Ryloth

[Rahalin Toral II]

Being burned alive provided plenty of fodder for the subconscious to haunt the dreams of a recovering patient. The Doctor's and specialists monitoring Rahalin's care told him that several techniques had been used to suppress his subconscious early in his recuperation so that now he would require therapy to ameliorate the effects of his dreams on his sleep patterns. Rahalin had readily agreed.

 

The doctor whom had informed him had looked shocked and said,"Given what background we were provided on you, I am suprised you capitulated so easily."

 

Rahalin had not laughed at the man's confusuion. He all too well understood the tendency of people to see a verde as being possessed by some of form machoistic behavior. Still, Rahalin wanted to gently set the man's thinking on a better path.

 

"I have a choice in the matter. Deal with the problem on my own and possibly weaken my clan because I cannot perform my duties to the fullest or admit my weakness, heal sooner, and thus be able return to full duty and bring my strengths back to the clan. "

 

Rahalin said that without rankle, without hostility. People without any training, even the minimal training he had would never understand. True understanding took a lifetime, something Rahalin intended to pursue.

 

The therapy had helped with the nightmares and helped Rahalin acknowledge and begin dealing with the very real of fire that he had developed. It w as d therapy he would continue even after leaving the hospital thanks to a therapy module that had been affixed to one of the HK droids. Rahalin thought that having a droid proficient in Psychology might be useful in certain situations, especially those dealing with dar'jidai..

 

Leaving the hospital turned out to be almost as exhausting a process as some of the physical therapy sessions Rahalin endured. Getting the HK droid was just the first step in the process. Payment had alrwady been done by the Sisters, making Rahalin in debt to his benefactors once more. He rssolved and eventually would find out exactly owed and payed every credit back. The number of forms that needed to be signed, last minute tests, and the various specialists that needed to advise him on the new limits he would face during the extended recovery process that still remained.

 

Still, despite being discharged and months of bacta sessions, he needed to condition muscles that despite being regenerated had not retained the edge that they had once had. Knowing that, Rahalin scheduled twice daily physical fitness sessions. He never learned that a bacta shortage and misdiagnose of his needs by a drug addled physician had extended his recovery time far beyond what should have been neccessary. A drug addled physician whom overdosed midway through Rahalin's hospital stay, drowning in his own bathtub while high.

 

Rahalin knew that all his skills needed retraining. Since his basic fitness alone prevented him from even basic flying, he found a commercial flight simulation service that included some historic combat modules. The simulations, even with some of the featues turned down stressed his abilities. The worst part of his recovery finally permeated ever level of his mind, not the loss off general fitness that could be recovered, but the muscle memory that reduced reaction time in so many activities.

 

After that rwalization, Rahalin knew what was coming when he went to a firing range the first time. He went anyway, needing both the practice and an idea of how much training he needed. His practice turned out to be a disaster in terms of his accuracy and reaction time according to the droid serving as rangemaster, but Rahalin saw things differently. Any illusions about his recovery were shreds and the work of retraining begun in earnest.

 

Recovery of his various combat skills occupied most of his time, but a time approached when he would need transportation capable of reaching the stars. The sisters, upon his asking, had started a search for where Apophenian now lived. Their search had been a simple one, using a droid or two to scan the holonet for any mention of the being. Rahalin did the same during some of his free time. None of them had any luck until a spacer on a cargo run from Coruscant and shooting with Rahalin mentioned meeting a Twi'lek using that name at a bar there.

 

Once Rahalin learned that, Rahalin went to the shop where they had taken the VC-X recently obtained from Miko's bulkheads. The ship, now renamed Redemption would have been far outside his resources in the local market but for an accident in the streets. The three had been walking towards Miko's when Rosa pointed out several individuals, dressed in weapon concealing long coats trying to look at ease while specfically not guarding a specific door.

 

The three, dressed and armed appropriately now that Rahalin's skills had begun to return to where they needed to be, calmly walked away intent on reaching their destination. Outside the entrance to Miko's, a young, well dressed and obviously dangerous women motioned them closer to a stretched vip transport. The woman, the driver and one of many bodyguards stood by a rear window which rolled down to reveal an old human being nuzzled by a girl in her late twenties and wearing a filmy dress that bared all without actually doing so.

 

"Mandalorians, I want to offer you employment," said the man. The three simply continued staring at the man, their visors concealing their expressions. Rahalin, still silent, simply stepped forward to show a willingness to listen.

 

"Master Mandolorian, there are some things occurring not far from where we stand where things are happening that need to stop." He motioned to his assistant whom held up a one use commlink. Rahalin understood that if he accepted the commlink, he would recieve details about the job.

 

Accepting the commlink was only the first step as the actual price of the job needed to be negotiated. Still, he stepped forward and glanced at the details that flashed acrossed his visor's screen when he mated the commlinkto his helms internal system. The human must have been experienced with Mandalorians because the terms of the contract were exceedingly generous and included a half downpayment for accepting. Included in the contract was also a clause allowing them any plunder found during the raid. Considering their needs at the time, the three Mandolorians readily agreed.

[Adenna Alluyen]

Sandy cried for as long as she needed to cry. Adenna didn't stop her or try to interfere beyond sending whatever comfortable thoughts she could at her traumatized Padawan. While she did so, she quietly stroked the blonde girl's hair and was just there for her.

 

She was very grateful to Ariana for not trying to interfere. The girl may have left at some point or she might have stayed, Adenna didn't know, but she did know that she left the two alone. Adenna felt almost bad about having the girl wait around for them with nothing to do. It had to be awkward to see this scene. As bad as she might have felt, though, she didn't change it. Right now, Sandy was her primary concern.

 

In time, Sandy grew tired and faded into sleep. She had to be weak after the injuries and treatments. The worst of her injuries had been healed either by bacta or by the Force at least to the point where they were no longer a threat to her, so Adenna wasn't concerned for her health. She tucked the girl in and let her sleep.

 

With Sandy out for the near future, Adenna had time to address a few other things. The first of which was what to do with Ariana. She noticed that she had a message from one of the CoreSec agents. With Sandy found and in no danger, they had left the planet to return to Coruscant. Before they did, they had been kind enough to rent a hotel room nearby for the rest of the week.

 

Adenna let Ariana know where it was and said she was more than welcome to use it. The keycard was under Adenna's name, so she called the hotel and authorized Ariana to collect a copy of the card just in case. Adenna didn't hold any control over Ariana so she would let her choose what she wanted to do. If she wanted to stay in the hospital, that was her choice. She could roam the city or even leave if she choose. It wasn't that Adenna didn't care, it was just that she had no reason to hold the girl against her will or force her to do anything.

 

The second problem she had to deal with was this agent Ad'Goran that had contacted Sandy. From what little she could glean from the hospital staff, she gathered that the agent was a woman and that she had been brought in with Sandy by Commissioner Fett. Adenna figured the two knew each other either from captivity or from the rescue because she had contacted Sandy. That meant that Adenna wanted to see what could be done for the woman, especially since the sensations she was getting from the staff was that she was in bad shape.

 

The doctors didn't want to let her in to see the sleeping agent, but Adenna persuaded them through words and a little of the Force that she was a healer and could help where they could not. They didn't seem to like it, but they were too tired to resist any further and didn't want to start any trouble with someone wearing a lightsaber.

 

Adenna went to the woman's bed and received a quick rundown from one of the nurses about her situation. Toxic drugs were all through her system and she had been beaten nearly as badly as Sandy. Her recent surgery had left her healing, but still out of commission. There wasn't any true danger to her condition that Adenna could see, but that didn't mean infection or some other complication wouldn't develop.

 

After probing the woman through her Force senses, she began to formulate a plan for healing her. The first thing she did was begin stimulating the newly implanted organs so they would fully graft with the rest of her body and function normally. That didn't take long as the doctors had already applied some sort of odd mixture of bacta and ryll directly around the grafts in some sort of dissolving patches.

 

With that complete, she began focusing on the toxins and harmful drugs in the woman's system. She could induce them to exit the body via sweat so she did. It took time to gather the chemical compounds and force them to work their way out of the agent's body, but it was far faster than allowing nature to take its course.

 

She stayed with the woman for three hours focusing on removing the toxins and ensuring the organ replacements didn't get rejected or infected. After that time, she could heal no more. The strain of the earlier healing work on Sandy and this was exhausting. Plus, Adenna wanted to be with Sandy when she woke, so she had to leave.

 

She told the doctors of what progress she had made and let them run their scans and make adjustments to their treatments. While they did that, Adenna returned to Sandy's room, pulled up a chair to her bedside, and waited.

[Ariana La'vohn]

Ariana took a moment of silence to think to herself while the young girl sobbed heartily on the shoulder of her master Adenna, who Ariana had only met a day or two ago. By now, Ariana could only assume that Adenna's robes were sopping wet from Sandy's tears, but all the Miraluka could see were thin outlines gliding upon blue ghosts. Ghosts that came and went frequently without cause or reason. It was as if her body was propelled within a sea of sapphire and the ghosts were just along for the ride. Whatever they were though and however they felt to her, the ghosts were really the only way she could see the world without her implants. Light guided seeing was so perplexing to imagine, that she often wondered how the minds of humans work in a world of colors both bright and dark. Colors meant nothing to her and even when her implants worked, she didn't particularly care what colors she wore or the colors she learned. She would occasionally ponder them, but colors were no more than a passing curiosity. The fact that the ghosts bore strikingly similar essences to the colors of blue and red, were merely the propagation of Ariana's subconscious in the means of determining differing people and personalities. Still... There were many ghosts, of many shapes and sizes; all of them with their own story to tell.

 

In fact, Adenna and Sandy were ghosts too. The larger blue ghost adjacent to Sandy was Adenna and the smaller blue ghost nestled to her shoulder was the small Padawan. Her spirit was still scarred and her essence was still accompanied by the dark cloud from before, but the cloud wasn't nearly as big as it was before and it was shackled perhaps metaphorically, to Sandy's head as she wept in muffled tears upon Adenna's shoulder. For a moment Ariana tried to focus on the cloud, but without knowing what it was or where it came from, she couldn't do anything with it. It was a puzzle with no easy solution and parts that just seemed to get harder to comprehend the longer she looked at them.

 

She was kind of out of place in this realm and didn't really know what to think about the situation, but there was some invisible essence hanging over head that demanded silence from her. Maybe it was common courtesy or etiquette she didn't really know, but either way, Ariana stayed still and didn't say anything to anyone unless deliberately addressed. Unfortunately this didn't really leave her with much else to do or think about, so she remained where she was until she was asked to leave the room by a passing orderly. The Miraluka didn't really understand why, but she didn't have the energy nor reasoning to question it. So she did what she was asked and went from silently lingering around the operation room to silently lingering around the hall.

 

It wasn't much of a change really, because she could still see Adenna and Sandy through the wall, but now she could see the white ghosts of the orderlies a bit clearer as they milled about around her in their hurried attempts at reviving those they could. She even heard a disgruntled man walking with a limp, yell in an orderly's face. Why? Ariana couldn't tell, but it had something to do with Lupis, whatever that was. Ariana took a few moments to puzzle it over, but with a light tap on her shoulder she dismissed the earlier curiosity and looked to find Adenna standing beside her.

 

She was speaking quietly to Ariana about an apartment on Coruscant that she could go to. A place where Ariana could be alone, on Coruscant. Alone... On Coruscant...

 

The thought alone gave her chills. Involuntary spasms of nostalgia pierced her brain upon each syllable and the frightening avatars of her past watched as her peaceful presence began to crumple. She didn't want to go back there until she knew she could defend herself. She knew she stood a better chance now that she was stronger and cleaner than she was before, but that might just make her more presentable for the next criminal that sought to invoke his perverted dreams upon her.

 

Ariana shook her head slightly and her soft bundle of shoulder-length white hair hurried to match pace. After she was done, a large strand of hair was balanced upon her blindfold, disturbed only by the movement of Ariana's head as she looked toward Adenna's head.

 

"I appreciate the thought, and I'd be more than willing to accompany you to Corsucant, but I will not go back there alone. I want to find a place where..." Ariana lost her train of thought for a moment and was about to look away, but caught herself and brought her thoughts back to the conversation, "I want to find a place where I won't be alone." She knew that dependency was a weakness, but after being held so long in the dark to avoid the creatures that dwelt within the darkness, it often paid to be dependent on things that meant prolonged safety, even if the safety was tenuous.

 

"If it is not too much trouble, I would like to stay with you for a while until I find a place where I am comfortable staying." Ariana's voice shook a little, because she was a little timid. She knew from before that Adenna had Sandy to look after and more than likely, from her explanations in the ship, had other things on her mind, but if Ariana wanted to stay, she somehow knew that she would have to be the one to ask.

 

Adenna didn't give her an answer at first though, because as Ariana suspected, Adenna was running on a slightly different track than she was. Ariana couldn't really tell what she was doing, because she seemed to be leaving her padawan alone and going to another room. It was quite odd, but when the Miraluka strained to ask why, Adenna had left her standing there. So without and easy explanation to her inquiry, Ariana poked her head into the operation room to see what had happened to Sandy, if anything. After a few moments of silent staring nothing happened, but within the first few minutes of time she spent listening, Ariana could hear the faint sounds of a small girl breathing heavily. The sounds were loud enough for Ariana to discern what was going on and seemed to point at a proper reason for Adenna's move, but what did Adenna want with anyone else in the hospital?

 

It was a curious question and one that Ariana left without an answer. If she wanted to figure out she would go, but it wasn't her business. She was in the company of people who had their own journey before them. They were a river flowing through a great plain. Ariana couldn't tell where their choices would lead the flow of the water, but she knew if she stood still and interrupted the flow, she would more than likely be excised in order to preserve it.

 

So she sat outside the operating room and waited for Adenna to finish her business, so she could accompany her back inside.

[Moon Knight]

The Justice returned to Ryloth and ShadowFett checked in with the hospital staff over comm during his approach. They had moved quickly, Mand'alor noted, and now Mirdala's surgery had been completed and she was being kept largely sedated as the drugs worked their way out of her system. She would need plenty of rest over the next few days, they informed him, but there was now no problem with visitation.

 

Setting his vessel down at the spaceport, the Mando'ad made his way quickly to the hospital, as always clad in beskar'gam and bearing weapons, though he didn't think there was any threat and so didn't carry his rifle. One advantage of being a CoreSec officer was that the hospital allowed him to continue to carry his weapons in what would otherwise have been a gun-free zone. He didn't believe that there was ever a place that was safe from any threat, and the dar'jetiise often made hospitals into targets to satisfy their own sick appetite for the murder of innocents.

 

As Fett neared Mirdala's room, he noticed someone departing it clad in the robes of a jetii. He didn't recognize the woman, but took a guess that she had come in response to his message about the habir'jetii he had rescued. He was glad that someone had come and so he did not need to be responsible for the girl any longer, as much as he didn't mind helping her. Hopefully the Jedi had been inside helping Mirdala because of the influence he'd no doubt had on Sandy.

 

Some of the staff approached him with questions, but for now he waved them off. "Let me see the Lieutenant," he told them. "There will be time for your questions." They couldn't really argue, and soon he was sitting next to the unconscious form of his traat'aliit'ad. She still had a haggard, emaciated look to her, reminding him again how horrible her ordeal had been. He could guess at some of the things the shabuire had put her through, but knowing intellectually what they had done was insufficient for him to fully grasp the experience, or understand the full effect that it would have on Mirdala.

 

Still, he could tell that she was healing quickly. The superficial wounds and bruises were gone, though he imagined she still had a few surgery lines that the bacta hadn't healed away yet. All said, she looked much better than when he had loaded her onto a hoversled in the tunnels under the sand. Just thinking about it now gave him an exquisite sense of satisfaction that he had killed Uhalu, and tremendous relief that she was mandokarla enough to have survived the ordeal. Whether he liked it or not, he had become... emotionally involved.

 

And yet, aliit was one of the most important things to a Mando'ad. Family, combat, fighting at each other's sides, the pain of loss and the fond memories of those that had passed into the Manda, or the Force, or whatever--these things had defined them as a culture for millenia.

 

He wasn't going to turn back, no matter what had happened to Yuusuke Hakusho and no matter what Marc Spector desired for him.

[Mirdala Ad'Goran]

Mirdala slept for about an hour longer, this time on her own power, as the doctors had adjusted the sedatives in response to the healing that the Jedi had provided their patient.

 

In her sleep a hunger that she couldn't quite explain still gnawed at her, chasing her in the hel-lish landscape that her dreams had adopted as of late. To the edge of a precipice it chased her, and she turned to fight it, but no matter how she struck at it, there was no substance for her to strike. Then she was falling into the blackness below her as she misstepped”¦

 

Suddenly she bolted upright, her right hand in a fist and ready to strike; she was breathing heavi-ly and it took her more than a few moments to register where she was and who was in the room with her. ”œFett, that better be you, because I'm really not in the mood to fight my way out of another facility.”

[Moon Knight]

Although he was startled by the violent motion with which Mirdala awoke, ShadowFett managed not to flinch. Instead he stared patiently at her through his buy'ce, knowing that she would be a little bit delusional due to the effects of withdrawal. She was indeed breathing heavily, but as she looked around herself, she started to get a fix on where she was, the fact that he was here, that she was only feeling the echoes of her ordeal and that the danger was past. He remained silent for her attempt at humor, knowing it was a coping mechanism and more concerned about the need than whether it was actually funny.

 

When she asked him about an ysalamir, he immediately knew what she was feeling. Isolder had experimented with spices just a bit in his wealthy youth, and in Hapan Space, you could get anything you wanted if you had the means. "Nayc," he responded. "Don't worry, Mird'ika, it won't be gone forever."

 

She reached out her hand toward him; Fett reflected that she could be attributing his presence to another drug-induced dream. He reached up and took her hand in his own, gripping it tight enough to remove all doubt that this was really happening without inflicting pain. "It's safe to relax now," he said. "You have no reason to apologize to anyone. I'm only sorry I didn't get there sooner." Part of him also wished he had never let her go out on that mission by herself when he was her traat'aliit'ad. However, what had taken place did not make her choice a poor one, and indeed, she had proven herself equal to the challenge and had possibly saved lives in the process. Somehow, good had been done.

 

A thousand knights in white robes stood behind him. He knew how so many of them would feel in this situation. Pure human nature was buried deep within him, behind layers of honor and discipline. But he was Mand'alor, holding to his ideals on the most fundamental level. Nothing he felt did not first go through that filter. And now, despite everything, he couldn't swear endless revenge on slavers, he couldn't swear that he would never leave Mirdala's side again, or that he would die before she was brought that close to death again. He would simply be the best that he could be, as a Mando'ad and as her traat'aliit'ad. It was his duty.

 

((I hope that made sense. I feel like I know Fett pretty well, but sometimes I still struggle to get these complex concepts into words. Aay'han and the Mando sense of loving life but willingly risking it every day are particularly difficult to fully grasp.))

[Vihk]

Some garbled static emitted through a strangled comm signal. The message was fairly weak, but still tangible. It had CoreSec clearance codes on it and was sent directly to Moon Knight.

 

-= Mand'alor ibic is Vihk. Ni kar'taylir casual calls are a go'naasir cuyir ca'nara, bal ni kar'taylir gar probably ganar jate'shya kebise bah vaabir a I've echoy'la lenedat ti cuun droten norac bat Manda'yaim.

 

Ni vaabir not kar'taylir meh something has malfunctioned ra meh par some reason haar communications are daab a ni mirdir something might cuyir wrong ni am really close bah shi marching daab ogir myself a ni knew gar were out so ni thought ni would let gar kar'taylir.

 

Vihk out =-

 

(That is probably all sorts of wrong right there, but I found a Mando'a translator and had a little fun with it... What Vihk really said is. (Just in case the translator is really wrong) --->

 

Mand'alor, this is Vihk. I know casual calls are a waste of time, and I know you probably have better things to do, but I've lost contact with our people back on Manda'yaim.

 

I do not know if something has malfunctioned, or if for some reason the communications are down, but I think something is wrong. I am really close to just marching down there myself, but I knew you were out so I thought I would let you know.

 

Vihk out.)

[Mirdala Ad'Goran]

Mirdala squeezed his hand back with as much force as she could muster, which given her weakened state wasn't that much, but it was enough. She didn't let go of his hand, but she did fully relax for the first time in a fortnight. She did raise an eyebrow at him though, wondering how he knew what she was thinking. Then it dawned on her. The Jetii that he'd merged with or however it happened that Fett came by his memories as Moon Knight.

 

In truth, she wasn't sure whether to be relieved or not. She decided at this point that it didn't matter.

 

”œI don't think that anyone could have gotten there faster. You even beat the Jetiise to finding their own. I didn't even think that was possible, though I really should have known better.”

[Moon Knight]

If ShadowFett hadn't been studying Mirdala's face when she let go of his hand, he wouldn't have noticed the slight flush that came to it. Hidden behind his buy'ce, he allowed himself just the slightest of smiles. After all they had been through, it was clear to him that there would soon be a time when they could find out what they would mean to each other moving forward, and it was going to be more than just being traat'aliit'ade. However, that time was not now, for this place wasn't private. It was certainly a conversation where he wasn't going to hide behind his mask.

 

He was content to remain silent again during Mirdala's exchange with the hospital staff member and as she once again learned about her limits in this tough time of recovery. However, some of his silence was because he was receiving a comm message from the former Mand'alor who had since his fall been trying to redeem himself. He seemed concerned about Manda'yaim, but the message seemed to be purely informational and not requiring a response. He sent back a simple acknowledgement, not at all concerned for the Mando'ade, who were far too tough to withstand any attack that could be made against them. Even if Keldabe had been razed to the ground, its populace would hardly be scathed, for every home on the planet was secretly a fortress with underground defenses, often armored with beskar. MandalMotors was just as resilient, a beskar tower with a secret backup location on the world's moon. Vihk's concerns were misplaced--the Mando'ade had been around as long as humanity and had survived millenia of being the galaxy's most hated foes.

 

He was brought back to the present when Mirdala, just another example of the people-group's resiliency, lay back down and spoke to him again. He glanced down at his beskar'gam, having all but forgotten about the paint that had been scratched away from the conventionally-indestructible plate. "No problem," he said. "With all the drugs you were on, it's amazing you recognized me at all."

 

After a brief pause, he continued. "You should rest, Mird'ika. Take all the time you need. I have a few things that can keep me occupied for a couple days, and I'll stay on-planet." As he understood it, CoreSec was starting to get some bad press, and 2277 had already told him about the holo the Black Sun agent had taken of him fighting on Tatooine. As much as he normally wouldn't care about publicity, he was one of CoreSec's commissioners and thus had a responsibility to them. He planned on doing some work researching the allegations and coming up with a suitable plan of action to wrest public opinion of the police faction back into acceptable standards. Hardly the glorious work of a verd that had spent the last few weeks hunting and fighting the scum of the oyu'baat, but it needed to be done.

[Mirdala Ad'Goran]

As much as Mirdala didn't like the thought of him leaving, she knew that he was right. She just wished that she wasn't useless and stuck in the hospital. ”œI will try, but if there's something that I can help with from here, I want to.”

[Moon Knight]

ShadowFett didn't need to be a jetii to understand how much she would hate laying around for the next couple days until she was cleared--all he needed to do was put himself in her position. After all, last time he'd had to wait for more than a couple of hours, he'd run off to Tatooine to kill slavers. The Mando'ade were men and women of action, and sitting around in bed waiting for one's muscles to atrophy was hardly a good time. Unfortunately, she couldn't just recover overnight, even with the help Sandy's Master had given her.

 

When Fett left the room, the first thing that happened was a doctor approached him with questions. As Mand'alor had indeed promised, he took the time to answer them, being careful not to give away information that would be classified. He told them that the Lieutenant and the habir'jetii had been captured by Thalassian slavers in retribution for CoreSec's and the Jedi Order's contributions to their major defeat, and that the slavers had mistreated them. He told them that he had acted independently of CoreSec to hunt them down and rescue them, and that justice had been done.

 

Still, he was terse with them, and they didn't keep him long. He had no love for bureaucracy, and he soon retreated to the Justice to get to work.

 

--------------

 

Over the next two days or so, ShadowFett spent most of his time on the ship's computer, reading Holonet reports and formulating ways to get CoreSec in the clear. It was unfortunate, he thought, that this duty fell to him when the other Commissioners were much more in tune with the Senate's expectations and had at least some respect for politics. The Mando'ad's approach to solving these problems was very direct, and he had an asset that gave him an edge--a victim of the Thalassian slavers.

 

It had only been a few hours after starting his research that Fett had connected to Mirdala through their private link, which had sufficient range given how close the Justice was parked to the hospital. She had limited access to the Holonet and no computer, but by thinking aloud and sharing data with her verbally, Fett was able to tap into her perspective. Two minds working together on the same problem were more than twice as effective as each working on it alone, and the traat'aliit'ade, though both Mandalorians, had different and complimentary mental strengths. Fett was a highly logical, pragmatic, emotionless thinker, but his lack of empathy for the galaxy around him made him cynical. Mirdala, on the other hand, understood people better than he did, and knew how to compliment her logic with emotion, a critical skill for wresting public support toward CoreSec.

 

Moon Knight gave her periods to rest, of course, as she would need to be healthy for this different sort of campaign. The talk was all business, as it was all over comm that was generally private due to its frequency range but not guaranteed to be so. The conversation he really wanted to have would wait until she was here on the ship with him. It wouldn't do for some droten to overhear that one.

 

He managed to get about one good night's sleep, weary from the battles he had fought on Tatooine, but the following night was sparse, as he had been largely inactive for the day. 2277 was also able to contribute well to their research, his advanced beskar'ad brain optimized for finding relevant information on the Holonet. Even Flirt was able to contribute, in her own way, though she spent most of the time, to Fett's annoyance, hitting on 2277. He suspected she could have taken control of the ship right from his traditional copilot if he had allowed her.

 

Eventually, though, the days passed, a plan was put together, and Fett suspected that soon Mirdala would be released.

[Sandy Sarna]

The sleep was restless, pierced by the dark dreams of her captivity. She woke shivering, still wrapped in the towel, but her master had seemingly tucked her into bed, showing a different side of herself, Adenna would have been a great mother. And there her master was, sitting on the side of her bed, resting quietly, no doubt in a trance of some type. Sandy sighed and fell into a meditative trance, looking for her friend.

 

There she was, in the connected suite, right behind that locked door, sleeping quietly.

 

Sandy tugged the leads from her chest and arms, and slowly and painfully removed the saline line attached to her arm. She winced as a bit of blood seeped down her arm onto the sheets. The warm feeling of blood brought a strange relief, a feeling that she had not felt for some time. She felt alive with blood leaking down her arm, with the dull throbbing pain from the pricked vein. She smiled.

 

She silently removed herself from the sheets, and slipped on one of the smocks over her bandages. She walked shakily to the door; she tried the handle and sighed. She let her green eyes flicker closed, with the gentlest pushes from the force, the bolt slipped out, and the door opened. She saw her friend sleeping soundly, nestled in the white sheets. Sandy quickly made her way to her and smiled. She seemed to be doing a lot better. She whispered almost silently, ”œHow are you doing?”

[Teutonic Knight]

A Comm transmission arrives for Commissioner Fett: Detailing Manning's Wishes for a general meeting of the Commissioners to discuss the Senate and Holonet accusations.

[Mirdala Ad'Goran]

((Sandy's actions posted with permission.))

 

Rolling over in response to the sound, Mirdala slowly opened her eyes to meet Sandy's gaze and gave the girl a lazy smile, ”œBetter now that I can see for myself that you're okay verd'ika.”

[Moon Knight]

ShadowFett could tell that Mirdala was feeling much better by her mannerisms. She was up and about, not having any trouble walking, and was openly showing her frustration with the datapad. These were all postive signs, as far as the Mando'ad was concerned, and though he didn't expect her to be back to 100% for another week or two--and neither did the rest of CoreSec, for that matter--it was good to know that she was ready to travel. Frankly, he wanted to get off Ryloth as soon as possible, as it was only marginally better than Tatooine to him.

 

"Then let's go," he answered simply. "You're cleared, so let's leave this shebs of a world behind." It seemed he was always calling whatever world he happened to be on a shebs of a world. Maybe it was because his missions always ended up taking him to these Outer Rim worlds like Ryloth and Tatooine. Generally, he would think working for CoreSec would generally keep him around Triple Zero, Nubia, and Corellia. Still, for everything he disliked about these worlds out here, people were easier to manipulate and if you got in a fight, you didn't have an overbearing government coming down on your head. That wasn't so bad.

 

Moon Knight promptly turned around and led the way out of the room that had turned into as much of a prison for his traat'aliit'ad as the cells in which the slavers had locked her. They briefly stopped to check out and then it was a brief walk to the landing bay and the Justice.

 

Soon they had their clearance, and the Justice was on its way all the way into the core worlds, toward Coruscant.

[Mirdala Ad'Goran]

”œGladly,”

[Adenna Alluyen]

The last few days didn't allow Adenna much sleep. When she wasn't busy healing or counseling Sandy, she was healing others around the hospital. While her Padawan was her primary concern, she felt obligated to at least help other patients as much as she could as a way to pay the hospital back for caring for Sandy. After all, she didn't have much money to give.

 

That was fine and all, but it left her perpetually exhausted. She was losing weight and constantly had bags under her eyes. She didn't mind though, it was, in her mind, penance for letting Sandy get captured in the first place. She would work herself as hard as necessary to make up for those that were killed on Thalassia and for the unspeakable hardships that Sandy suffered as result of being captured.

 

She saw the CoreSec agent she had helped heal a few times before she left with another man in armor. By that time, Sandy was almost completely healed physically and it was growing hard to justify staying any longer. She sent word to the Jedi to have someone pick the three of them up.

 

"Sandy," she said when they were alone in the girl's room, "I have sent word to the Jedi to pick us up. We can go to safety with other Jedi to help us for as long as you need. When you are ready, and only when you are ready will we resume your training."

[Rahalin Toral II]

"Mandolorians, it had to be Mandolorians," came over the comlink in Rahalin's helmet. Their employer, as per their contract had indeed tapped their opposition's comms.

The extra information confirmed his opinion that the guards outside the safehouse had been more useful versus other local toughs. Against three heavily armed Mando'ad, the firefight that erupted on the deserted street outside the safehouse stayed one sided.

When the three Mando'ad had heard the one, despairing call over the net about their identity, by unspoken word they increased their aggreasiveness against their opponents.

Desperate people did desperate things and if you allowed some pause, some moment to get together those desperate things might work. The three penetrated the buildimg quickly enough, barely taking return fire until they came to the last door in the small building.

All three looked at each other and backed away from the door.

Rose spoke first, a strange mix of exhiliration and exhaustion changing her voice enough to make it come from another person. "Panic room. Durasteel doors, probably reinforced walls. We do not have enough punch to get through this."

"Check around," said Rahalin, "maybe someone was carrying something we could use."

The two women moved off, working together to search through the building. Rahalin knelt, and used the sophisticated scanning system of his armor to do a deeper analysis of what they faced.

He touched the wall, allowing sensitive instruments to pick up any vibrations within the room. His suit eliminated ambient sounds and soon he began to hear 4 voices in the room but the instruments told him that it recorded 5 heartbeats.

"What do you think boss," said what the computer identified as voice one, which was identified as being possibly human with elevated heart rate and heavy breathing.

”œJust get the escape hatch open,”

[Tobias Vos]

The trip between Ryloth and Tatooine was short, and it was a good thing. Tobias wanted to get back to Adenna, and see how Sandy was. Not to mention start training Araina. He had several things on his to-do list, and he needed to catch up to some stuff. Landing the YT, he paid good coin to have it inspected, it seemed sluggish even recently.

 

He hoped Adenna still had her comm, as he buzzed the number he had for her. Removing the cloak and dawning on his regular clothes; a hoodie, jacket, combat boots, some pants and such. A regular switchblade on his belt, his wrist knife, a smoke bomb hanging on his bandanna in the back.

 

Readjusting the coat on his back, he briskly walked towards the city square, he still felt Adenna's presence. Hoping it wasn't residual, he pressed on a little faster. In fact, he felt all three presences around the same area. A smirk crawled across Tobias's face.

[Sandy Sarna]

Oh boy, another cramped Y wing ride!

 

She was rather excited at the opportunity to meet and work closely with another Jedi, it was usually a rewarding experience. She stretched and got dressed in her newly bought green robes and smiled at herself in the mirror. She had several noticeable scars streaking across her face and arms, and many more on her body, but none the less she was fine. Physical damage usually repaired relatively quickly. Her mental status seemed to be fine, though dreams of her ordeal still plagued her. She was back to her giggily self for now.

 

Soon there would be more adventure. But for now, she needed a new sabre, her old one lost in her last failed mission.

[Adenna Alluyen]

Adenna was in the process of helping heal a burn victim when she felt a familiar presence in the back of her mind. She had never expected to hear from him again, not after he left to pursue his own agenda. It took a good deal of discipline not to break her healing efforts. It took a few more minutes, but when she was done, the burn victim was out of danger and she was able to leave to track him down.

 

She reached out to him and directed him toward her. It appeared he was already seeking her which made it easier. She went to the hospital lobby and munched on some food to help restore her energy while she waited for him to arrive.

 

When he did, he didn't look much worse for the wear. She quickly appraised him and took note of the absence of his lightsaber on his belt. She was sure that there was some sort of story behind that. "I did not expect to see you again," she said in a frosty voice.

[Tobias Vos]

During the last five minutes of his journey there, it had decided to open up on him. Rain that is, he was drenched. It gave him a cold refresher. What was he doing?! This was crazy, why had he come back? Tobias stepped inside the hospital, and felt a presence. She called to him. He followed.

 

Adenna was chowing down on some food, he approached her.

 

"I did not expect to see you again." She said.

 

"What can I say? I'm full of surprises." he sat down, opposite of her. He ran his fingers through his wet hair, and shook it, spraying a fine mist around. With his lop-sided grin, he looked up at the woman in front of him.

[Adenna Alluyen]

"Why did you come back? I thought you hated my presence," Adenna said. She wasn't quite sure what to make of him now. She had planned on seeing if she could get back to Tython with Sandy, but she dared not take Vos there, especially not after he left them. As was her original fear, one of the Masters would have to clear him before she could ever trust him again. The only other place she knew of was Gala. She had heard of plans to have at least a small outpost there before leaving Tython last.

[Tobias Vos]

He ordered an apple and bit into it once it came.

 

"I never said I wouldn't be back. And hate isn't what I would describe." He took another bite of the apple.

 

He knew his beast was safe, warm and well-fed back on his ship. But here, he had no idea what he was doing. He wasn't sure what was going on, whether or not Adenna was angry at his return, annoyed or some other peeved off feelings.

[Adenna Alluyen]

"What were you doing on Tatooine?" Adenna asked. She almost didn't because she doubted he would tell her much if anything. It was not in his nature to be anything but cryptic.

[Tobias Vos]

"I followed my gut- There were more slaves. I helped free them." Quick and to the point. The girl sure had alot of trust issues.

[Adenna Alluyen]

His answer was as she expected: vague and mysterious. Adenna let out a sigh of frustration. What more could she expect from one raised a Sith. "And what are your plans? Are you going to head off again or are you going to try to be a Jedi? So far, you have mostly fought me at every turn."

[Tobias Vos]

"Had you wanted an obedient, unthinking, unwavering pupil, I would have left you Sooba. And how does helping free slaves not in the path of the Light?" He stood up, tossed the Apple Core into the garbage and looked into Adenna's eyes.

 

Coldly he replied to her last question. "My plans were to come back, but as from the tone of your voice, and your body language... you don't want me around. So, I shall take my leave. Miss Alluyen, I will no longer inconvenience you." Tobias turned to walk away. A thousand thought's raced through his head. Number one, he probably wouldn't see her again for a long time. Number two, he had to go collect Ariana. Number three, would she infact let him go?

[Adenna Alluyen]

Adenna let him go.

 

It wasn't so much that she didn't want him around, it was that she didn't believe he truly wanted to be around. He didn't want to be guided or taught, he wanted to do his own thing under his own conditions. He couldn't follow instructions unless they were forced upon him on pain of death and that simply wasn't the Jedi way. He wanted control of things instead of giving control over to the Force.

 

He was stubborn and defiant--definitely carryovers from his Sith education and harsh upbringing. There was only so far that such a student could be directed before they were pushed away. She didn't expect an unthinking pupil, but she did expect one that wasn't fighting her every step of the way and constantly dodging questions and muddling the truth.

 

She didn't think he wanted to learn the Jedi path so as much as simply acquire new skills to make him more powerful. It was another carryover from his Sith way of thinking. He wanted to add to his collection of powers, not to actually learn and be guided. If she pushed him further, it would result in a fight that one of them might not come out of.

 

With a sad shake of her head, she turned around and left the lobby to check on Sandy. The girl might be emotional and wild, but she was too young to know any better. Vos did not have that excuse.

 

If he could ever get past the defiance and secrecy that held him fast in their grips, she would welcome him back. For now, he couldn't be taught, at least not by her. She wouldn't waste either of their time.

[Ariana La'vohn]

Ariana was, to be completely honest, a little bored. She was sitting around in the operation room just twiddling her thumbs idly without anything to really think about; except maybe the future. What would she do now? Where she should go and what would happen to her?

 

She saw no real clear path before her and although Sandy was now up and about, she wasn't sure that the small girl really liked her. It was an odd feeling, but something felt off with her. Ariana couldn't really explain it despite having a few hours alone with her. It just, didn't feel right. Not to mention the fact that Adenna seemed tense and stressed.

 

Ariana knew that she was doing what she could to repay the hospital, but something about the whole situation seemed odd. Why did Adenna feel obligated to all of the people here. Why did she care so much? Was it because she genuinely cared? Or because she was drawn by something else?

 

Ariana couldn't help but flounder as she remained in the operating room after being rudely asked to leave for no reason. She could vaguely feel that Tobias had returned and that something about him was different, but her thoughts were elsewhere and so were her motivations.