Laying on her desk is a datapad with a message blinking. With the Force, she retrieves it and then settles in on her bed.
A tiny image of herself appears, no... its close, but it's not her. Body language is all wrong, but the girl's Ord Mantell accent seals it... Lara.
"Now what were you up to?"Sera muses, feeling a churn of anger in her chest.
The holo of Lara bows slightly. "Sera, I'm leaving you this message for you so as not to disturb you. You really did need your rest, cousin. I'm notifying you that Admiral Thrawn has seen fit to assign us a new member. He is Lt. Jace Adeen, some commando or other Spec-Ops soldier. Tweaker should have pulled his file and service record by the time you watch this.
"Kor... Cyrus is badly wounded. He tried to patch himself up, but didn't get very far. I got him in some bacta, but..." She looks around then continues in a slight whisper. "But the 2-1B doesn't give him a high chance of survival. If Cyrus got to a skilled combat surgeon, those odds could increase, he was practically electrocuted by Jopal. Ti-Ket was stuck in there with him, the child is going to get scarred. Be nice to him or... well, I don't know what you will find your self waking up to. It won't be pleasant though.
"As for thoughts of rescuing Siella, there might be more to her 'surrender' than we know. Remember that creepy book you thought would be okay to let her study? Well, she did. And she started bleeding out her nose while reading it. To make things more interesting, she created a droid to 'help with the transformation'. It's words. It's very creepy words. With that in mind, and your level of paranoia... check your spy holos of everyone on the ship. Yeah, kept that from me; but truth comes out in the end. I have suspicion so you might want to make it a priority to check over her activities including R4.
"We should be at Corellia now. Tweaker is putting into Imperial supply for needed items. Your best guess as to where we are headed next.
"One last thing. I kinda feel we're on an even playing field now. In an effort to be cordial, I am not going to pass myself off as you. The new guy has met me as Lara Shan, your assistant and cousin. Tweaker and Xol backed me on that one. You just be your 'pleasant' self, he'll see the difference. If you are willing, can you be a litmus test on his opinions of Force-users. Just have the lightsaber visible, is really all Xol and I ask. Other than that, hope you had a good rest. Try not to get us killed."
The image of Lara tosses a small wave before disappearing. Sera groans. "I don't need that much sweetness in the morning."
With a wave of the Force, Sera smacks the intercom. "Xol, my quarters. Please. Bring my favorite bucket of bolts with you. We need to talk."
"...She's awake," Xol mumbles. "Excuse me Jace."
ReplyDeleteXol heads off to find the droid. "You probably heard what Sera said huh Tweaker?" Xol says when he locates Tweaker. "Let's go...see what she wants."
Entering Sera's quarters, Xol sees a pile of blankets on the bed, with some blonde hair sticking out.
ReplyDeleteThe door shuts behind him as a muffled voice comes from the blankets. "You are probably wondering why I have called you here. I have question for you. What in the world has happened these... Tweaker, how long was I out?"
The droid warbles that he has not seen 'Sera' in 6 hours. 'Lara' returned to quarters 4 hours ago.
"Okay so over the course of 6 hours, I see things happened. My cousin sent me a message" A datapad is ejected from the pile of blankets.
"What is going on out there?! I nearly kill myself due to a ghost's retribution, my cousin stops me and tucks me into bed, then I wake up in whatever alternate reality this is... The snake was a crazed mad scientist? Koro gets his ass beat and is dying. Thrawn is shoving guys on us?
At this point I am expecting to hear Sele and Null announce their upcoming marriage or Navik to be all loving and playing with the kids.
"Are we all dead? Did we misjump in hyperspace? Give me something here, Xol! You are the sane one!"
"You nearly did what?!" Xol goes over to try and dig her out of the blankets. He stops. "Wait...you looked fine earlier...she...you both?"
ReplyDeleteHe sits down and rubs his head. "No we aren't dead...thankfully...There is no wedding...but...how did you know about Navik?"
A scream of muffled exasperation comes from the blankets. "Don't tease me like that, Xol."
ReplyDelete"It is a long story and I got caught off guard. Believe it or not, Lara set me straight with a nearly forgotten lesson from my past. She intrigues me more now.
"So let's take it from the top of Lara's list. Crazy Snake Doctor and the alchemy book. Where is the book now?"
"Tease you? You said I was sane..." he chuckles. "Glad you're ok...Now the book. That's in a crate. Where THAT is...I don't know."
ReplyDeleteSera groans. "Thank you, cousin. Way to make that more complicated.
ReplyDelete"Can we trust anything Siella has done now? What's this about a droid running talking about transformations?"
"I don't know of anything Siella was working on. And since she is no longer here, we couldn't just ask her...If she would even just tell us."
ReplyDelete"The droid," he chuckles again. "Aside from terrifying Set, it's just been going around trying to be helpful. It's one of the strangest droids I've ever seen...Lara talked to it the most. I'm sure if you ask it questions, it will respond as best it can."
More groaning from the blankets.
ReplyDelete"Next order of business. Cyrus and Ti-ket."
"Cyrus was banged up pretty bad by Jopal." Sera can hear a sort of sad caring tone in Xol's voice.
ReplyDelete"He is going to be out of commission for a while. In bacta even. Ti is in shock. I'm trying to keep him out of the med bay and distracted. Navik has been doing a good job of helping with that."
"Lara said the numskull tried to bandage himself and passed out in front of Ti. She also mentioned that the 2-1B gave him long odds on a recovery.
ReplyDelete"Do you think we need to pursue other medical care? Lara had thoughts of specialized combat care. I don't know if we could use the Empire's or not, but I'm not sure how many freelance combat specialists out there."
"I think we should try and get him as much help as he needs. Should we ask Thrawn?"
ReplyDelete"You can make the call. I don't know what we might get, though.
ReplyDeleteIn many of these covert scenarios, you are on your own when it comes to injuries. Be prepared to find someone who knows their stuff though. An old medic, mob doctor, hell maybe a veterinarian." the pile of blankets says.
"I'll do what I can to distract Ti as well. No kid ever needs to watch their parent die."
There is a long silence in the room for a time. Sera emerges partially from the blankets and looks at Xol and Tweaker. She yawns slightly before trying to smooth down her hair.
"Okay. Last thing. The new guy, Mace Saymee or whatever his name is. Tweaker, give us the file."
The droid casually corrects Sera and then begins to list all the data he could find. Even a few things he had to fight to get.
"There that smeeleeya I love so much," Xol jokes when Sera finally comes out of the blankets, trying to lighten the mood from the last comment. Xol is a little glad shes not actually smiling now though because the last few times she has smiled, it wasn't good...
ReplyDelete"Well you're the one who has the better relationship with these people...I think Cyrus has a chance..."
An annoyed look sets itself on Sera's face. "E-Chuta to you too." as she sticks out her tongue at Xol.
ReplyDelete"So what do you think of the newbie?"
"Not fair..." Xol taps his mask with a claw.
ReplyDelete"I didn't get much of a chance to talk to him. I don't think he's comfortable with this whole set up. Informal...aliens...children...he's probably wandering the ship right now."
"Really? Judging by his record, he's been around the block a time or two.
ReplyDelete"What are the odds of him snapping at the sight of a lightsaber or throwing Black Sun thugs through the air? Lara mentioned you two had discussed it."
"Oh that's right...he may not react too adversely to a light saber."
ReplyDelete"Oh really? How so?" Sera replies raising an eyebrow.
ReplyDeleteAfter a couple of minutes anyone near the crew quarters can hear Navik yelling, and the blaster fire, as if he unloaded a full power pack in to something. A few seconds later he comes out of his room, smoke pouring out from behind him. He then starts to walk away, he hits the fire control for his room. He walks to the cleaning closet and activates the droid in there. He then follows it back to his room.
ReplyDeleteXol hears the blaster fire and jumps up. "What the..." He runs out the door and looks over the balcony to make sure Set is ok since that was where he saw him last and then sees the sight poring from the crew quarters.
ReplyDeleteJumping out of the cockpit, jace hits the ground a rolls, drawing his Westar 43 out of his shoulder holster looking for the source of the fire.
ReplyDelete"Cockpit area clear" he calls with a cliped Imperial Accent. "Whos shooting?"
Xol steps back surprised by the sudden action jumped into by Jace. "Looks like the rodian...?" Xol heads down to get details on as to why Navik is shooting up the place.
ReplyDeleteThe door to Siell'a quarters open and SL-01 slithers out. "Has there been accident? Those small biological units should not be performing weapon drills. Their inferior skills will certainly lead to personal injury."
ReplyDeleteTweaker pushes past Jace and Xol, rolling into Navik's room. Bursts from his fire extinguisher can be heard between frantic whistling.
ReplyDeleteSoft footfalls approach from behind. Sera stands there; hair unkempt, barefoot, and wrapped in a thick robe over her bedclothes. Her green eyes glint as she narrows her eyes at the scene.
"What in the nine hells of Corellia is he trying to do to my ship?" she says coldly.
Xol walks up behind Sera. "Now now...it's Thrawn's ship..."
ReplyDelete"But really Navik," Xol tries to fan away some smoke from his face. "What ARE you doing in here?"
"Everyone ok?" Jace calls in his clipped imperial accent again. He holsters his weapon, and walks down the stairs to examine what happened
ReplyDelete"It belongs as much to Thrawn as that Star Destroyer he lives on. Which is to say neither of them belong to Thrawn, but are there for his use by pleasure of the Emperor. And we know where such stands in regards to myself. Don't we, Xol?"
ReplyDeleteSera gives a glance toward Jace, giving him a little scrutiny. "I think so. Where are Set and Ti, Xol? You said Navik was accompanying them."
"Set and Ti are over there with Widdimur," Xol points to some boxes. "They are safe."
ReplyDeleteNavik turns to look at the group out side his door and says, "Its a long story, this was out of anger. At my self. That was the hardest day of my life..." The group can tell he is breaking down, he sits on his bed. "When I was young my kid brothers and sister where killed in a fire, it kills me every day that I wasn't there to get them out of the house, Set and Ti-ket remind me of them, and the droid wanting to cut Set up. It just kind of got to me, how it seems i have been given a second chance to save them from 'the fire'." He looks at the wall, now black with carbon scoring. "If you would all kindly disperse, I can get back to dealing with this. I'll be fine."
ReplyDelete"What Have I gotten myself into..." Jace wonders mentally.
ReplyDeletehe walks up to Sera, and extends his hand.
"Adeen. Jace Adeen. I dont believe Weve met yet." He says
-----------------------------------------------------------
Ti appears from the opposite side of the room, and says
"I guess im getting pretty good at this stealth thing!! everyone has been trying to figure out where ive been all day, and Ive just been walking around"
Xol nods. "Just try and take a breather before you pull out a blaster next time."
ReplyDeleteShe shakes his hand very firmly given her size and build. "So you are the one Lara left the message about." Her accent has strong Coruscanti, mixed with something Outer Rim.
ReplyDelete"A pleasure to make your acquaintance, Lieutenant. My name is Sera. I apologize for the commotion. Navik does not usually have the fire starting flashbacks until after his fifth pot of caf.
"Speaking of which, I will need cup if I am to get going. If you wish to continue this, please follow me to the galley."
Navik gets up, walks over to Xol and puts his hand on his shoulder, "Xol, I have taken a 'breather' every day. I don't know what was done or said, but something hit me just right and i couldn't control myself," he looks a 'the girl' "as for your ship, nothing i have done is permanent," he shifts to Jace, "I'm sorry this is your first impression of me, it won't happen again, I can promise you that." He then pushes past them and heads to the galley.
ReplyDelete"I could use a cup, its been a long day." he says. Checking over his shoulder to make sure no one else open decides to pull a blaster, he falls into step behind and to the right of Sera.
ReplyDelete"Food!" Set hops off the box and heads toward the rest of the group. When he reaches them he stops, looks Sera up and down, and stifles a giggle.
ReplyDeleteSera smirks a little at Navik's apology. "My father always said you never get a second chance to make a first impression. We'll see what he does to remedy this."
ReplyDeleteSera gives Set a "knock it off" look before turning back to Jace.
"Things have been very odd since... since our flight back from Malachor. It may have been a side effect of the gravitic anomalies in the system."
As the group steps into the galley, Sera clenches her jaw as her bare foot pulls against a sticky deck. She growls a little at the inconvenience. Another look at Set, before she turns to the maintenance closet there and activates the cleaning droid. "The deck is still sticky in here from two younglings playing with the auto-chef. They managed to dump several liters of ice cream on the floor."
Getting a hot cup of caf, Sera sits down across from Jace. "So Lieutenant, what do you bring to our happy little family?"
After taking a long sip of his caf, Jace sits across from sera and says "The Grand Moffs, seem to think the idea of the Super solider is dead. The Idea of simply sending 10 highly trained individuals when you can simply throw 1000 into the meat grinder apparently bores them now, and they are leaning toward the latter. Lord Thrawn, and a Man by the name of Lieutenant Rom Mohc seem to think they are wrong. Ive been sent as part of a...Test group. Simply put, Im here to assist you in eliminating any one that gets in this task forces way." He says matter of factly, taking another long drink of Caf.
ReplyDeleteSL-01, watching the crew wander away slithers after them into the galley. The droid pauses at the doorway, observing the rooms occupants with it's glowing red eyes.
ReplyDelete"Hey...we didn't drop that much..." Set says. You can imagine he's sticking his tongue out at her as he hits a few buttons on the auto-chef. He looks back to grab his treat.
ReplyDelete"OH! Oh yeah...I forgot..." He sadly looks up at Xol as he rolls the apple around in his hands.
Set looks at the droid and offers it his apple while Xol tries and gets him something "better" to eat.
ReplyDeleteSL-01 slither towards the autochef. "This unit appears to be malfunctioning," the droid says pointing at the autochef. "The small biological unit did not request fruit." A compartment opens in it's chest and several tools spring out which begin to swiftly dismantle the autochef. "Repair protocol Beta commencing."
ReplyDelete"Yay!" Set applauds and Xol steps away from the droid. For one, he doesn't want to get hit by anything. For another, he wants to be out of the way for when Sera gets up...
ReplyDelete"Cowards will always send extravagant numbers into the the worst scenarios. Reminds me of an old story from the wars of Xim the Despot. Xim had the most advanced fighting force the galaxy had ever seen all those thousands of years ago, he had the first war droids. The Republic was determined to stop the pirate, so they sent a captain into battle with every soldier they could gather.
ReplyDelete"The captain claimed that he could stop the army that no one else could. He said he knew a secret. At the end of the day, Xim's army was defeated and the pirate had to flee Republic space. He would never return.
"The brave captain was a hero, what was left of his army were too. However the captain had sat aboard his ship while his men made planet fall. He ordered his men to charge the machines constantly with no repreive.
"You see, he knew that the machines had just seen battle and had not been repaired or set to fight again. He knew that while many would be destroyed outright, others would simply stop working for lack of maintenance after killing so many of his men.
"While sometimes certain applications require large shows of force, the ability to recognize the difference is lamentably referred to as 'tactical genius' instead of just 'tactics'.
"Sending men to die like that is a waste on all levels. I had the same issue with the stories of the Jedi led armies during the Clone Wars. These vaunted heroes walking away after spending the lives of their troops."
She takes a sip of her caf and savors the flavor. Testing the air around Jace with her comments.
"Desist droid! The auto-chef works as re-programmed. The younglings do not have the proper access level to order certain items. Their parental figures have access to give them such treats on their decision."
ReplyDeleteA little hurt, jace responds with "I served with Master Windu in the clone wars. I can tell you, he never left any of my lot to die. Never seen a guy fight like he could either..."
ReplyDeleteJace sort of drifts off, remembering his old comrades in arms.
"I gatta say though, alot of the stuff they say about the jedi arnt true. Mind you, I missed a couple years, but during the clone wars they lived and breathed for the republic, at least the ones I met"
SL-01 pauses, half the autochef has been dismantled, wires hang loosley, some of them sparking. "My data indicates Xim the Despot was defeated by Kossak the Hutt. Perhaps my programming has become corrupted." The droid turns towards Sera its glowing red eyes focused upon her. Shall I reassemble this faulty AutoChef unit?"
ReplyDelete"Just...put it back to the way it was please," Xol says to the droid. "It was just re-programmed..."
ReplyDeleteSera raises an eyebrow. "Really? Ask Navik, over there, sometime about his feelings of the Jedi and his homeworld, Cristophsis.
ReplyDelete"Find it interesting that you are willing to admit knowing the Jedi who tried to assassinate Emperor Palpatine."
SL-01 spins back towards the AutoChef. "Reassembling back to faulty preset condition."
ReplyDelete"No thank you, droid. Assist the R2 unit around Navik's quarters with any repairs to that room. I will personally see to the auto-chef again." Sera says taking deep breath.
ReplyDeleteXol can feel ripples of irritation from Sera.
ReplyDeleteWires continue to hang down from the AutoChef sparking. "It would be unsafe to leave the AutoChef in this state. It would be a very simple thing for biological units to be maimed while it is in this condiotn." The droid spins back to face Sera and slithers close to the table, its glowing red eyes make slight whirring noises as they examine Sera. "This biological unit is very similar to the biological unit designated Lara. There is a 90% probability that they are the same biological unit."
ReplyDelete"I feel...spooky..." Set says looking around the room. "What is that..."
ReplyDeleteXol shoots an angry glance at Sera. "Maybe someone should have tea next time...more relaxing."
"There has to be more to that story then is actually told. I fought with him for 3 years. Its not like him to simply try to slay the emperor... Eh who knows? Its not like we were best mates, but it just dosnt seem right. All Im saying, is there is always 2 sides to every story. Hell, Im sure the CIS had a great reason to send millions of blood thristy battle droids at us." The last sentence is said with loads of sarcasm.
ReplyDelete"Thats because they are cousins , droid" Jace says with a bit of malice. "You really need to get re-programmed " he adds
ReplyDeleteSL-01 turns to Jace, "Your information is inaccurate. Droids do not require liquid sustenance. Even if they did Hemo fluids would not provide adequate nutritonal sustenace to support them."
ReplyDelete"And THIS is why I cant stand droids. This one dosnt even know what its talking about. Your master must have been some kind of lonely if it wanted YOU around"
ReplyDeleteSera rolls her eyes at the droid and begins to ignore it.
ReplyDelete"There were heroes on both sides as stories go. But for every good honest hero, you had two nasty pieces of work that reinforced the other's opinion. Though honestly, Dooku was a monster with a charming smile and silver tongue. Whatever pure motives the CIS might have had were easily corrupted by that 'former' Jedi.
"Now with all this talk of war, your file says you are from Alderaan. Did not expect to see that. A soldier from the planet that sent all their weapons on a one way trip into space, very fascinating.
"Aww don't be mean guys!" Set inches closes to the droid. "It's um...oh well I don't know...but you don't have to be mean!"
ReplyDeleteSL-01 straightens it's posture, looming above the table and it's occupants. It's red glowing eyes focus on Jace. "These biological units have become highly aggitated. High levels of stress have been known to be fatal to biological units. SL-01 recommends becoming less agitated immediately."
ReplyDeleteIgnoring the droid, Jace turns back to Sera, saying "When the Republic called, I answered. After an extended leave, I answered that call again. Im afraid you have me at a disadvantage, as I wasnt really provided with any information about you."
ReplyDeleteSera takes another long sip of her caf.
ReplyDelete"Apologies, we were provided with nothing on you either. However, we've learned to be wary and resourceful in learning who it is we are dealing with. Xol recalls the cautionary tale of Sethrin or that Mandalorian... the stupid one... starts with a K.
"I digress, I mean no disrespect to you by discussing the choices of your planet's populace. My own chose an ill-fated neutrality in the Clone Wars. Most people hear Alderaan and believe everyone to be sitting in a field holding hands and in the sunshine."
with a laugh, jace responds "Well, you would be right about that. Smiles and sunshine seem to be our planets primary export. If you really did your homework, your files would show you that those of us that do take arms generally make up for the rest of our population. No offense taken"
ReplyDelete