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Chapter Seventy Three
ships, each radically different from the next, sit atop a landing pad at
Sanctuary. The sleek freighter SkyDancer,
the bulky cruiser MyrkrDawn belonging
to Master Dracul, and finally the small, battered angular fighter bearing no
obvious markings, outside of the carbon-scoring which covers the breadth and
length of the ship. Many
robed figures file in and out of the freighter and the cruiser, loading their
equipment for this dangerous and unknown mission. However, at the small fighter,
only three figures can be seen. One hangs over the inside of the cockpit, making
a few last minute repairs, while the other two stand to the rear of the craft. The
sounds of Meesahran’s tools tinkering against durasteel can be heard coming
from the front of The
Burn, but Jae & Xana ignore them as they say
their goodbyes. Taking her hands into his, “I hope you can understand why I
have to do th-…” She
puts a finger to his lips to stop him from speaking, “I know what is
happening, and I am grateful that there are people such as yourself, and the
others willing protect my homeworld. Thank you.” and she reaches up to place a
gentle kiss upon his cheek. Jae
closes his eyes and turns his head downward, “I just can’t let them do it
alone.” Xana
wraps her arms around him and lays her head upon his chest, “I also understand
and admire your devotion to Meesahran. There is nothing about your involvement
in this mission that I do not understand, nor that I do not support, Jae.”
Holding her in his arms a while longer, feeling the warmth radiating off of her,
he stays in the moment as long as he is able. When
she begins to pull away from him, he takes her hand once more, and places in it
a tiny satin satchel. He then covers it with her other hand and his own, “Just
take it, please.” The pleading in his eyes is all that Xana needs, and she
simply nods her head and walks away, towards the next vessel. Meesahran
cranes her neck up enough to see the departing Xana, and the sullen Jae. Sliding
over to rest on the wing of The
Burn, Meesahran calls out, “Guess I know where
I stand… No goodbye or nothin’.” When Jae does not even budge, she decides
that perhaps her humor is not warranted or even wanted right now. Sitting
down on the wing, she then pushes off and hops down onto the ground. She takes
the rest of their gear and stows it in the underbelly compartments. When
Meesahran slams the hatch on the last compartment, she finds Jae standing there,
“Sorry, Mees. I shoulda helped with the gear.” “No
sweat, Jae… Looked like you had other things on your mind… Or should I say
another person.” She gives him a gentle nudge with her elbow. He
scrunches up his mouth a bit and nods his head. “Thanks, Mees… For
everything.” She
shrugs off his gesture, and musses his hair, “Hey, if it wasn’t for you,
I’d’ve had to ride with the fossil patrol.” The two chuckle at the
assemblage on the other side of the landing pad. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Watching
as the others load their belongings onto his and Master Mussiri’s ships, Bowen
Dracul is a swirling vortex of emotions. Having said his goodbyes to his
betrothed before coming to the landing pad, wanting it to be private, he is
still wondering about his decision to go on this mission. He is, after all, no
longer a young man, and he is a man with responsibilities, a man with a
burgeoning family. None of those traits are typically found in the kind of man
you would want to send on such a dire mission. A mission where many shall not
return, and none shall return the same person they are on this day. No,
he is not the kind of man who is typically sent on these missions, but this is
also not a typical mission. This is one of those pivotal points in history, one
that will be remembered and retold for many generations to come. No, this is
just the mission for the mystic who refuses to connect directly with his
abilities, for the man who challenged the system from the moment of his birth,
and for the man who could not look his beloved in the eyes again, were he to
refuse such a mission. And he is the man who could not send his only blood on
such a dire mission, were he not prepared to go himself, if called upon. This
mission had Bowen Dracul written all over it. And
just as that thought crosses his mind, he turns his gaze towards the battered
fighter sharing landing pad space with his ship, the ship where he knows he will
find his niece. As he finds himself delving into his thoughts of his niece, he
feels another presence standing by his side, “Having second thoughts,
friend?” Looking
over to find Master Falion Mussiri by his side, he tries to cover his deeper
thoughts, “Not at all… Just wondering if that bucket of bolts is gonna make
atmosphere, let alone Chandrila,” he says throwing his pointed finger in the
direction of The
Burn. Master
Mussiri chuckles a bit before answering, “I suppose it shall… I am familiar
with the mechanics who have worked on it as of late, and I believe them both
quite capable.” His face suddenly becomes much more solemn and he places an
ancient hand upon Bowen’s forearm, “Your thoughts are not without merit, my
friend… This mission is quite dire, and there is no disgrace in thinking of
ones family at a time like this, my friend.” Bowen
stiffens just a bit, but the answer comes quickly into his mind, and he finds it
on his tongue before he can second guess it, “I am thinking of my family,
Master Falion… If don’t go on this mission, what kind of life could they
have? Knowing that some terrible darkness is growing and doing nothing to stop
it is not taking care of my family. My place is on this mission, and my family
supports that need.” Feeling a sense of pride welling up in him for the first
time in a great long while, Bowen nearly smiles as he concludes his explanation. Master
Mussiri simply pats the man on his arm, and nods his head, “Very well, then
perhaps we should finish loading the ships quickly… Any time wasted, is time
taken away from the protection of Chandrila and time given to the rise of this
darkness.” Both men nod this time and Bowen stalks off toward the ramp of his
cruiser to hurry things along. Master
Mussiri sends a wave of positive emotion towards the two young people manning
the fighter, and as his mind caresses theirs, he is given the same
acknowledgment back from each and it warms his heart just a bit. This journey
has been a long one for Falion Mussiri, and he can only hope that this shall be
yet another step in that journey, and not the end of the trail… For anyone. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ With
all the ships loaded, engines fired and ready to launch the team is greeted with
a final message from the council’s eldest member, Master Arankelee. “You are
all doing a great service, not just to the assemblage here at Sanctuary, but to
the galaxy as a whole. There shall always be darkness in our lives, but also
there must be balance, and when darkness grows beyond that balance, it must be
dealt with, swiftly and without mercy. I cannot tell you what shall become of
this mission, only that to restore that balance is the greatest gift one can
bestow upon the galaxy. And so, in the words of the most ancient among our kind,
May
the Force be with You.” ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ His
back to the door, Silvas Orian works the controls on his private comm station,
“Thank you once again and please thank the council for their quick
response.” The
crackling voice of a woman comes back over the comm, “Of
course, Silvas… And how are you faring at the moment?” He
takes a deep breath before answering, “We’ve had a few more altercations
with the Kuati’s, but I believe that are just testing our mettle, or their own
at this point.” “And
what of your report that they managed to reach the surface? Has anything come of
that so far?” The
concern in Elassi Mehand’s voice is obvious. “Nothing
as yet, but I fear their initial attack was nothing more than a diversion to
enable them access to the planet. I am not entirely certain that they are aware
that we have knowledge of their ground team’s insertion.” There
is a somewhat long pause before he receives another transmission from the comm, “Perhaps
we can count that as good news.” The
trepidation in her voice makes Silvas question her further, “But you feel it
is neither? Why?” He
can hear the deep sigh before she answers him, “I
have told you of the darkness that has been growing… There are those who
believe it has come to Chandrila, and still more who believe it is the Kuati’s
who have brought it there.” Placing
his chin in the crook of his hand, Silvas contemplates this news a bit before
responding. He leans forward in his seat and then answers, “We can only fight
what we can see, Madame Mehand, so I am forced to leave such matters to your
team.” “Very
well, Commander… How well has our fleet been holding up to this threat to our
sovereignty?” Silvas
girds himself up, his pride giving him an extra spark, “Quite well, Madame.
You would be most proud of their efforts. Each a shining light in the
Chandrillan sky.” “Excellent
work, Commander… I shall leave you to your work. Safe journey to you, and to
all of Chandrila.”
And with that the transmission ends, leaving Silvas to his thoughts once more. Thus
he remains, deep in thoughts, until the klaxon on his door sounds and his junior
bridge officer, Lt. Brizer enters. “Sir, I’m afraid we’re picking up
increased activity in Grid Five, Commander. And we’ve had reports form the
surface. It seems that the insurgents have begun their attack as well.” Silvas
gets to his feet, straightens his sky-blue pilot’s jumpsuit, and makes for the
door, “Well, lieutenant? Are you going to just stand there or lead the way to
the bridge?” Snapping
to attention, the young lieutenant briskly walks ahead of the Commander, “Aye,
Sir!” ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Standing
up to stretch his legs and back, Master Bowen Dracul groans with each movement.
“Age is finally catching up with the man,” he says outloud. “As
it does to us all,” says the gray mustachioed man behind him. “Sorry,
Master Falion, I didn’t notice you had come in… Is there something you
needed before we went to hyperspace? I was just about to engage the
hyperdrive.” The
old man casually takes a seat at the comm station in the cockpit of this bulky
freighter, named for a distant planet which once entombed its owner. His fingers
deftly move across the control panel, “If you do not mind, my friend?” Bowen
motions his approval, “Not at all.” Tapping
in a specific frequency, the Master hails another ship, “Burn Two, this is MyrkrDawn, do you read?” “Burn
Two here, go ahead Master,”
comes back the vibrant voice of his apprentice. “We
shall come out of hyperspace in Grid Two, just behind the magnetic shadow of the
first moon and await your call. When you find a safe entry point for the
surface, alert our ships and we shall rendezvous with you immediately…
Understood?” “Copy
that, Master… Hey, Master Falion?” “Yes,
child.” “What
are you doing on the Dawn?” The
Master chuckles at his apprentice’s curiosity, “I’ve not had full control
of my own ship in quite some time, so I thought it best to have more experienced
members of the team pilot her. Mistress Tibbierion and Master Roltern are at the
helm of the SkyDancer.” A
somewhat soft, but dangerous hissing noise comes out over both comms, “Annnnd we are takinnnnnng sssssssssspecial care of thissssssss
vessssssssel, young one.” “As
always, Mistress Tibbierion.”
Master Falion can hear the laughter coming from The
Burn as Meesahran transmits her reply.
Not just her laughter, but also that of its pilot: his great grandnephew,
Jae-Lee Reklaw.” “Very
well, then we are all prepared for the jump.” Falion motions to Bowen to sound
the alarm for the others and begin his transition, “On my mark… Three, two,
one,” and he is pushed gently into the back of his crash seat as the MyrkrDawn is sent into hyperspace. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Inside
the cockpit of The Burn, Jae finds that his passenger is having some difficulty
after nine hours in hyperspace. She is knocking around in the seat behind him,
occasionally kicking the back of his own seat. After about twenty minutes of the
constant fidgeting he has had enough and decides to speak up, “Is there a
problem back there, or what?” “YEAH!!!
I don’t remember this thing being so cramped before!” She hollers to the
forward of the cockpit at her friend. Jae
simply laughs, “Yeah, well know you know how I’ve been traveling all these
years.” “NO!!!
I’m serious! Did you cut into the seat room back here for something, or did
you just move your own seat back?” Meesahran is really frustrated. Jae
decides to investigate for himself, unlatches his seat restraints and squirms
around to see over the back of his seat into the rear seat. The site he beholds
is almost comical and chuckles, but only a bit, since the look on Meesahran’s
face is pure danger. What he finds there is Meesahran with her knees pressed
nearly to her chest, her head resting just above the head rest, and her
shoulders touching each side of the crash seat. “By Corel! I completely
forgot!” Jae begins to laugh outloud now, and Meesahran’s temper is nearing
its boiling point. “FORGOT
WHAT!!!” Holding
back the rest of his laughter, he answers her, “You haven’t been in here
since you were like fourteen or fifteen! You were shorter then!” And Jae’s
laughter begins again, so much that he has to turn back around and flop down
into his own seat to let it all out. “Great!”
Meesahran slumps down into the seat further, “I shoulda known this couldn’t
have been so easy.” As
Jae tries to slow down his breathing again, he reaches down under his seat and
tinkers around a bit. “Hold on, let me see if I can move this thing up any
while we’re in it… I’ve never tried it this way before.” Just as he
finishes, he finds that the seat will move forward, but stops abruptly on the
new comm relay Meesahran installed before they left Sanctuary. “Sorry, Mees,
but that’s all I got.” He
can hear and feel some moving around in the back, “Aha! Got it… Just enough
for me to slip my feet under your seat and stretch out my legs a little.” “Well,
that’s good, ‘cause with all that rockin’ around you’ve been doing, I
was afraid you were gonna pull us out of hyperspace.” Jae chuckles again. “Yeah,
yeah, aren’t you the funny guy… Man, I now remember why I always hated
fighters,” and she leans forward to flick Jae in the back of the head with her
last words. “Hey,
knock that off… I’m still recovering from the last time you split my head
open. Come to think of it, after that blow from your uncle, I guess head shots
are a family trait.” Jae begins to banter with Meesahran, just like they old
days. “Yeah,
well, Uncle Bowen always says to go for their weakest spot.” “Hey!
Low Blow! Well, maybe not.” And the two begin to laugh, just like the old
days. There
are a few moments of silence before Meesahran speaks up once more, this time
with a more serious tone in her voice, “Hey, Jae… I got a question.” “Go
for it, Mees. I’ve got no more secrets in this lifetime. I’m an open
book.” Jae settles in, thinking this might be about when he left her all those
years ago. Meesahran
pauses another moment, and takes a breath to steady her nerves, “What happened
between you and Vic?” Jae
sucks in a mass of air, completely shocked by her question, “Um, well, what
d’you mean?” “I
don’t know… It’s just that Vic told me you guys just couldn’t work
together anymore. And he would never tell me why, just that it couldn’t be
worked out.” She pauses again, “Was it about some girl?” Jae
nearly chokes on those words, “Gods NO!!! Until you brought it up, I never
knew he had any interest in girls, or anything for that matter… Except
killing.” “That’s
not fair.” She says shaking her head. “I’m
sorry, Mees. Maybe he was different with you, but all I ever got from Vic was
black-hearted killing.” Jae lowers his head, knowing that his statement is not
completely true. There once was a time when Jae looked up to dark man. “How
can you sit there and say that? I know you two are friends. Even if you do have
a strained relationship.” “Strained
isn’t really the right word, Mees. Ended is more like it.” Jae unconsciously
grabs at the ancient wound on his right forearm. “Vic
never said anything of the sort, just that you guys couldn’t be around each
other, but he wouldn’t explain it, not even to me.” Meesahran looks out of
the canopy into the passing lines of stars as they travel across the galaxy in
hyperspace. “What happened, Jae? I was hoping at least you would tell me.” Jae
balls up his fist, “Why do you need to know about this stuff, Mees? It’s
ancient history…” He slams the fist down into his own thigh, “I mean,
it’s not like you guys are still together.” And suddenly a thought pops back
into his head, “You aren’t… Are you?” Meesahran
slams her head into the back of her head rest, “No!” Clenching her jaw and
closing her eyes, she tries desperately to come up with the right response,
“It’s just that whenever I brought it up, he would just shut down,
completely.” As she speaks, she can feel the weight of her words upon her
heart. “I mean, it’s hard enough to keep friends anymore, and when your only
two can’t stand to be in the same room-…” Jae
nods his head, “I understand, I guess.” Steeling his pride, and working up
the nerve to expose his own frailties to his friend, Jae decides it must be
done, “I guess, in a way, it’s my fault.” “What
do you mean?” “When
I started moving up in the organization, they decided to partner me with Vic at
the time. Since he was the big man in Jaquillen group at the time, I think the old man wanted someone else to
train with Vic, or something like that.” Jae hunkers down in his seat, knowing
this will be a long tale to tell. “Anyway, it started out fine, I was still
pretty green when it came to the serious work, and I was also not the best
fighter. Vic changed that part pretty quick. We trained for hours every single
day.” Meesahran
interrupts for a moment, “And we know how much you like that.” “Hey!
You want the story or not?” “Sorry,”
she shifts again in the back, “go ahead.” “Anyway,
it wasn’t long before there wasn’t another soul in the group, aside from Vic
of course, that could best me in a fight. I wasn’t big, by any stretch of the
imagination, but I was tough. Vic always said ‘there wasn’t any room for
flowers in our line of work.’” Jae chortles a bit at that remembrance,
“So, I could take my lumps, just as good as I could dish ‘em out, which is
what Vic told me I had to do, before he would even consider taking me out with
him. And when my first shot came, it was as a pilot. I had to fly us in, and fly
us out, after he had ‘done a job.’ I had no idea what Vic really did for old
Jaq Naysan, and it was still a while before I would find out. So, we went along
like that for a while, almost a year. I honed my piloting skills, and became an
even better brawler. Pretty soon, I was a real scrapper, and I was getting
tougher and stronger everyday. That was when he started asking me how good I
could shoot. I still didn’t really know what Vic did at that point. Nobody
ever talked about it, not even old Jaq. So, we started practicing how to shoot
different weapons, but mostly slug throwers. Vic said they were easier for his
line of work, and had a better feel, especially on the long range jobs. It was
about then that I started to get some idea that Vic was a serious customer. Up
to that point, I had always thought of him as this hard-nosed older brother
type, but when he talked about his work, he would get this cold, far away look
to him. I was actually afraid of him, for the first time since we started
working together.” Jae is now shifting a little in his seat, but mostly from
the discomfort of the memories. “Mees, he was a different person when he was
working. When we trained, he was serious, but he was down right dark, black
really, when he was working.” Jae stops a moment to shudder at the thoughts
swirling in his mind about the times they worked together, Jae totally unaware
of what Vic was really doing. “So, the marksmanship stuff went on for almost a
year. When he thought I was good enough, he took me to see Old Man Jaq so he he
could tell him I was ready for the next part. The old man asked Vic several
times, ‘Are you sure the kid can handle himself?’ And every time, Vic would
say the same thing, ‘There ain’t a thing more training is gonna give him.
He’s gotta sink or swim if he’s gonna make it.’ It was then that I began
to think that I may have gotten myself in too deep.” Jae
stops again, but this time he takes a sip from his water hose. “So, Vic has me
check out one of the slug throwers and put my gear on the Black
Talon, his ship at
the time, and be ready to go in an hour. When I asked him what we were doing he
just said, ‘We got a job, Kid.’ That was it, no advance warning, no
instructions, no explanation, but by that point, I knew better than to ask too
many questions. So, we loaded up the Talon and set off for this mysterious job.
We had another person with us, who was gonna fly the ship off of whatever
backwater planet we found ourselves on this time. Vic told me only two things,
‘Stay close to me and do everything I say.’ Anyway, we got to the planet,
the pilot had the ship hidden and was to just wait for us to return, unless Vic
told him otherwise, and then we took off on a speeder that he had in the bay.
When we got to this compound, with a bunch of three story pillboxes, Vic turns
to me and says, ‘This place is crawling with vrelts, but if you shoot a single
one, I’ll have your hide.’ When I nodded my understanding, he gave me my
only other instruction, ‘We’re here to clear this place, so anything on two
legs is fair game when I give the signal.’ As soon as the words were out of
his throat, I was frozen in place, my heart was beating like a drum in my throat
and my mouth was as dry as the desert. I guess Vic sensed the fear coming off
me, and turned around. I will never forget what he said that day, ‘cause it
changed my life. He said, “Look, Kid, this ain’t no nursery school lesson,
this is the real world and in it people gotta die. I’m the guy that makes it
happen and I need someone to cover my back, not shiver like a school girl.’ I
just stood there, scared to death of what was gonna happen next, but before
anything could happen somebody walked into the alley where we were standing and
opened fire. I took one in the arm, and Vic took one in the gut. I managed to
hit the guy with my blaster pistol and knock him out. Vic just spit and stood
over the guy, looking back at me, ‘I shoulda known you were too weak for
this.’ And then he fired a shot from his slug thrower into the guy’s head,
walking away and into the maelstrom of fire that ensued. All I could do was sit
there in the dirt, clutching my arm, but it wasn’t long before the firing
stopped, and from the haze, Vic walks up grabs me by the shoulder, hauls me up
to my feet and pushes me towards the speeder. The whole way back to base, he
never said another word to me. When we got back, he had one of the kids haul my
gear back to general quarters.” Jae pauses for a moment, sucks in a breath and
then delivers the last, “We didn’t say more than two words to each other for
a long time after that. Not ‘til I started working for Higaeri, after Jaq’s
death. Then it was just in passing. I guess I was doing all the scout work for
his missions, ‘cause he always seemed to know where I had been or what I had
been up to when I saw him. I tried a few times to strike things up with him, but
he always resisted. It got a little better when I left Higaeri’s group, but it
was never like it was before.” Jae
slumps down a bit in his seat, the weight of his tale lifted off of him, and now
he just waits for Meesahran’s response. There
is a strange silence hanging over the cockpit for a long while, longer than Jae
can bear, and so he speaks up, once more. “Is that what you wanted to hear,
Mees?” He
can hear her breath, slowing going in and out, but still she does not speak.
After a few more moments, she finally breaks the silence, “Yeah, I guess
that’s it.” And then the silence returns.
Creator: PtrsonsZOO (Jennifer)
*SPECIAL NOTE: Due to circumstances beyond our control, the rest of the story will be written by PtrsonsZOO (Jennifer)
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