baby legally. No
one can contest it, and no one can take the baby away. We just have
to do it the right way."
Raeila sobbed. "But I want a baby now, Kael. I've waited so long....
Don't I deserve one?"
"Of course you do," Kael said. "But if you don't things properly and
legally, the authorities will take him away, and I don't want to
think about what they'd do to you. I don't want to see them take you
away, Rae. The mines in the desert are bad places. If you get sent
there, you'll never have a child. Ever."
"Isn't it worth the risk?" she reasoned. "It's all I've ever wanted. If
that's not something to risk your life for, what is?"
"I know you want a baby now," Kael said. "I know waiting is
difficult. But, isn't it better to wait a week and not have to worry
about someone breaking down our door and taking our child away? I
know it's hard, Rae. But, it's only a little more time. We can go
tomorrow, and talk to them. Just see what they say, and see if they
have a baby that we can make our own...and not worry about the
trouble. Please Rae, if we go down the path you want to follow, I'm
going to end up losing you and our baby. They'll take the baby away
from you. Is it worth the risk of losing everything when only a
little more time will make it so we have nothing to fear?"
Raeila screamed in frustration and twisted free of Kael's grasp. She
stumbled away, hollering, "You don't understand anything! I-I can't take
this. I can't wait anymore!" Raeila bolted from the room and dashed off.
Kael followed after her, but when she slammed through the front door,
he let her go.
"She okay?"
He turned to find Dani standing there, and he sighed and shook his
head. "No. She believes she needs a baby right now."
"We should go after her," Dani said. "Kael she's not well, and in
this state, she very well could do what she wants."
Kael gave a wry chuckle. "She took our speeder," he said.
"Come on, let's go see if we can get one from the Jedi," Dani
said. "Then we go after her, and bring her back here. Probably tie
her up to keep her from doing anything stupid."
Kael nodded, and led the way out. He had a bad feeling about this.
"Close Encounters of the Marital Kind"
by Vincenzo Lapenta - Neurosurgeon
and Sarah Lapage - Neurosurgeon (NPC+)
and Robert Reyno - Representative (NPC)
Location: Sarah's Apartment, Arcadia
Date: Lythe 26, 5 ABY
***
Vincenzo arrived at Sarah's apartment a bit later then expected, due to an extra security check at the monorail station. As a doctor, he had a pass to be out later then curfew, but he'd rather not use it too often, specially not on the way from Arcadia to New Plouton. And now he had heard today that he was force sensitive he had to be extra careful not to have the aliens look too closely to what he was and who he was treating. He had an excuse for this day's visit though, as he had some notes on Jean Van der Morken with him. That case was closed at Enpin now.
Arriving at the station in Arcadia, he exited the train and took a taxi to Sarah's apartment. But it wasn't Sarah opening the door but a man.
"Yes," he said.
"I'm here for Dr. Lapage," Vincenzo said, "I'm here to discuss a case with her."
"Let him in, Robert," Sarah said, appearing behind him, "it's a colleague from New Plouton."
Vincenzo entered and Robert closed the door behind him.
"Robert, this is Vincenzo Lapenta," Sarah introduced them, "Vincenzo, this is Robert Reyno, my husband."
"Pleasure to meet you, sir," Vincenzo said. He knew that he had to get back as quickly as possible, before he or she said something wrong.
"Why do you come here," Robert asked.
"Both your wife and myself are very busy during the day," Vincenzo explained, "this is the first opportunity in more then a week I have to bring this information. And as I have to explain a couple of things I found it easier to do so in person."
"We'll go into the study," Sarah said, "you want something to drink, Dr. Lapenta?"
"No thank you," Vincenzo said, "I'll have to go as quickly as possible. I'd rather be in before the curfew."
They moved into the study and Sarah turned around as soon as the door was closed.
"Nice save, Vince," she whispered.
"I know," Vincenzo whispered back, "if you want to continue this, maybe we should agree on a code you can send to me to let me know if I can visit or not."
"It's a good idea," Sarah said, "I'll comm you tomorrow from my work."
"Okay," Vincenzo said, putting the datapad on the desk, "here's the information on Van der Morken you needed. As far as I'm concerned, everything I could do is done. The rest is for you."
"They might call you for the hearing," Sarah said, "although they probably just use the reports."
"As long as I know in advance," Vincenzo said, "so I can plan operations and things like that."
"That wouldn't be a problem," Sarah said, wrapping her arms around him, "let me give you a small present before you have to go."
They kissed for quite some time, before Vincenzo let go.
"If we continue this, I'll do you here, and damn your husband," he whispered.
"That wouldn't be a good idea," Sarah whispered back before letting go. They went back to the living room and after saying goodbye, Vincenzo left. Ten minutes later he was sitting back on the monorail, thinking about the extra complication in his life. He had known that this day would come, but still he would have liked it if it hadn't. Given that these laws hadn't been changed by the aliens they had to be careful.
"Sibling Conspiracy, Part 1"
By: Raeila Selrid
Ferrig Mullerin
Location: Yesdol, New Plouton
Date: Lythe 26, 5 ABY
***
He couldn't understand - he was Kir'thanan, but had become too Wet in
his time away from the desert. He didn't understand the way of
things. Blood was blood, thicker, more cohesive than water. And that
was why a Wetter could never grasp the pain Raeila felt.
Miaken, nee Kellin, was hers, and no Wetter law or code of etiquette
could keep him from her. There was one she knew would agree with her,
someone who could help her reclaim her child. What he was doing
working at such an establishment, however, she didn't know.
The towering golden bantha loomed over her. Behind - the Palace of
Stars, and one of a pair flanking the double red doors on top of the
staircase was Ferrig. When his apartment's landlady mentioned he
worked at the Palace, Raeila snickered. He truly did enjoy the
establishment, enough to desire employment as a doorman. She was
certain there were perks that came with the job that appealed far more
to Ferrig than the wages.
The line of patrons awaiting entry into the club was already lengthy,
considering the doors had yet to open for the evening. And already,
the temperature outside was dropping to the low numbers typical of
Tae'Karada as of late. Winter was approaching and Raeila was feeling
the chill, likely more than the native Wetters. The desert was always
warm, always nurturing. New Plouton was like hard, cold durasteel.
The revellers had come prepared in their expensive coats and
fur-trimmed mantles. Raeila, not accustomed to such luxury, and
having departed in a hurry, was in lightweight pants and a flimsy
tank. Only her loose, flowing hair provided some cover for her bare
arms and shoulders. She shivered badly, though the press of warm
bodies provided some relief as Raeila squeezed and jostled through the
crowd to reach the doors. Appalled chatter arose in her wake, and
condescending insults. They thought her a wayward street urchin
having wandered into the crowd, not realizing she was among the wrong
social class. Raeila, however, held purpose, and determined to reach
Ferrig.
She called to him, but the din of the crowd drowned her voice. Having
reached the head of the crowd, Raeila was denied further access by two
very large Gamorreans guarding the stairs. Raeila waved frantically
at Ferrig, crying out his name. She hopped to clear the aliens'
heads, calling to Ferrig each time. The Gamorreans, growing irritated,
snortled gruffly. One gripped Raeila's arm and proceeded to steer her
out onto the street. She struggled, the commotion finally drawing
Ferrig's notice.
"Hey," came a familiar voice from the front of the crowd. Ferrig was
hurrying down the stairs, intent on stopping the Gamorrean before he
did any lasting harm to his sister. He managed to get himself over
the ropes, bodies, and other obstacles designed to keep the unwanted
out of the Palace of Stars. He thumped the thuggish brute on the back
of the head as he came around to take Raeila into his arms. "Hands off."
With a glare, he sent Durb -- or Norg, he could never keep the two
straight -- back to his position.
"Raeila," he said, a sense of wonder in his voice at seeing her again.
"I thought you and Dani had abandoned me forever. I stayed like you
said though. Weibran said I spent so much time here, I might as well
work. Helped me keep a roof over my head. What are you doing here?
You're shivering." He quickly stripped out of his jacket and put it
around her shoulders. He steered her away from the crowd. He flashed
a sign back to the other bouncer standing by the door. "Come on,
let's go somewhere warm."
"I have the speeder," she told him. "Left it at your place... I
walked here." Raeila nestled her cheek against Ferrig's chest as she
hugged him tightly. "I should never have turned my back on you," she
whispered. "You're my brother...the only one who knows me. Kael...he
let them take him. He's just like they are...."
"Him? Take who, Rae?"
"Miaken," she sobbed. "My--" Raeila raised her eyes to Ferrig's and
smiled. "Our baby. Zari gave birth to him...but he's of our blood,
Ferrig. She gave him to me...and they made her take him back."
"Zari had a baby?" Ferrig said, blinking. "My...she was...with
my...? Our baby, Rae? Our little boy? We have to get him back!"
Raeila grinned, relieved that someone finally saw things her way.
"Yes," she breathed. "Yes, Ferrig! I wanted to, but they wouldn't
let me. But you can help." Turning her body into his and caressing
his cheek, Raeila whispered, "Together...we can get our boy back. Our son."
With a joyful smile, he leaned in and gave her a passionate kiss.
"Where is he? We have to plan. We have to figure out how to get him back."
"I know where they live. I've been there. We can go right away!"
Raeila kissed him again, fervent with the excitement of knowing her
Miaken would be hers soon enough. "We'll have to be careful," she
murmured, lazily tracing kisses along his jawline and throat. "She
lives with a Jedi Master."
"That could be tricky," Ferrig said. "We'll have to find a way to get
the Jedi out of the way then. I figure, if we can get to Zari, it
should be easy. The girl will cave just like she always did. Toward
the end, before they drove me out, she would have done anything I
asked her without hesitation. You should have seen the things I got
her to do, the things she was so willing to do."
"Because," Raeila reasoned, hands sliding down Ferrig's chest, "you're
powerful, Ferrig, you're commanding.... Just as a true king of the
desert should be."
"Oh, I like the sound of that," he said, moving his hands down to her
hips. "And, every king needs a queen."
She chuckled and looped her arms about his neck. "And your queen has
returned. She was stupid for going away.... Can you forgive her?"
"With my whole heart," Ferrig said, then kissed her again. "Oh, I've
missed you."
"I won't leave ever again," she promised.
They stumbled and shuffled their way to Ferrig's apartment, wrapped in
one another's inextricable embrace. Luckily they avoided the notice of
patrolling Jau, and managed to restrain themselves enough to seek out
Ferrig's apartment rather than couple in the nearest alley. As it
was, Ferrig's pants were nearly around his ankles when they reached
his door, and their lips swollen and red from the rough, desperate
kisses being exchanged. Raeila moaned into the hollow of his mouth as
he pressed her against his door and slipped one hand down past her
waistband while the other punched in his door code.
"I'm never letting you get away again," he said as they tumbled
through the door.
His touch was deft and sure as he managed to move them from the door
toward his bed. His hands slipped in, teasing and tantalizing, as he
managed to kick himself free of his boots to untangle his feet. The
passion surpassed anything he had felt in some time. Their separation
had raised his longing to a point where just being near her was like
the most potent hit of Spice. His body sang for her touch, a desire
hotter than even the last time they'd been together.
Raeila held no desire to slow Ferrig down, and fed off his urgency,
peeling off her top with little care for its survival. They trampled
the shed tank underfoot before toppling onto the bed. Raeila arched
in a jolt of pleasure, blonde hair flipping back as she tossed her
head to release a shuddering moan. She grinned at Ferrig hungrily and
leaned forward to kiss him fiercely.
There was a blur of motion that ended with the remainder of their
clothing on the floor and only searing flesh meeting. Legs twined and
hands caressed tenderly, despite the uncontrollable need that existed.
They rolled, bodies as one, with Raeila now beneath Ferrig. Their
hips joined, interlocking seamlessly. They fit together as one, and
Raeila knew it was wrong to have denied her brother in the past...and
herself.
She kissed him greedily as he stroked her thigh and smoothly brought
one leg around his waist. "Don't you have to go back to work?" Raeila
asked, breathless with anticipation.
"Who could work when I have you back in my life," he asked as he found
their perfect rhythm. "Weibran knows me, and I'm sure he won't mind
me taking some time off. Besides, now that I have you back, we'll
need a place for both of us and our baby." He couldn't imagine a mate
other than Raeila, they were two halves of a whole and he was certain
no other would do. Not any of the girls at the Palace, not even Aera.
He moaned with pleasure as their pace sped up again, rising with their
lusts.
It was difficult to focus clearly on any one thought as many whirled
through her mind - Miaken, Zari weeping as her baby was ripped from
her embrace, and Kael. He would be hurt, but only because he didn't
understand, not as Ferrig did. If he could forgive her, they would
return to the desert to raise their child, with Ferrig by their side.
Even as she cried out in ecstasy, a tear seeped from the corner of her
eye and puddled in her ear. As happy as she was, she also grieved over
the schism created between herself and her husband. And Dani, though
Raeila wasn't certain whose side she was truly on. If only she hadn't
interfered, Miaken would still be safely in her arms.... But he would
be again, and Ferrig would provide the way. She clutched him to her
possessively, determined not to lose him or her best chance to reclaim
Miaken. Ferrig always had taken care of her and she'd been mistaken
to turn her back on him. He would make everything right.
Ferrig couldn't imagine a more perfect time. It had been some time
since they'd been together, but never in all their time together had
they become one as they did tonight. As they reached their climaxes,
it was together. And, once they'd recovered, they would go and
recover his son, their son.
As he and Raeila lay together, panting from their rigourous exertions,
he smiled and trailed kisses along her shoulders. "I've really missed
you," he whispered. "I'm glad we're together again, little sister."
"It feels...completely right," she sighed, while her fingers
reacquainted themselves with the muscular planes of Ferrig's abdomen.
"We'll, of course, have to hide-out once we get Miaken. We...we could
return to the desert."
"I think that'd be best," he said. "Besides, that's the best place
for our son to be raised."
"But how are we going to get into the apartment?" Raeila asked. "The
place is full of people."
"We'll need a way to get them out," Ferrig said. "What about one of
those alarms they have to warn about fires? Do you think it would get
all of them out? Or would we really need to set a fire?"
"Master Brael would be able to sense if it was a false alarm," Raeila
pointed out. "It'll need to be as real as we can make it. We'd have
to try and separate them - Zari will be grouped with the rest."
"What if we let the aliens do it for us," Ferrig asked. "And that'll
mean we won't have to worry about them chasing us when we get away
with Miaken."
Raeila smiled curiously. "How do you mean? What are you plotting, my
wonderful, brilliant brother?"
"Well, the aliens don't like Jedi, right? Well, we tell them that
that place is just a haven for Jedi. We just need to grab Miaken on
the way out."
"You're going to turn them in?" Raeila whispered in shock. "But...Jae
Dyn Brael...she has children. Won't they be hurt?"
"That's the problem," Ferrig said. "I don't know what they'd do to
any of them, including Zari and Miaken. It won't work, Rae. I
shouldn't have even mentioned it. Maybe a fire is the best option.
We'd need to start it high enough where they would know they needed to
evacuate, but not high enough that they'd really be in danger of getting
hurt."
"In all the confusion...maybe we can get Zari separated from the
others," Raeila mused. "If we distract the others...especially Master
Brael."
Ferrig grinned wickedly. "Oh, I think I have an idea, dear sister,"
he said. "Oh, and I believe we'll need to pick up some diapers,
because we're bringing home a baby tonight!"
Raeila giggled happily and embraced her brother. They rolled until
Raeila was propped atop her brother, grinning down at him. "I guess,"
she purred, trailing a finger over his lips, "we won't have time for
another whirl, hm?"
Ferrig grinned as he ran his hands over her hips. "I think we might
have enough time for another quick romp. Then, we put our plan into
action."
"Action," she echoed with an enticing smile. "I definitely like
that." Raeila lowered her lips to his and soon enough they revelled
in their reconciliation, and in the child they were about to make their own.
"Sibling Conspiracy, Part 2"
By: Raeila Selrid
Ferrig Mullerin
Zari Zathmir
Keeve Zenarr
Maeren Shivral
Kimara
Kallia Brael
Yelara Brael
Kael Selrid
Dani
Location: Yesdol, New Plouton
Date: Lythe 26, 5 ABY
***
Zari walked across the room, Kellin held gently in her arms as she
beamed at him. He gurgled softly as she caressed his cheek. She
looked up to find Keeve watching her. It was clear that she was
happier than she'd been since he'd arrived home that night. "He's so
wonderful," she said. "Oh, Keeve, thank you. From both of us!"
Keeve grinned, though quickly smothered it to admonish, "Don't let him
out of your sight again. He needs his mother." Then, he chuckled and
leaned forward in his armchair to jiggle Kellin's foot. The infant
smiled. "That woman...she was crazy, Zari," he told her gently. "You
saw what she did to Kellin."
"I know," Zari said. "She was...so desperate, and...and if Dani
hadn't stopped her, she might have smothered him. I should take him
to the doctor tomorrow, just to make sure he's all okay." She leaned
in and kissed his cheek. "So perfect."
Sighing, Keeve rose. "You two should go get some sleep." He kissed
first Kellin's brow, then Zari's. He smiled. "I'm proud of you. You
stood up for yourself tonight, and you were finally strong in your
convictions. I do believe you're growing up, Zari."
"Thank you," Zari said. "It means a lot. And, I'm so really happy
that everything worked out. I don't--"
Before she could finish, an alarm blared through the penthouse. As
soon as the sound started, Kellin started wailing. On the other side
of the apartment, Kallia's girls could also be heard voicing their
displeasure.
"Fire," Zari breathed.
"Get him wrapped up - tightly! - I'll gather the others." Keeve
dashed off, hollering to roust anyone who'd managed to find sleep.
Kim appeared at their bedroom door, a towel still wrapped around her
wet hair. "There's a fire," he explained as she opened her mouth to
ask. "Go help Kallia with the babies and get them out."
"Hope!" Kim cried. She whistled, and both could hear the mewling from
in the kitchen.
Maeren appeared from the other side of the room, hair showing the
signs of being towel-dried and shirt hanging open. She gasped when
she saw Keeve, and pulled it closed.
"Go get, Hope," said Kim. "I'll help Kallia." They both rushed off
to do their bit to help get everyone out of the apartment.
When Keeve reached the front door, Zari was already waiting there with
Kellin bundled in her arms. A noticeable cylindrical lump was
concealed inside of her jacket.
"Ready," said Zari.
Keeve nodded grimly and went to the door first. Taking a deep breath
and holding it, Keeve tapped the door panel and exposed the way into
the hall. There was no sign of smoke. He turned to quickly usher the
women out. "Kallia, take the lead! Find us the safest route out." As
she neared he smiled wanly and kissed Yara's crown, burying his lips
deep in her dark curls. "Daddy will be right behind," he whispered to her.
"Beeve!"
Kallia gave her daughter a smile as she went through the door and out
into the hall. The paneled wall beside the lift door had already
opened automatically to reveal the set of stairs descending down to
the main level of the building. Behind Kallia, both Maeren and Kim
came, each with a baby tucked safely in their arms. On Kim's
shoulder, Hope was clinging and looking around curiously.
Leading the way into the emergency stairs, Kallia started down the red
illumined steps. As they went down, there was a faint smell of smoke
on the air.
"Mama," Yara peeped as she looked around. The twins were quiet, but
Kellin was hiccuping in Zari's arms while she whispered soothing words to
him.
"Careful," Keeve urged everyone.
Other voices could be heard as they started down the stairs. It was
clear those from the floors above and below were following the same
evacuation procedure, which troubled Keeve. The stairwell, soon,
would become congested, endangering all. As they reached the second
landing, a blinding beam of light flashed through the doorway and a
shout rang out. "This way!"
Keeve squinted against the blinding light, raised a hand to shield his
eyes. The man wore a helmet and was dressed in a bulky outfit, a
uniform, Keeve presumed. He called to the others. "Back up the
stairs! We've got another way out!"
"Okay," said Kallia as she followed the instructions.
Behind her, Maeren and Kim had the twins while Hope yowled from her
perch atop Kim's shoulder.
"Shush," Kim said to the reisakitten. "I can't hear the instructions
with you going on like that."
In response, Hope just butted her head against Kim's ear.
Zari let the others past, and adjusted the strap of her bag, and
Kellin against her chest. Looking around in confusion, she wasn't
sure why they were going back up, but apparently there was a plan.
Whispering a few calming words to Kellin, she started back the way
they'd come. The smell of smoke was stronger now, and the air was
slightly hazy. Even so, she could still see Keeve and the others in
the harsh light, being motioned on by the crew helping to evacuate the
building.
As they were directed through an emergency exit, the bag slipped from
her shoulder and she had to pause to rearrange it. "It's okay," she
whispered to Kellin, then started after Keeve trying to catch up after
falling behind.
The corridor was growing thicker with smoke and evacuees, and the
distance between she and the rest of her group larger as the crowd
moved in. Soon, Keeve was out of sight behind, and the other women in
front. Only unfamiliar faces and jostling bodies were around Zari.
She was drowning among them. The mass of panicked tenants eager to
escape the blaze herded around the corner. Zari stumbled and
struggled to remain upright. A hand clamped around her arm, keeping
her from falling.
"I've got you," a voice whispered in her ear.
"Thanks," Zari said, struggling under the bag. "I have to find my
family. They were just ahead."
"I'm sorry it's impossible," the female fire rescuer explained, while
pulling Zari free of the crowd, towards the adjacent corridor. "It's
too crowded. Some of you will need to come this way."
"But, my family," Zari said, but then moved along at the prompting of
the official. "It's okay, sweetie," she whispered to Kellin. "We'll
be out soon, and we'll be able to find the others. It's okay, Kellin."
"Ma'am...I really should take the child." The helmeted woman squeezed
her arm detectably. "If you succumb to the smoke inhalation, he'll be
safe in my arms."
"No," Zari said. "I'm not letting him go. Carry the bag if you want,
but I'm not letting go of my baby."
There was a long pause before the woman answered tautly, "As you
wish." She turned them down another corridor and led Zari towards
another stairwell, an empty one. Instead of going down, however, the
fire official led them upwards.
"Hey," Zari said. "Where are we going? Don't we have to get out?
Going up isn't going to get us out!"
"It'll get us to the roof," the officer explained, "where rescue craft
are waiting. The fire began four floors down. If we descend, we'll
get caught in the blaze. Please, just trust me."
"Then why isn't everyone else going to the roof," Zari asked tartly,
but followed along anyway. "We have to get out. I don't like this."
"The others are behind us. We can't all take the same stairwell."
Living on the last floor of the high-rise apartment complex, the roof
wasn't far. They were nearly at the rooftop access. Zari's escort
pulled her along with greater haste. "Almost there," she could be
heard whispering.
"It'll be okay, Kellin," Zari whispered. "We'll be safe in just a few
minutes. Shh, sweetie, it's alright." She could see a door looming
ahead of them with its brightly lit sign indicating it was an exit.
"Almost there."
The officer stopped at the doorway and punched in the access code for
the rooftop. Her hand shook visibly as it worked at the control
panel. With two beeps, the door receded into the frame. A gust of
howling wind greeted them, wrapping its frigid embrace around the three.
"Let's go," the woman rasped, and jerked Zari onto the rooftop. No
rescue craft were in sight.
Zari stepped out onto the roof and frowned. Clutching Kellin
protectively to her breast, she turned and backed away from the door.
"What's going on? What are you doing?"
"We're just waiting for the craft," the woman explained, her voice
changing subtly as she spoke, becoming almost recognizable. She
turned to face Zari, still gripping her arm tightly, and still moving
along the rooftop. "Calm down, Ma'am. It's going to be fine."
"Please," Zari said, "stop...don't touch me like that. Stop pushing
me. You're frightening my baby."
The officer stopped a meter from the building's edge and bent forward,
her eyes peering at Zari through the darkened visor. "Don't you
mean," she drawled wickedly, false voice falling away to reveal the
officer's true identity, "my baby?"
The shock registered briefly in Zari's eyes, but then they narrowed.
"No, Raeila," she said. "I mean, my baby. You did all of this to get
Kellin back? To steal him back? You set fire to the building?
You're insane! First you try to smother him, then you do this? You
need help. Serious help!" She saw another figure appear at the door,
and knew this would be tricky. "Step away from me so I can leave. I
don't want to have to hurt you, but I will if you force me."
Raeila removed her helmet, and with her other hand produced a blaster
from beneath her uniform. The barrel of it was aimed at Kellin's
head. She watched Zari with a glassy, vacant stare that served to
convince Zari Raeila was not in her right mind. "I would have done it
before," Raeila confessed. "I would have killed him today if only to
keep him for myself. Don't make me do it."
Zari twisted her body to shield Kellin from the blaster. As she did,
the lightsaber she'd concealed in her jacket earlier slapped into the
palm of her free hand. The blade ignited casting Kellin, Zari and
Raeila all in its iridescent blue glow. "You can't have him," Zari said.
Behind Raeila, Ferrig removed his helmet and approached slowly.
"Hello, Zari," he said. "Miss me? Now, be a good girl and give
Raeila our baby. You don't want to get in trouble, do you?" If looks
could kill, the one Zari gave him would have reduced him to a
smoldering pile of ash. "Now, now, that little laser sword there is
going to get you in trouble with the Jau. Put it away, give us the
baby, and everything should be fine."
"Tala shouldn't have stopped Cole from killing you," Zari said, then
shifted her attention back to Raeila. "Please, just go. Leave me and
Kellin alone and...and just go."
"But he's mine," Raeila insisted taking a step closer in apparent
disregard for her safety. "You gave him up! You don't really love
him. How could a mother abandon her own child?" Kellin began wailing
and Raeila gasped. "You see," she breathed, and smiled tearfully. "He
wants me."
"No!" Zari rasped, barely above a whisper. "Back away, Raeila. The
Jedi told me I had to give him up to be a Jedi, but after I realized
I'd rather not be a Jedi. Now, move away. You're scaring Kellin."
The weapon in Zari's hand twitched slightly, feinting toward the
blaster held in Raeila's hand.
"You are!" Raeila shrieked. Emotion finally registered on her face,
and it was rage. "I'm his mother! You had no right to take him from
me. And Ferrig. Kellin's his, too!"
"I'm not the one shouting," Zari said. "Please, Raeila. Just go.
Leave us alone. He's my baby, and I won't let him go again. And,
after what Ferrig did, he can jump off the building for all I care."
"I love you too, sweetie," Ferrig said with a forced smile. "Give him
up, and we'll go away. Otherwise, we'll just have to take him from you."
"Come get him then," Zari said. "But, you have to get him away from me
first."
Raeila smiled viciously. "Is that a challenge?" She stepped back and
discharged the blaster with little care for where the shot might land.
Zari's lightsaber flicked slightly, and neatly caught the blaster
bolt. Behind Raeila, Ferrig let out a grunt of pain. He looked down
at the burn mark seared across his thigh.
Kellin's wailing increased in Zari's arms, as she tried to keep him
protected from Rae's blaster.
From near the doorway, a sudden shout broke through the fight.
"Enough! Stop this at once!"
Raeila frowned at the figure past Zari's shoulder. "Come to betray me
again, Kael?"
"I've come to stop you from doing something stupid," Kael said. His
unlit lightsaber was in one hand. Behind him, Dani stood with hers
ready to ignite. "Come away from the edge. Put down your blaster and
let Zari come over to Dani."
"No," she whispered sadly. "Miaken's ours, Kael. She doesn't deserve
him! She didn't even want him!"
"She said she'd kill Kellin to keep him from me," Zari called to Kael.
"She's crazy, Kael. She's really crazy. Leave me alone!"
"Rae, let her go," Kael said. "You can't have Zari's baby. We can
make our own, but you can't have hers. Please, my love, put down your
blaster and come with me."
"Stay out of this, Kael," Ferrig called back. "You've gone soft. The
baby is mine. And, Zari gave him to Rae. He's ours. If you don't
want him, go away, but we're taking him."
With that, Ferrig spun and fired the blaster he'd concealed at Kael.
Kael's lightsaber came up, and deflected the shot up into the sky.
Three steps forward, and a swift strike disarmed Ferrig. Ferrig was
left staring at the sheered edge of the blaster, less than a
centimeter from here his hand still held the remainder of the weapon.
"Raeila, put the weapon down now," Kael called, more forceful this
time. "This is wrong! And you need help."
"There's nothing wrong with me!" she screamed, waving her blaster
carelessly about. "Zari doesn't know what she wants. If I were
anyone else, she'd gladly give up Miaken to me. But because I'm
Ferrig's arozeil, she won't!"
"I wouldn't give my baby up for anyone," Zari said. "Rae, please.
He's my baby. I won't give him up. Please...if...if you can
understand any of that, please just leave. I won't give up Kellin for
anything or anyone."
"Rae, please," Kael said, holding a hand out to her.
"Stop," she pleaded tearfully to Kael. "Why can't you understand me?
Ferrig does. He knows how much this means to me."
"Raeila, this has nothing to do with me understanding," Kael answered
gently. "I know how much this means to you. I know how much you want
a child. But you just can't just steal someone's child. The baby
isn't yours because Zari still wants him. Please, Raeila, can't you
understand that what you're doing is terribly wrong? You can't steal
someone's baby."
"Miaken is my baby!" she raved and lunged for Kellin.
Even encumbered as she was with the baby, the training she'd received
from Talara and Master Novix over the last several months paid off.
With a twist to the side, Zari stepped forward, immediately putting
Raeila's lunge off-balance. If she did nothing further, Raeila would
go over the edge. She could already hear Kael and Dani's horrified cries.
Dropping her lightsaber, Zari reached back and caught Rae's wrist as
she went past. With a Force-enhanced tug, she brought her around, and
reversed her momentum to send her sprawling onto the roof before her.
Kael rushed forward to catch Rae, while Dani moved to block Ferrig's way.
"Come on, sweets," Ferrig said with a smile. He crumpled under Dani's
right cross.
"Rae," Kael called again.
Raeila grunted as hands and knees hit the ground. Emitted almost
simultaneously was the shrill discharge of a blaster. Raeila looked
up, everyone's stares equally as shocked as her own. She shifted her
gaze to Zari, focusing on Kellin. "Miaken," Raeila managed before
slumping to the cold ground.
Kael's hand covered the blaster and pulled it from Rae's hand. It
skittered across the roof to land at Dani's feet. He quickly examined
the wound, and allowed himself to breathe easier. "It's not bad," he
said. "You'll live, this time. Zari, go. Get down to your family."
Zari looked between Ferrig and Raeila, then picked up her lightsaber
and rushed to the stairs.
"Rae, we have to leave now. The authorities are on the way, and if
we're not gone, they will want to arrest you."
"I don't...care," she managed in a pain-tinged grunt. The impact to
her shoulder had charred her clothing, but the fire official's
protective jacket prevented much damage, save for a blistering, bloody
wound to her right shoulder. She tried to pull away from Kael, but
cried out and covered the wound. "Miaken's gone," she sobbed. "Why
did you do this, Kael?"
"Because what you were doing was wrong," Kael said. "That baby is
Zari's, Rae. She may have thought she was going to give him to you,
but she changed her mind. She's allowed that. If you still want to,
we can try to make a baby of our own. Or we can adopt one legally and
legitimately, instead of trying to steal one."
"Ferrig said I shouldn't have to, that I'm a Kir'Thanan, and we get
what we want." Raeila turned her head to where Ferrig was picking
himself up from the rooftop. She smiled wistfully. "I'm a Queen,
Kael. Anything I command, I receive."
"And you believed him because he was telling you what you wanted to
hear," Kael said. "You can't just name yourself a king or queen, and
I don't think the Jau would allow Ferrig to claim Thanatos or any part
of the desert as his own. You've instructed your brother on the
differences between right and wrong, and yet now you can't even see
them yourself. You can't have a baby right now, Rae, but if you come
with me, if you trust me again, I promise you will have the most
beautiful baby in the whole galaxy."
"I did," she sobbed, "and you let him get away." Raeila sat up,
wincing and gasping in pain. She searched the rooftop frantically for
Miaken, but Zari had already escaped. "Ferrig!" she wailed, reaching
her uninjured arm out to him.
"I'm alright," Ferrig said, then glared at Dani. "Will you get out of my
way!"
Dani didn't move, but continued to watch Raeila, her expression
revealing the sadness she felt over her friend's situation.
"Rae, he is not yours. He will not be yours. And you will not
attempt to steal him from Zari again."
"Just lay off her, Kael," Ferrig growled as he stood up. "You've
forgotten what it means to be Kir'Thana. You've forgotten who we are!
The child is Raeila's by right, and Zari should give her up!"
With no wasted movements, Dani put Ferrig hard down on his butt, and
twisted her lightsaber around until it was a centimeter from his nose.
"You're the one who forgot, if you ever knew at all. Being Kir'Thana
isn't about taking what you want because you believe it's yours by
right. Being a Child of Thana is about strength against adversity and
surviving against life's trials. Not selfishly taking what you want
because you're too lazy or weak to work for it yourself." She turned
then to face Raeila. "You have started down a wrong path, and are
going somewhere I cannot follow. I followed Nieme into darkness and
madness, and I cannot do it again. I love you with all of my heart,
and want only the best for you, but the steps you take now are leading
you only to heartache and loss. Please, Raeila, turn back and go with
Kael."
"But you don't understand," she explained sorrowfully. "I feel
so...empty. I need my baby." Raeila's tear-filled eyes shifted to
Kael, and she smiled sadly. "You're not a woman...you don't know how
it feels."
"But, I am your husband," he whispered. "I am your arozeil. I know
the pain you're suffering, and it tears me apart to not be able to do
anything. I want to help, Raeila. I don't want our baby taken away
from us, and that's why we must do this the right way. It'll take
some time, but we will have our baby. Come with me, and we'll go see
Nieme so she can fix what she did. If she can't, we'll go right down
and see about adopting a baby. We will do it, and we'll do it
together. Please, Raeila, trust me for just a little longer, and
you'll be able to hold our baby in your arms. Please."
Raeila looked helplessly between Ferrig, Dani, and Kael, her resolve
wavering. "But...but Miaken," she whispered. "Can't we adopt him?
Zari won't be able to take care of him."
"I think she has plenty of help," Dani said. "He'll be fine. Maybe,
in time, you might be able to visit him. And your baby can be his
best friend."
"That's Kellin, Rae," Kael said as he leaned in and kissed her
forehead. "We haven't met Miaken yet, but we will. And, we'll love
him completely, and he'll be our little miracle. There's still time
now if you want to go see Nieme."
Raeila's body shook with silent tears, and she swallowed down her sobs
to no avail. She curled in on herself, slumping over Kael's
supporting arm and wept convulsively, screaming until her lungs
burned. There was no escape - Kellin was out of her reach. But she
couldn't stop trying, not when she had already experienced his warmth
against her bosom. She called to Ferrig, to Miaken, to Thana, but her
voice was seized by grief and words smothered before they reached her lips.
Dani watched her, sympathetically smiling, and Kael with hesitant
optimism, holding her upright, always supporting her and never letting
up. It was the one, important reason she had married him, but could
he help her through this? Gazing up into his searching, concerned
gaze, Raeila knew, at the least, that he wanted desperately to.
"I don't know what to do," she gasped amid sobs.
"Come with me," he said, his voice a tender whisper, "and we'll start
making everything alright again."
"You promise?" she croaked. "I can't...I can't fail again, Kael. I'll
die."
"I promise, my arozeil," he said. "We'll need to go home now. Is
that okay, my love? Are you ready to go home?"
Raeila nodded slowly, her eyes straying towards Ferrig.
"Not...without him. I-I need him."
"As long as he promises to behave himself," Kael said.
"Sure," Ferrig said with a shrug. "I'll behave."
"And you promise not to hurt him anymore?" This she directed at Dani.
"As long as he doesn't cause trouble, he has nothing to fear from me,"
Dani said.
Raeila lowered her head, giving herself a moment to explore her
feelings and decide for a certainty if she was taking the correct
course. When she raised her eyes to Kael's and witnessed the ardency
there, Raeila couldn't refuse him. "Okay," she whispered, voice thick
with grief. "I'll come. But...this has to work."
"I promise it will," Kael said, then kissed her tenderly.
Biting her lip to stifle sharp gasps of pain, Kael helped her from the
cold duracreet rooftop and guided her towards the door. Her eyes
locked with Ferrig's as they passed and she mouthed an apology to him.
Ferrig's reply was a shrug.
At her side, Kael examined her wound. "I'll take a look at that on
our way back. Dani can pilot the speeder."
"And, I'll just sit and be a good little boy." Ferrig rolled his eyes.
"As long as you do it quietly," Dani said. "Come on."
The smoke that had collected in the corridors was thinning, a sign
that the true fire crew had arrived in time to smother the flames
ignited by Ferrig and Raeila. She wept quietly throughout the trek to
Dani's speeder, unable to match stares with Kael, Dani, or even
Ferrig. All had been disappointed by her at one time or another. She
couldn't decide who to seek atonement from first, and wasn't certain
any would even forgive her.
As they walked, sensing her despondency, Kael reached out and took her
hand into his. It wasn't much, but at least it was a start.