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Chapter Fifteen Alone
in the darkened room; Meesahran works without pause at the data-console.
The sounds of her fingers tapping away at the keys and switches are the
only things that can be heard, except the occasional breath escaping her lips in
a near sigh. Mees diligently
continues her search through the data-banks of the Tryashoenu Interstellar
Transport, Distribution & Interception Corporation.
With
blinding speed, she pours over manifest and flight log, invoice and bill of sale
alike, looking for that one thing that would jump out at her and reveal to her
the source of this latest disturbance. Meesahran
knew that someone or something was behind these strikes, but she had not gotten
very far in her quest to uncover their identity.
There was something strange in the fact that she could not find anything
tying the incidents together, but that alone was not enough to formulate her
next course of action. Until she
found something, there was no point in moving on, and she just knew there was
something to be found here. It was
only a matter of time before she discovered it, but time was a precious
commodity in her current assignment. Time
was something that Ruler Mehand did not possess, and she knew that Master
Mussiri was concerned for his old friend. When
Mees had met the distinguished lady of Chandrila, she seemed to be hiding
something. Something that Mehand
had only shared with a careful few, and Mees knew that her master was one of
them. She also knew that she was
not, and that her master had not deigned to share that information with her
either. That fact worried her
greatly, but now was not the time to dwell on doubts.
If there was one thing Mees could sense, it was that their mission was of
the utmost importance. Her questions must wait for another time, now she needed to
complete her task. Also
from that meeting Meesahran Tofallin felt a connection to the woman.
A connection that she had learned, over the years and through the
teachings of her master, was only possible through the Force.
Elassi Mehand was at the very least an Adept. Mees pauses to ponder on that thought a moment.
And she was once Master Mussiri’s pupil...
Was she also a Follower? Heaving
a deep sigh and stretching her neck from side to side, Mees jars herself from
her reverie and returns to her task. The
keys come alive once more. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Sitting
with crossed legs in the center of the floor in their shared suite, Master
Falion Mussiri inhales deeply as he closes his eyes; falling further into his
meditations. His breathing becomes
slow and infrequent, his posture perfect, his face in complete serenity.
”Passive, at peace that is the way to true enlightenment, my Son.”
The voice of his mother enters his mind and he knows that he has reached
his center. ”Breathe, my Son,
but do not allow your appearance to betray this action.
You must not only feel at peace, you must appear at peace.
True serenity is more than an emotional state, it is a physical one as
well.” In his mind he can now
see the scene that played out so many years ago.
Among
the grassy plains of Alderaan, a young boy sits in the same position as the
Master sits now, but a young woman sits facing him.
Her dark hair, carefully bound about her head in a spiraling fashion and
a dress of un-dyed white laying about her, her eyes closed, but she is speaking
to the young boy. The boy fidgets
in his position, causing him to have to push back a wisp of his equally dark
hair from his eyes; his oversized and tattered, beige tunic bunched about his
small frame. “Focus Falion, you
must find your center. It is
imperative to The Way that the faithful always proceed from a center of
peace.” “But
Mother, it is so difficult to keep hold of that center.
Especially when the other children taunt me.”
The boy uncrosses his legs and begins to pick at the tall grasses upon
which they sit in frustration. “I
know my Son, but for you to be able to help those children, you must maintain
your passivity. You must always
work from that center, and your actions will always be true.”
The beautiful but worn woman places a tender hand on her son’s cheek in
reassurance. “Your ability to
endure their aggression will show them the error of their ways and lead them to
the right path, to The Way.” Looking
up into his mother’s eyes, the boy sees that his questions will never be
answered by his mother, and he returns to his meditations as a dutiful child. Falion
remembers those questions and he remembers his parents’ sadness when he left
in search of those answers soon after. Exhaling
a single, and prolonged breath, Falion remembers all too well the last day he
saw his family. It was the day that
peace was once again destroyed on Alderaan.
His
homeworld has endured many cycles of peace and aggression, and he fears it will
ever be thus. Alderaan, with all of
its education and artistic reverence, has never been able to completely divorce
itself from its turbulent past. Every
so often a new ruler will take over, disband the Senate and institute a regime
of totalitarianism in the name of a return to the basic values of the Alderaani
people. It has always been this way, and Falion Mussiri can only
dream of a time when Alderaan can finally achieve its dreams of a society free
from warfare. Carefully rising from the
floor, he looks to the chronometer on the table.
Realizing the neither Meesahran nor Jae-Lee have returned from their
tasks, he decides to go out in search of his wayward companions.
In a single grand and graceful motion, he grabs his cloak and wraps it
about his shoulders, fastening the clasp as he makes a motion at the door
controls. The door opens in a
swoosh and Falion Mussiri departs the suite, the door closing of its own
volition behind him. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Sitting
at the security cam-holovid console, Xaxan Tryashoenu watches the fair young
woman as she meticulously goes through his company records.
Her search for answers has been nothing, if not thorough.
He would not have expected anything less from this young woman. Although
he has known this girl, for to him she is still but a girl (no matter how much
he wished otherwise) most of her life, and trusts her more than most any other
being in the world, he cannot trust his own interests to anyone but himself.
Perhaps it was his Commenorian upbringing, or his years in the military
intelligence service, but no matter the cause, Xaxan must know the source of
these attacks and he must put an end to them.
His entire company depends upon his reputation as a ruthless businessman.
If that reputation is sullied in any way, it could bring his entire
empire down around him. No,
he must watch this girl with a careful eye.
And that boy she has brought into his home, he should be watched very
carefully. Reklaw
had left the Center in the pre-dawn hours.
He knew because he had a tail put on him, but his security man had failed
by mid-day and now Reklaw was roaming the streets of Commenor without Xaxan
knowing exactly what he was doing. That
bothered Xaxan more than anything else at this moment, and mostly because his
Dear Sister had also managed to slip past her shadow this morning.
He would have to make a serious audit of his security team after this
day. Out
of the corner of his eye, he catches the entrance of the gray one on the
monitor, and brings the volume back up on the console. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ After
a solid week of pouring through manifests and ship’s logs and anything else
she could get her hands on, Meesahran Tofallin had nearly come to her wits end
with empty leads. That was when she
realized that the fact that she could not find a single linking factor in any of
the incidents was what should have told her where to look. She
quickly begins to bypass all of the normal protocols, starts slicing through the
security parameters, and then into the access records of the manifests and
ship’s logs. That is where the
information she needs is to be found and find it she does.
She commences the download, into her own data-pad, all of the information
she has gathered from her, less than legal, search through Tryashoenu’s
computer data-banks. She was sure
that Xaxan would have approved her security clearance, had she given him the
option. Besides, sometimes what Xaxan did not know, could not hurt
her. She knew that this was not
exactly what Master Mussiri had meant by keeping Xaxan out of the direct
investigation, but it was close enough to the line without going over it, that
she was certain he would only give her one of those disapproving looks he seemed
to have perfected over the years. “And
what look would that be my young pupil?”
Mees nearly jumps out of her skin at the sound of her master’s voice. Grasping
at her chest, “I really wish I could prevent you from sneaking up on me like
that.” The
master smirks with a hint of mischievousness, “And then how would I keep you
on your toes. Besides, with the way
you were projecting, even your friend Jae-Lee could have heard that one loud and
clear.” Looking over her shoulder
at the console, “You appear to have discovered something quite intriguing I
take it?” Holding
a finger to her lips, motioning him to be silent, “No, not really, just the
same old manifests and logs. There
doesn’t seem to be anything connecting the events to one another.”
Mees then closes her eyes, unless of course you slice into the access
records. Every single one of those
shipments’ records have been tampered with using an outside slicer and an
inside access code. There is a
mynock on the power source here. I’ve
set up a tracer rat to broadcast the identity of the access code as soon as that
same user jumps back into the system. The
master places a hand on the young woman’s shoulder, “Well, I suppose we will
have to move our investigation to another source.”
Closing his own eyes, And you are certain that this person or persons
will break into the system once more? “Yep,
that would be the way to do it.” And
I don’t even have to be on Commenor to receive the hit.
I have it set to broadcast through this little device I’ve implanted
into the system’s brain-well. We
can move on as soon Jae shows back up. Mees
turns to her master, “I will inform our Dear Friend Xaxan of our coming
departure, Master.” She
stands up from the console, carefully slipping the data-pad back into her jacket
and begins to walk to the door of the tiny office.
Upon reaching the door, she nearly falls over.
“My child, are you all right?” Her
master says as he holds her in his grasp. The
only thing he can sense from her is danger and a name: Jae!
Creator: PtrsonsZOO (Jennifer)
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©2002 Rocky Mountain Fan Force
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