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Chapter Thirteen “So,
what do you think of her? I had her painted recently...” Mees
takes a good look after crawling out from underneath the control panel.
"Not bad, but don't you think that color is a little- ...
I don't know,.. girlish?" “So
are you saying you like it?” Getting her attention, Jae-Lee whispers, “<Clear?>” She
motions no, "It's not bad, and I'll just leave it at that." Mees takes
her comlink and speaks into it, "Master Mussiri?" "Yes,
Meesahran." Jae
looks around with a sideways glance. "Signal
terminated. You can put the comm
interrupter back online." She
turns back to Jae-Lee, "You were saying." "Jeez,
and with your own toys. They can’t really be that foolish, can they?
How'd you get into all this again, anyway?"
Jae-Lee flashes her a concerned and disapproving look. Mees
climbs up onto The Burn, peering into the cockpit, "Just doing a favor for
one of Master Mussiri's old friends... You
kept the second chair?" "Sure,"
Jae walks around towards the front of the fighter, "it works great
as a baggage compartment." A smile grows on his face as he looks down &
finishes, "It always did." Mees
pops the canopy, "Watch it, fly-boy. I've
picked up a few tricks since the last time we met..." She jumps into the
cockpit and starts playing with the controls.
"Still keeping the stick light, I see.
And where did you pick up this console?
It's gonna blow the minute you hit even one G!" She
immediately starts pulling it apart, looking for a specific wiring harness.
"Yep, total crap. Hand
me that hydro-spanner will ya?" With
a shake of his head and a small chuckle, Jae replies. "The console’s
modified. C'mon kid, what do you think I am, an amateur? Hey! What are you
doing?!" Jae starts to jump up, but before doing so, he stops rolls his
eyes, and grabs the toolbox. As he appears beside the cockpit, "Look... be
gentle, ok? I don’t want it out of commission. Small adjustments."
It is said as a statement, but considering the person he's talking to, he
knows it is more of a question. "Well,
if I had something decent to work with, it would only take small
adjustments." She grabs the
hydro-spanner from the box. She returns to her task, but looks back at him, "Trust
me, I know what I'm doing." With
a devilish wink, she puts the tool to good use.
“So, what WERE you doing when Traygar tracked you down?
This thing looks like it took a few hits." Jae
winces at the memory. "It did." Jumping down to examine more of the
damage he explains, "those guys got some good ones in, too." Running
his hand along a scorched piece of hull, he finally answers the question.
"I was chasing empty leads." Disappointment can be heard in his voice
now. "Same thing I'm always
doing, really...” Mees
pulls her head up from the console panel. That
just did not sound like the same guy I used to know.
"What are you talking about? Toman
said you had been making a name for yourself tracking down a bunch of pirate
groups." She
continues with her task as he stops looking at damage, and looks up at her.
"Ever heard of Black Moon?" Mees head jerks up and their eyes
meet. "Yeah, that’s what I
thought... Anyway, they were
selling gems, Mees. Blue ones." "So,
what? There’s a lot of people-...” He gives her an annoyed look.
“Oh-Ooooh!" Well,
I found out all kinds of stuff, but as usual, nothing I can use." He pounds
a light fist on the ship and shakes his head.
"I followed them all the way to The Brothers and what do I have to
show for it? Nothing. Yet another dead end.
Pointless." He looks up
checking for any reaction, but doesn’t see one. He catches a glimpse of some more damage on the bottom of the
hull and slides under to get a closer look. Frustrated,
he continues probing for some sort of emotional response. "Ya know,..
I almost lost out there. You better be careful if you get into a tangle
with that group. They may be pirates, but they were rather organized." "Lucky
for me, the first guy got anxious and the last guy..." Stopping his
examination he appears from under the ship to listen. Mees
continues her work on the wiring harness, plugging it back into the console, and
then firing it up to check for any more problems.
"What are you talking about? What
last guy?" She is trying not to let on that she knows anything about his
recent brush with death. Jae
extends his right hand, flat and turned upward, as he recounts the experience,
"Well, the first guy" he folds in his thumb and smiles, "tried
for about a millisecond to 'ground my vessel' before he came at me like a nerf
stampede. Shields down, lasers
blasting. So," he continues
smugly "I relieved him of his command...” Jae-Lee’s face is filled
rancor, "The next four were much smarter than their leader, though...
The first two came at me in a lateral shift maneuver.
Made me wonder where they learned it" No response, or even a hint of interest. "I almost got
them both with a inverted thrust pattern, but the top ship actually managed to
survive, for a few seconds anyway." He
folds in his pinky & his ring finger; still no response.
"The fourth guy I had to take out with a rotating mynock
maneuver,” and with that Jae thought he saw something on Mees face.
But I can’t SEE her face. As
he folds in his middle finger he says, "but I didn’t finish it right
& the fifth guy was coming around for me. At least, I thought he was. Next
thing I know Traygar wants to pick me up."
"Sounds
like one hell of a dog-fight. Are
you sure you aren't embellishing a bit?"
When Jae looks up at the cockpit he can see her hanging over the edge,
with a great big grin on her face. He
holds for a second, but then he returns the grin and what was beginning as
tension has now turned into a familiar feeling, one that brings Jae-Lee some
much needed relief. "Jeez, Mees! I was beginning to wonder if anyone I knew
was in here!" He tries to say it playfully, but it comes out a little more
angry than he had intended. "Sorry,
but you were telling such a wonderful story..." She outstretches her arm to
give him hand up. "C'mon up
here and check this out." After
he jumps up, she lets go of his hand and climbs over the front seat and into the
back "I think this will hold
until you can get a real control console." "By
the way, that last ship?" She
shoots him a coy look, "Traygar took care of it."
Jae-Lee turns with a shocked expression, "I heard him tell Toman
about it. I believe he was
apologizing to Toman for using one of his costly proton-torps to ‘enable
proper communication’ with his assignment."
He is still completely shocked, "I thought you might like to
know." Jae’s
response turns into a surprised, but amused grin. "Well wha’da ya know.
Good ol’ Traygar. I should have figured on that one."
His expression then becomes sullen once again. And his eyes down-turned.
"Then again, I’m not much good at figuring anything out,
lately." He
tries to shake off the sudden drop in his mood by changing the conversation back
to something a little more light hearted, but this is something he has been
giving a lot of thought to lately. He
turns to Mees and with a small, sly, but honest smile.
He asks, "You ever feel like you're past your prime, Kid?" "Nah,
that's just for old-timers like yourself."
Mees thinks he's being sarcastic, until she looks in his eyes.
"C'mon, what're you talking about?
This does not sound like the cock-sure space jockey I remember."
She starts to put a hand on his shoulder, trying to sense what the real
problem is, but not having the control she needs to complete the action, she
withdraws her hand. "Seriously,
what's eating at you?" Her
concern has grown with his silence. He
notices her attempt at comfort and tries a smile of his own in return, but it
simply will not come. He turns quickly & jumps down from the ship. As his
feet hit the floor he lets out a curse that makes Mees’ eyes go wide.
"Fraggin’ Slow and Sloppy! That
was stupid! I should have left when I had the chance," his eyes grow
slightly distant and his voice lowers, "but that first guy... 'Ground my
ship', huh? I don’t think so. You know what he sai-..." He looks up to
continue and stops suddenly. "I
couldn’t get focused. I was just
flying, and not in a good way either. I just couldn’t get there, and when that
first ship attacked, I took him out without even thinking. But the other ships,
they seemed to come out of nowhere." He
looks at the face of his oldest friend, as she looks back at him from the
cockpit of the ship where they had risked their lives together; too many times
to count, and says "That isn’t supposed to happen. Ya know?.. Not to me,
anyway." Trying to change the mood back once again, and beginning to feel
rather like a wet blanket Jae continues. "I
don’t know, maybe I just need to train more. I've been flying a LOT."
He chuckles a bit, but it is apparent that it is forced. Mees
does a flip from the cockpit onto the docking bay deck.
"Training won't do that much to help you focus."
She starts walking towards a stack of crates in the corner where she has
left a pile of rags. Absently
picking one up and tossing it to Jae-Lee, she then reaches back down and
retrieves one for herself. "I
train constantly, and yet I still can't seem to find the 'center' that Master
Mussiri is always telling me about." "Yeah,
what’s that like? Training with him?"
He says wiping his hands on the rag She
takes a deep breath in and then exhales, "Sometimes it's great.
I can feel us click, like we're one being, working for a common
goal..." She takes another breath, but holds onto this one, "But most
of the time, I feel like I'm flying blind through a solar-magnetic storm."
She proceeds to plop down on one of the crates, motioning for Jae to join
her. "I don't know, maybe I
just don't have what it takes to live his kind of life."
She throws the rag into a barrel in the corner, "If only I could
feel connected to him all the time, but lately, it just seems like he's cut off
from me." "Do
you think that’s all him? You can be kinda closed off."
As soon as the words are out of his mouth, he knows it was a mistake. She
turns to Jae, "Cuttin' it kinda close to the belt, aren't we? . ."
She lets out another deep sigh, "But I suppose you're right.” She pauses for a moment before continuing, mostly out of
guilt, “Don't get me wrong, the experience has been invaluable.
We've had some great adventures. And
Master Mussiri seems to know everyone in the galaxy!"
She is trying to turn the conversation to a more comfortable topic. Jae-Lee
sighs with relief that she is not upset with the personal question. Tempting him
to ask another. "So, do you plan to stay with him for a while,
then?" She
looks directly into his eyes, "Where else can I go?"
She did not mean to say that, and immediately wishes that she could take
it back. "What I mean is, there isn't anything else I could do
with myself. I don't fit in
anywhere else." She
hopes that the conversation turns very soon.
Things are beginning to get out of her control.
What is it about Jae, he always manages to pull this garbage out of
me? Must focus, regain control of
my emotions, passive, at peace. "Well,
some people don’t fit in anywhere, that’s why we keep moving around.
Right?" Jae-Lee
smiles at his friend and gives her a gentle push with his elbow. She responds
with a half-smile, but seems distracted suddenly. Uncomfortable. He continues,
"C'mon Mees, relax. I didn’t mean to push. It's been a while since we
talked. I just wanted to catch up.” "Don't
sweat it. Sometimes I just get like
this, must be a girl thing." She
brushes the hair out her eyes and grins up at him.
“It has been a long time, huh? Man,
how long have we known each other, anyway?"
Her demeanor seems to have improved. "Well...
Let’s see, I guess about,.. thirteen
years now." Jae lets out a chuckle, he turns his face away, as it turns to
a laugh and he stands up. He stops
laughing slowly & finally mutters, "Oh man, what a great time we had,
huh? Talk about a 'girl thing'! You almost got us both killed on that first
job!" "What're
you talking about?! I never did
anything like that! I think you
must have me confused with someone else."
Jae suddenly realizes that she is completely serious.
Maybe she doesn't remember? "Hello?!
Little sister!?!?! Don't you
remember your big brother? Ya know, the guy who you had THROWN OUT of a job that
I setup. Then I had to come save your little-..."
A very small smile grows on Mees’ face.
"Wait. Are you serious?!" "Sorry,
couldn't resist. I remember the job, and I remember what a pain you were when
we first met. Guess I just got used
to it." Jae-Lee
once again feels that familiar relief he so enjoys. "I was beginning to
wonder, but then again, I always wonder about you."
It did not come out quite the way he wanted, but it was true just the
same. "Well,
I know one thing hasn't changed in all these years...
You are just as gullible as ever."
She gives him a little friendly shove.
"I remember, and I am still grateful.
Not sure what would have happened if you hadn't been snoopin' around
still." She suddenly gets a
very distant look in her eyes, but it is immediately washed away by something
that Jae does not ever remember seeing in them before.
Emptiness. "I'm
pretty thankful to you, too, ya know. You needed that money as much as I did.
And don’t mention the rescue. It’s not like I had much choice.”
That came out wrong. “Besides, I couldn’t just walk away and
leave you feeling like that.” That
came out wrong too. "What
money?" She gives him a very
puzzled look. He
turns to her, looking quite puzzled himself, and very disturbed. Then he smiles,
"Fooled me once, Kid. Don’t play dumb with me." His expression turns
to one of sincerity & concern, "You didn’t need to do that."
She continues her blank stare. "Mees,
come on! Our last job! The Saccorrian Security leak we tracked, anyway, I know
you remember. Can't you let me say
thank you? I know you won’t accept repayment, but at least accept my
thanks." "That
was the job we worked up the transmitters for, right?"
Jae nods in affirmation, "Yeah,
well, I had Toman trade my share for the rights to the transmitters.
I've made some good money on those little bad boys.
I guess he just figured that meant you got my share, and I got the
transmitters. Uh, never figured on that.
I guess Toman really is a decent guy at heart."
Mees' revelation is a complete surprise to Jae, who has carried this
feeling of indebtedness to Mees all these years. Feeling
a bit awkward, Jae sits quietly for a moment before speaking.
"Well. Silly me. Maybe I'm beginning to see our relationship in a
whole new light. I always wondered why you would be so generous with a ‘going
away present’ when you didn’t even care that I was leaving."
"Who
told you that?" Mees actually looks wounded, an expression Jae-Lee has almost
never seen on her face. He
looks her in the eye & says, "You did. When you walked away from me at
Toman’s place. That hurt Mees. You didn’t even pretend to care. You have to
understand,.. I didn’t want to leave. I HAD to."
He opens his mouth again, but stops and steadies himself before he goes
on. "I couldn’t take you
with me, I knew that. You probably did too...
But it would have been nice if you had wanted to come." "I
never asked you to take me anywhere."
Her jibe cuts deep. Gathering
up her breath to continue, "But I never expected you to take off with only
a moment's notice. 'I have to go
now.' What did you expect me to do
or say?" She gets up and
begins to walk away. She stops for
just a moment, "You cut me out of your life, Jae.
THAT hurt, more than you may ever know." Jae takes the opportunity the pause offers and takes her arm
to stop her from leaving, but she violently rips it from his grasp. "Hey,
hold on... Stop doing that, will
ya? Maybe if you stand here for a
second we can have this conversation all out at once, instead of in little bits
and pieces, every so many years or so."
It comes out a little more pleading than he would have liked, but it has
the desired effect and Mees stands still. She turns to face him and crosses her
arms. He
takes a deep breath, at least he has her attention now, sort of, "I never
wanted to cut you out of anything. I
really didn’t, but my time came. I
had to go. Look at you, you've moved on. Your time came too, and I'm
glad. I just had to go.
I'm sorry. I never meant to
hurt you. You're like my-...
You're the only family I have."
Suddenly embarrassed by his admission he attempts to finish this
discussion and move on, "Can’t we just put all this behind us somehow? How else are we going to get this job done?" Mees
uncrosses her arms, in a gesture of resignation.
"You're right, and I didn't mean for all of that to come out...
At least not the way it did... I'm
sorry." She sits back down on
the crate, "And you're right about the mission.
If we don't work through this together, I don't think either of could do
it on our own... And there's a lot
to do." Jae-Lee
tries to bring the discussion to a good end, "You’re right, but look the
bottom line is this; I've known you longer than I've known-...
Well, anybody. I know we've
had some bad moments, but I'm glad we're sitting here together right now. This
job could work out great for both of us and if we don’t do it right, it could
be very, very bad." He smiles
and says, "So, how ‘bout that, Kid?
We're partners again!" He extends his hand, and Mees looks down at
it. Slowly,
the old smile returns to her face, the one that could always lift Jae-Lee's
spirits. "Sounds like a plan
to me... So, where do you wanna
start?" Taking his hand and
giving it a good shake before she gets up from the crate and walks over to the
computer terminal. "I've got
vid-logs, manifests, traffic logs, comm station reports, interrogation vids,
military reports-..." "Slow
down a sec, let me figure out what we're talkin' about first and then I'll
figure out where to go from here." Jae
interrupts before Mees has a chance to get anymore hyped up. "Well,
someone is out to stir up a mess of trouble in the Corellian Sector and the Core
in general. We have to track down
these Mercs and then the money trail back to the real villain in this mess.
That pretty much sums it up." She
gives him a wry little smile, "Oh, and would you please quit calling me
'Kid,’ Old Man?" "Sure
Kid, no problem." he replies with a wink.
Mees does not appear amused. "And
as for motives and other details, let’s save those for just a second. First
thing *I* need to think about is my ship. Without it, I'm no good to this
mission. So, we have to get to Commenor, right?"
Mees begins to interrupt, but Jae holds up his hand and continues.
"Then I need to know everything you know about everyone we’re
meeting there, that I don’t know already.” "What's
to know about it? I need to drop off a package for Toman, meet with a guy who
can get us some of the other records we need and then find you someplace to get
that rattle-trap piece of junk fixed up."
Her words are filled with hidden meaning and dripping with sarcasm. "First
of all, we won’t ‘find someplace,’ I only let certain people work on the Burn
and two of them are in this room... Second
-Rattle-trap?. Rattle trap?! I
can’t wait ‘til Nija hears you say that.
She’s person Number Three. And
last, but certainly NOT least; thanks for that ‘lets just waltz right in and
get ourselves killed’ explanation. You
make it all sound so simple. 'Drop
off a package?!' What are you, new? C'mon now ki-...” He catches himself, and she notices.
"... I'm not asking why, I'm
just asking who, what, when, and where. Lets not be foolish here."
He considers his words for a moment and then continues.
"Wait, ya know there is one ‘why’ I'm a little curious about.”
This could go badly. “You
told me you were doing a favor for some old friends of Master Mussiri’s and
then you tell me he knows people everywhere.
So,.. What’s his angle on
this?" "First
of all, who is this Nija?" She
places her arms across her chest and taps her foot.
Jae-Lee nearly comes out of his skin and begins to stutter something,
before Mees cuts him off with a huge laugh.
"I'm just messin' with ya..." She catches her breath,
"Okay, when: soon as we get in to Chasin City, which is the where.
Who... That is a little more
sticky..." Mees stalls as long
as she can, before Jae-Lee gives her an admonishing look, "Okay, okay, he's
a big-time client of Toman's, and it was his shipment that got jacked which
prompted the job." She pauses
a second and gets a far away look in her eyes, "Anyway, he should be able
to get us the other records we need to get started... Sooo, where is this Nija at, anyway? . .
Oh, yeah, and I didn't mean to insult the ship, just the caretaker."
She winks at him for effect. "As
for Master Mussiri, he has no other motives than the search for truth and to act
in good conscience and in a just manner. He
comes from a long tradition of selfless service to others.
His parents were missionaries for The Way."
She pauses to make sure Jae-Lee understands, "And he has no ulterior
motives." He
nods. Confident in her answer and happy with the renewed feeling that he can
trust someone again, finally. "Ok. Glad to hear it. He seems like a good
guy. I'm just trying to be careful." Mees,
nods in understanding. "And
Nija, my young friend, is a master of her craft. Not a jack-of-all-trades.
A master. At one thing:
Spacecraft... She could teach you a
thing or two, I'm sure. No offense
junior,” he winks at her, “gods know, she’s taught me a heck of a lot
already." "All
right, but was it all about Spacecraft?"
She elbows him in the ribs in a manner so familiar, it gives Jae-Lee an
amazing feeling. Laughing,
he replies, "Yes, yes. . C'mon
now, we're talking about a mechanic!"
Suddenly realizing that he has just insulted Mees, he begins laughing
even harder as she pelts him in the ribs with several more blows. After
some more roughhousing the laughter subsides.
I miss this! "Me
too." She replies. "Huh?" "Comes
with the training. Sorry, didn't mean to listen in.
Sometimes stuff just comes out so loud, I can't help it."
She shuts down the computer terminal, "You know, if you weren't so
soft in your own training, you might even be able to defend yourself from
that." She shoots him a
challenging look. "Or other
things..." A
grin breaks out on Jae's face and his hand falls onto the saber hanging on the
front of his belt. The one hanging on the back would go unused, as usual. That
is, IF she meant what he hoped she meant. It
had been some time since Jae-Lee sparred with anyone. He hasn’t had the
chance. All of his fights were real. But
to match up against Mees again... I
wonder how good she's gotten with her saber... "I
guess you'll just have to find out for yourself, Old Timer."
A sinister grin passes across her face as it is suddenly illuminated but
the reddish glow of her energy blade. Jae-Lee's
blue lightsaber flashes to life and he weaves his head back and forth playfully
opposite the swinging of his blade. "You
think you can take me, eh, Kid?", He says sarcastically.
"Well," Jae stops his playful swinging and steadies his weapon. He
flicks it towards him quickly, very slightly. "Come on then." Without
warning, the two blades clash with a furious thundering, shaking the entire
deck. They close in on each other
before they break into a blinding flurry of strikes and parries.
Jae-Lee takes the high tack and goes straight in for the kill, but Mees
flips out of range and comes back with a whipping low strike, trying to take Jae
off at the knees. Jumping
up, Jae is able to miss the sweeping motion and land on top of the nearest
crate. Turning around he leaps from
the crate into a front flip and comes out of the tuck swinging long and wide,
but Mees anticipates it and is not where he plans on her being when he reaches
what should be a point of contact. Instead,
he finds her about to plant the hilt of her saber in his skull.
Ducking to the left he spins off his left foot to make a sweeping right
strike and finds her blade. He
suddenly realizes that perhaps she has something to teach him now. Deciding
that he needs to change tacks, he breaks the blades and takes a step back and
goes in for a forward strike, which she again parries with seeming ease.
One last move left in his arsenal, this better work. Backing up once again he goes for a swinging kick to knock
her off balance, but he never makes contact and they end up in another blade
popping standoff. Facing
off against his friend, Jae-Lee now understands that she has indeed matured in
his absence. The determined smile
on her face lets him know that this is a stalemate.
But, before he can call it a draw, he and Mees are both suddenly thrown
back, as if by a sudden rush of wind. In
a ship, it can mean only one thing, he thinks:
Hull Breach! Taking in a deep breath, in the hopes that he can reach the
seal before all of the oxygen has escaped he looks around. And he finds Mees lying on the ground laughing, her blade
extinguished in her hand. When he
looks to his left, at the entry to the rest of the ship, he finds Master Mussiri
with his hands on his hips. “I
believe that the two of you need to put those away, until you can handle the
responsibility with a little more respect.”
That is when Jae-Lee Reklaw breaks into the heartiest laughter he has
felt in many years.
Creator: PtrsonsZOO (Jennifer) & arroheadpodracer (Josh)
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©2002 Rocky Mountain Fan Force
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