A Reunion, of Sorts - 10.088

[Ben Merasska]

"Ned, we've got company!"

Ben Merasska grimaced as the Marauder, in its sleek glory started to engulf his viewport. Alderaan, his Ghtroc 720, might have been able to get away if the distance had been greater, but with the other vessel this close, there was virtually no chance of escape.

Ghtroc 720-class transport vessel, cease all thrust and prepare to be boarded and inspected.

"Not like I got a choice," he grunted, and activated the comm. "Standing by."

He spun in his seat and ran out of the cockpit.

"Let's get the tibanna hidden," he said quickly. "And hope they don't try to scan too thoroughly."

[Cirrsseeto Quez]

It was a routine stop. Neutral Zone patrols, now that there was such a thing, basically meant extra due dilligence to prevent suspicious vessels coming in and prohibited items leaving. No sense in letting Imperial strike teams slip through the screens or letting arms shipments and the like fall into the hands of the Empire from within Alliance space.

The good news was that it kept shooting engagements down. They were still in a war, but it wasn't quite the full boil sort of war of previous years. The bad news was that running patrols and playing intergalactic cop could get a little boring. Not that Cirr would trade for the alternative, but when you spend your day-to-day existence flying by the seat of your pants and cheating death, you develop a chemical addiction to adrenaline.

"Marra, they'rre all yourrs. Take yourr team, and keep me posted."

Ever since the Ssi-Ruuk incident, Cirr had been more keen to take the advice of his former XO, John Glayde. The oft-cantankerous SpecForce officer didn't appreciate the skipper coming along on shore parties due to the risk. Now that he had a permanent hitch in his step, it could only be argued that he'd slow the team down if it got ugly.

"MARRCUS, go wjith herr."

The MMU's invaluable ability to be in more than one place made him ideal for such missions, and his sensors would no doubt assist the boarding party in searching for anything afoul of the law.

[Ben Merasska]

The secret compartments were a series of detachable deck-plates and a false wall hiding a sconce within the cargo bay; while all had been treated to resist scans and seem completely natural, they wouldn't stand up to close scrutiny.

The cases of tibanna were hidden quickly, with Ben taking the few that wouldn't fit into the cargo sconce and placing them under the false deck-plates in the common area.

Ben met Ned in the starboard cargo bay, where a custom hatch had been placed for easier attachment to derelicts and wrecks for salvage, and he sighed, wiping his hands and waited. He hoped the collection of cargo behind him and to his sides would make this whole operation seem a lot more more legal.

He also wondered when they were going to board; he was dismayed to find the hatch opening as if in response to his thought.

"Here we go," he muttered to his first mate, and plastered an annoyed smile on his face.

"What can I do for ya?" he asked. "Ben Merasska, captain, this here is Ned, my first mate, and this is Alderaan, my ship."

[MARCUS]

The droid chassis stepped onto the Ghtroc 720 freighter, ahead of the Felacatian away party officer. The pulse weapon it was armed with was stowed in the custom holster fitted to its leg plating. A utilitarian glance at the two present occupants of the boarded ship presented no obvious threat to the away party, and its visual receptor focused on the human identifying himself as Captain.

"No threat detected. Identity confirmed. Merasska, Ben."

The Lupine droid approached the woman beside him.

"Insufficient identification."

[Enedra Myrrhe]

There was a method to their madness as they stowed the tibanna away wherever it would fit. It was almost a dance...well. A graceless, stumbling shuffle most of the time, but Ned preferred to think of it as a very well choreographed routine. This time, at least, no one tripped, and by the time the hatch opened, they were standing there affecting their very best innocent & bored expressions.

A brow arched as she looked over the assembled party, particularly the woman in the lead, until the droid stepped forward and spoke.

"Insufficient identification."

"Full name is Enedra Myrrhe-" she began, before the redhead cut her off.

"Former Special Forces, MARCUS. The patch is missing from her left shoulder, but the jacket is still familiar. Fifth Regiment is my guess." Mara added, grip light on her KX-80.

The Sorrusian frowned, and made a mental note to actually get rid of the jacket instead of simply saying it. Perhaps incineration would do. Gods only knew it had brought her nothing but grief in a very long time. A sigh passed her lips as she nodded. "The Sixer is right...with the emphasis on 'former'." Ned said with a voice devoid of accent, resisting the urge to cross her arms over her chest as she was so often wont to do.

[Ben Merasska]

"Can we get to business here? I mean, unless you guys are paying me, then take as long as you want," Ben interjected, sliding his hands into his pockets. "But there's a lot of veterans floating around, right? I mean, unless you're following the Empire's lead and cloning soldiers to fight their entire lives."

He grinned, and shrugged.

"But we're all good people here. So again, what can I do to get you off my ship in a timely-like fashion?"

[MARCUS]

It was Mara's say, as she was the commanding officer of the boarding party. To assist her, the droid chassis merely quoted policy.

"Pursuant to Alliance Naval Code 471 D Subsection 2. Regarding Interstellar Interdiction Operations. Any vessel broadcasting an unverified transponder or broadcasting no transponder, or any vessel that does not file a flight plan with the harbor master of port of departure is subject to search and boarding."

The droid's photoreceptor swung again to Mara. He could only quote the regulation. It was her position to enforce it, if it applied.

[Mara Tallen]

Amber eyes cast across the small space, pupils elongating to distinctly feline slits. Mara couldn't shake the sneaking sense of familiarity she had. Could have been the ex-SpecForce woman standing in front of her, but no...that was a sensation she was all too accustomed to since the treaty had been signed. But the Captain...she'd have sworn she knew that name.

Blinking, her gaze tracked back to the droid beside her. It would have to wait, she mused...duty, however unexciting it had become, called. "Thank you, MARCUS. Calibrate your sensors and prepare for a general sweep. Captain, I'll need to see your transponder registration and shipping manifest. Presuming everything is in order, we'll have you on your way in no time.

[Ben Merasska]

"Here you go," Ben said a little too brightly, handing her the documents she requested. He grimaced internally, but decided that trying to act nice would just get him a more thorough search.

"What's on the contraband list today?" he asked. "There was a thorough checking for water on each ship not a few days ago because of some foolish rumour that some folk were trying to pull the hydrogen from it for explosives."

He shook his head in incredulity.

"I don't know what's more ridiculous: the rumor, or the fact that you guys took it seriously."

He knew, logically, that he was just digging himself a bigger hole. But there was a certain catharsis to just needling and provoking, that even while he in essence submitted, it was only to the letter of the law, and not to the spirit of the government.

"But I guess since y'all took the easy way out and just set yourselves up all nice and cozy without actually having to do the hard work of destroying the Empire like you said you were going to do, you must be going stir crazy for lack of action, huh?"

It felt good to finally get that one out.

[Cirrsseeto Quez]

The good part about having MARCUS on point was that everything he interacted with was tight-beamed back to his distributed network. It meant that while the Captain may not be present, he was never really away either. So, from the moment MARCUS laid eyes on Ben, Cirr knew the threat level was nil, but the problem level might be moderate-to-high.

"XO, take the conn."

His new Hapan executive relieved him as Cirr headed to the umbilical, and to the Alderaan...arriving just in time to catch the end of Ben's passive-aggressive diatribe. Cirr tugged at the hem of his jacket as he stepped through the doorway.

"Captajin."

[Ben Merasska]

Ben nodded to Cirr.

"Just a second Cirr, I'm dealing with something."

He made to continue, but stopped and looked back towards the large Cizerack.

"Cirr. Oh."

He paused again.

"How's things?" He asked lamely.

[Cirrsseeto Quez]

"Compljicated."

The Cizerack captain's face didn't have much humor on it. His askew ears only accentuated his mood. He was glad to see Ben, he really was. But seeing Ben meant sorting out the friendly parts and the parts the Alderaanian was increasingly trying to keep obfuscated from nearly everyone who gave a damn about him. It was becoming exhausting.

"Stayjing busy?"

There wasn't a crime in pushing freight in a border sector, but where there's smoke...

Captain Quez's eyes flicked to Mara.

"jI'm surre Captajin Merrasska's paperrworrk checks out."

He waited for her to confirm as much as he looked back to Ben. It had better.

[Enedra Myrrhe]

To her credit, Ned noted silently, Mara did nothing more than arch a slender brow at Ben's diatribe.

For her own part, it was all she could do to not sigh as Ben did his level best to dig the hole beneath them into an industrial sized pit of doom. Not that she could blame him, really. His filters had only let out what they were both bloody well thinking. It was just that her self-preservation prevented their audible airing.

Mara nodded and handed the documents back to Ben, stepping back to Cirr's side as she spoke. "His papers are in proper order with seals and signatures in place. Nothing amiss there."

Ned crossed her arms over her chest after making a point to take the documents. She did not like the way Mara's gaze flickered as the woman practically sniffed the air, and resisted the urge to find a squirt bottle. That would have escalated things to a completely new level of bad they just didn't need right then.

But it would have been funny as hell.

[Ben Merasska]

"Very busy," Ben answered. "How's Lyanie?"

He truthfully didn't want to hear about Lyanie. He'd feel bad about how thoroughly Alliance she was. But the longer they were on his ship the more chances they'd fire off their scanners and find the carbonite blocks of tibanna he and Ned had hidden. And he didn't need that at all.

Ned was quiet, but then she didn't speak as much as he did anyway. Though on good days he could hear her singing along with him quietly while the holoband had a good signal. She had a better voice than he did at the very least.

[Cirrsseeto Quez]

Mention of his Rrou'aiha caused Cirr to unconsciously run a hand up to the kaa'rri worn around his neck. He nodded.

"She's good. Overrworrked, but happy."

You could practically smell the tension in the ship. Had it always been this way? He glanced to the strong & silent-looking lady Ben was travelling with. He wondered if they were...and then quickly dismissed the notion. Ben was too timid for his own good.

"You and yourr fjirrst mate want to show me arround?"

It was friendly enough, but mainly he just wanted to get them away from the rest of the welcoming committee.

[Enedra Myrrhe]

She permitted one last arch glance to travel over the Sixer before Ned shifted her position. What had become obvious to her was that this was no longer a routine patrol stop they'd have to deal with. Clearly Ben had quite the history with the Cizeri Alliance Captain, and given the volumes they were speaking between the audible words...well. It had to be an interesting tale.

Reaching over, she tucked the flimsis and the datapad back into their designated spot and allowed a slightly more amicable expression to emerge onto her features. "This way, Captain," Ned began, pointedly leaving out the others. It also left Ben some few moments to collect himself and she to wonder not for the first time if he was going to be alright. She led the way towards the starboard side of the ship, intending on making a loose circuit around the open areas of the ship before returning to the airlock.

[Cirrsseeto Quez]

Walking along with the Alderaan's Captain and First Mate, Cirr casually made a go of taking in the scenery, all the while taking mental inventory of any compartments or crannies that he might consider stowing contraband, were he to be so inclined. Ben was clever - possibly because he was still in the game and had more experience at it. Captain Quez couldn't find anything glaring enough to pry into.

"You surre go thrrough a lot of shjips, Ben. Wherre'd you fjind thjis one?"

Cirr paused, giving an exposed manifold a peek. Not out of any attempt to search for the contraband he was nearly sure Ben was carrying, but out of a latent engineer's curiosity to diagnose any potential maladies on a ship and repair them.

"Njice solderr job on that couplerr. Those are tetchy sometjimes."

He glanced back to Miss Strong & Silent backing Ben's play. He knew the Alderaanian pilot was a whiz at the stick, but he'd seen him try to tend to a similar patch job back in the Knightfall days. Safe to say, Lyanie had to fix where Ben "fixed" it.

Standing on his tip-toes, Cirr sniffed at the power resistor on the relay. No ozone. It ran clean as a whistle.

[Ben Merasska]

"We picked up a mechanic with her, actually," Ben said. "Young Togrutan girl, couldn't be more'n seventeen, but she's a whiz with a spanner. She's off lookin' up some family."

Ben didn't look at Cirr very much. Though the dreams had passed, every now and then he'd feel a ghost of pain in his spine. He considered himself a collector of trauma now. Deep seated alienation and isolation because of the destruction of his home planet; occasional flashes of freezing cold in his hands and feet after crash landing on a frozen world; memories and scars from torture in an Imperial station; and now tremors of pain in his back from almost having his soul sucked out by reptilian monsters from the Unknown Regions. He didn't want to think about what he'd collect next.

"But as to how we got Alderaan? That's something of a long story I don't think I'm up for telling. Right now, anyway."

[Enedra Myrrhe]

She paused, dark eyes leaving the path ahead to focus on Ben. They lingered there, staring, years of training noting the tightness of his shoulders, his avoidance of Cirr's gaze, and the slight strain that had worked its way into his voice. Nothing much to those who didn't know the man well, but to Ned...well. To her they were signs of concern.

Enedra could only hope that this time he'd talk to her instead of shutting himself away even more completely. Fingers rose to absently tug her jacket back into place, her back straightening as she did. A small movement, but one Ben had come to call her 'serious face'.

While her smile wasn't entirely warm, it was at least honest. "Shuvin is brilliant. Great hand with the ship...claims it talks to her, actually. But then, I've never met a good mechanic who hasn't claimed that."

Her gaze finally left Ben and flicked over to the tall Cizerack. Clearly, whatever he now was, he knew his way around a ship. Enedra tilted her head towards the large door currently behind him. "Port side cargo hold entrance is behind you...care to take a look?" she asked, stepping towards the control panel on the wall.

[Cirrsseeto Quez]

It was volunteered freely, and Cirr was certain he'd find nothing of note there. Still, he turned to the woman with a genial smile.

"Surre, let's go."

Following Enedra's lead, Cirr walked alongside Ben as they went to inspect the hold. He looked like a man who was barely hanging on. There was a tiredness to him. Whatever Ben was up to - and Cirr was nearly certain it was something - his friend was suffering, and it was a hard sight to see. Cirr opened his mouth to say something, then quickly closed it. What would he offer? Sympathy? Condolences? They would sound so cheap and he knew it. Would he again try and offer the wandering Alderaanian some sense of belonging? Better people than he had tried, and he'd kept on his own path.

They entered the hold, and Cirr walked about the room. There were boxes and palettes here and there. Certainly enough containers to haul contraband if the pair wished to do so. In keeping appearance of due diligence, Captain Quez pointed one of the containers out to Enedra.

"Open jit."

While she went to work, Cirr walked to the door of the hold and closed it shut behind them, giving the three of them a private venue away from Captain Tallen and MARCUS.

[Ben Merasska]

Ben leaned back against the bulkhead, forgetting that he was packing. His jacket fell, and the butt of his blaster pistol (http://prophouse2000.com/fire2.jpg), ensconced in its shoulder holster, peeked out for a second before he quickly pulled the garment back over it. He'd never packed heat before around Cirr, and didn't want to seem like he was posturing.

"Gonna play bad cop now, eh?" he asked with a grin, but his eyes were jaded. "Be careful with me, I'm delicate."

[Enedra Myrrhe]

It was almost nice, the moment, as if they were giving a tour to a friend. Well, in some respects they clearly were, if one discounted the fact that they had been stopped for a search for contraband. And one discounted the fact that said friend still served the side that had abandoned it's principles and conveniently forgotten why they had all gotten in the trenches together in the first place.

Ben had had the right of it when he'd read the riot act to the Sixer leading the boarding team. As much a riot act as he could muster, given the state of mind and being he'd been in for as long as she'd known him. Ned would have given anything to see him...different. More alive. More...just more. But that was a useless hope.

It seemed the Cizeri had the same thought, however, as he'd opened and promptly closed his mouth the moment they'd had the illusion of privacy behind the closed door. Enedra unbent enough to share a glance with him, dark eyes going from him to Ben and back, with a slight shake of her head. There was nothing to be said that would make a difference, so she simply nodded and went back to her task of opening the crate Cirr had pointed to.

It took a few moments of painful, awkward silence to undo the bindings and leverage the lid aside. It was heavy, and the hydraulics on the box were nearly kaput. They'd have to have it refurbished after this run. Inside, in carefully packed boxes, were delicate flimsis and assorted datapads. Some blank, some inscribed, all earmarked for Lorrd University's famous library. Mostly philosophical texts, according to the manifest, and some few historical works being sent as a gift from their sister university on Corellia, at Coronet.

Fingers brought up the box's paperwork on the screen attached to the outside, even as she spoke. "This one's headed for Lorrd. Filled with texts on flimsi and datapad. There's even a few real books on actual paper in the preservation crate at the bottom." Ned added, withdrawing one of the etched flimsis and plugging it carefully into her datapad. 'The History of Sorrus and Their Native Species' popped up on the screen, and she snorted under her breath at the broad, sweeping generalizations that comprised the first few pages.

[Cirrsseeto Quez]

"That'll be enough."

Captain Quez looked almost bored with Enedra's attempt to show how forthcoming they were. He didn't want to tear this ship apart any more than Ben wanted him to. Walking by 'Ned, he picked up one of the flimsis and pretended to glance it over for a bit. Cirr continued to walk, keeping quiet for a few moments as he paced between Ben and Enedra. Eventually he tired of his charade entirely, returning the flimsi back to Ben's first mate.

"The penalty forr rrunnjing guns orr otherr contrraband jin the Alljiance jis two yearrs, last jI hearrd frrom the magjistrrates."

Cirr's blue eyes met Enedra's. She wasn't backing down from him, and she was made of tough stuff from the look of her.

"Of courrse, that's jif the Hapans orr the Cizerack don't get you. They kjill for less."

The Captain now turned to Ben, walking over to where he leaned at the bulkhead.

"Tell me the trruth."

[Ben Merasska]

Ben knew how long the sentencing standards for the Alliance were. He also knew that two years wasn't even the low end of the sentence once they'd finished figuring out who he was and what he'd done. He'd be lucky if he got twenty years. Aiding and abetting insurgent groups on Alliance planets would get him ten (for each infraction), running guns two, tibanna two, evading arrest one.

"Look around, Cirr. What you see is what you're getting," he said, regarding his old friend as if from a distance. "But I know you remember what it's like. For every straight job that pays for food and water, there's five of 'em full o' mischief that pay for a decent shielding system."

He rubbed his eyes, feeling tired, but knowing that even though he wouldn't be plagued with nightmares, he wouldn't be able to sleep until his body shut down on him.

"Cirr, I'll tell you the truth, but you've got to answer a question or two from me first, just as truthful as you want me to be."

He stopped and took a deep breath.

"Why did you go through all the trouble of pulling me off that cruiser?" he asked. "I'm not saying it wasn't a kindness, and I'm about as appreciative of it as a man who owes his life can be, but there were all sorts o' people there. Mothers, and kids, and little old ladies. But I've been curious about it for a while now. You pulled me and a handful of people off that ship, and then killed the rest of 'em almost before our engines left the shuttle bay. You can say you didn't have time, but I was closer to seeing if there was something on the other side than I've ever been, and that's sayin' something. Surely there had to have been someone else worth saving who could get out on his own two feet."

The Alderaani freighter captain shoved his hands into his pockets to hide the fact that they were trembling noticeably.

"You knew once your boys and girls set foot on that ship that there wasn't time to save everyone. My thinking is that it pained you something terrible, but you knew you were going keep us from being used up like batteries, and that meant killing us. But I'm still curious, Cirr. I was breathing my last, and you had them suffer me. Why was that?"

He couldn't tell Cirr he could still hear that doctor's voice in his head. Both he and Cirr knew that the doc died partially because he was keeping Ben from dying himself. He regretted asking the question now, and didn't want to hear the answer. Even so, the words couldn't be taken back, and he wished he smoked so he could have something for his frelling shaky hands to do.

[Cirrsseeto Quez]

And in an instant the wellspring of terrible emotions he'd kept sealed on the best of days was undone by Ben Merasska not knowing when to leave well enough alone. Cirr's hands went out, checking Ben into the bulkhead and pinning him there.

"Don't you..."

The words practically growled out of him as Cirr's right hand drew back in a fist, and then hung suspended in air. His eyes were a storm of rage, grief, and despair that every other part of his face desperately tried to hide. His jaw set, his lips pressed taut and thin, his nostrils flared as he tried to vent the emotion out of him, lest the poison destroy him, and in turn, destroy Ben. The same blue eyes could only meet Ben's eyes a moment before they looked away.

Bad enough that he bring up that shared terror at all. Worse that it was in front of someone who could never know.

Cirr released Ben with one final angry shove, turned, and kicked over the box of cargo he'd "inspected" previously. Angry eyes flashed back to Ben, but they were eyes back in control now, and Captain Quez tugged the hem of his jacket down sharply as he stood up straight.

So that was the cost of the truth, then? A cost too high.

"Shjip looks clean to me."

[Enedra Myrrhe]

Fingers eased out of their practiced, tight grips on the weapon that had left its holster with the barest whisper of metal on leather. The double barreled muzzle glinted in the light as Cirr let Ben go and turned around, Ned lowering it slowly before returning it to the ever-preset holster on her thigh.

There was some decidedly visceral, hell-on-earth shit that had happened, and once again she was sitting there in the dark. Ben looking like he was ready to give up again, Cirr looking ready to kill someone but holding on to the barest thread of control. Or at least, it looked like a bare thread...she wasn't familiar enough with any other Cizeri to know otherwise. Fingers tightened on her upper arms as her arms crossed over her chest, dark eyes flashing as the flimsis and datapads went flying across the decking, boxes crashing into other crates and spilling their contents. Many of them would be scratched if not ruined beyond repair, which would mean a severe slash in their commission. Less legitimate money so they could manage to feed themselves and keep the ship flying.

"Your temper, Captain, has just taken ten thousand credits out of our pockets. More if we're forced to replace what's been ruined and destroyed."

Her back straight and her head held high, Ned regarded Cirr carefully, pacing slowly forward to place herself between him and Ben - but maintaining a measure of decorum and distance. She glanced back at Ben, a brief flash of pain crossing her features before her gaze returned to the Cizerack.

"Since we have passed your inspection, I would respectfully ask you to remove yourself and your crew from our ship so that we may be on our way." she added, her voice soft and even.

[Ben Merasska]

"Ah," he said, smiling wanly. "So that's it."

He ignored the flimsis and datapads strewn on the floor.

"Cirr," he said. "There's nothin' on this ship that concerns you. And that's the truth."

[Cirrsseeto Quez]

Captain Quez looked to Ben, and with a sigh and a shake of his head, hit the control to open the door to the hold.

"Perrhaps not."

Cirr stepped through the porthole, looking back at Ben and 'Ned. His ears turned downwards as he thought to say something, and considered otherwise. He left the crew to themselves. Walking back to the threshold of the airlock, he spotted MARCUS and Captain Tallen. Approaching the other felinoid, he kept his voice low.

"jIs the homjing beacon securre?"

[Mara Tallen]

"Aye, Captain. As requested."

Mara replied equally as quietly, amber eyes flashing bright as they shifted back to something far more human than feline. Her nose twitched slightly, something teasing at the edge of her senses. She attributed it to the dust motes floating in the air and wondered just how much of the cargo he had inspected to have kicked up so much of it.

But it was neither here nor there. The question meant that they were done and further monitoring would be handled by the techs back aboard the Novgorod and likely by MARCUS. The feline nodded to both the Cizerack and the droid, before stepping aside to allow him passage.

"Move out. You two, secure the airlock behind us." Mara gave the orders as she and the others fell into formation behind Cirr and followed him back to the Novgorod.

[Ben Merasska]

The silence in the room after Cirr's exit felt like someone holding their breath to Ben.

"Got a question?" he asked Ned, rubbing his eyes and then looking at the flimsis and datapads scattered across the floor.

[Enedra Myrrhe]

She took in a deep, ragged breath and let it out slowly, noisily. She could hear the footsteps leaving through the airlock and the airlocks engage automatically on the Alderaan's side. Ned made a mental note to check and lock the door before they left.

But that train of thought was just a distraction from the questions at hand.

Question. Ha.

"Not one you'll actually answer." Ned replied softly after several moments, her tone depleted of energy. Her head tilted as she stood over the flimsi-carnage, dark eyes briefly showing traces of...things. Emotions. Things she refused to deal with because it was both useless and counter-productive...and because it was Ben.

"Just...just go get us out of here and away from them. I'll clean this up. Doesn't look as bad as I thought, at first." she continued, tearing her gaze away from him and kneeling beside the mess.

[Ben Merasska]

Ben let out a gust of air through his nose.

"It's in the past, Ned," he said, making his way to the door. "Nothing to say about..."

He frowned and stopped.

"Did we leave that droid and that other Alliance lackey in our cargo hold? Alone?"

[Enedra Myrrhe]

"We did..."

Ned was suddenly glad they had their backs to one another, considering the fact that she could not control her expression in that moment. That's right, clam up, don't talk, don't tell me anything. Heaven fucking forbid you let anyone in.

"...but I flipped the security cams on when I put the registration and manifests away. You should be able to pull it right up on the cockpit monitor. I had Shuvin install the new wiring before we dropped her off."

Control of her expression came back slowly, as her fingers deftly dusted off the flimsis and tucked them back into their holding slots. Wouldn't be long before she was back to her old, inscrutable, imposing self.

[Cirrsseeto Quez]

"Captain on deck!"

Captain Quez strode back onto the bridge, settling into his chair. He spied Lyanie at the engineering terminal, and their eyes met. She could see something weighed heavily on his mind, but he shook his head slightly, turning forward as Novgorod began to maneuver away from the Alderaan.

"Helm, set courrse forr a mjicrro hyperrspace jump once we'rre clearr."

"Destination, sir?"

The Cizerack settled low in his chair, frowning.

"No destjinatjion. We'rre lyjing jin wajit forr them to make thejirr move."

Cirr's head lowered until his chin met his hand. He turned to MARCUS.

"jInforrm me when they arrjive to...wherreverr they'rre headed. Then we'll pounce."

[MARCUS]

The droid chassis had followed Cirr to the bridge alongside Captain Tallen. His photoreceptor brightened, and focused.

"Acknowledged. Coordinates and trajectories are broadcasting in real time."

[Ben Merasska]

"Ned," Ben started, seeing her begin to clean up the mess Cirr made. How would he even begin to tell her? She wanted him to talk, sure enough. But what could he say? What was there to say?

Ned, you remember that station where I lost the Albatross and we hightailed it on a Kazellis over to Mama Taa? Yeah, I was tortured there.

You didn't hear about it, but there's these monsters from the Unknown regions who suck out people's souls and use them as batteries. That almost happened to me too.

I saw one of my oldest friends gunned down beside me because she was in the way, and five minutes later hundreds of people died because they, like me, were Alderaani.

Yeah, right. Words failed to capture the sheer horror of seeing your home planet gone, turned into an asteroid belt. The pain of real torture, of feeling your very essence being sucked out of you was indescribable. He couldn't even comprehend the events. He turned his back to them and looked forward, and tried to move on. And while he felt bad that Ned wanted to help him so much even her imperturbable stoicism cracked as he kept his silence, there was no way he was going to tell Ned about things no one could do anything about. Why share problems that couldn't be solved?

"Thanks."

A few moments later Ben stared at the security cam footage from the cargo bay, a deep frown on his face as he considered his options. The cameras had been jammed.

"We're in deep shit," Ben sighed finally.

[Enedra Myrrhe]

Her shoulders slumped as he finally left the room, footsteps retreating down the hall to cockpit. Ned paused, sighing deeply, eyes only half-seeing the mess before her. Ned just did not understand Ben...didn't understand the inability to talk about whatever had happened to him.

It ought to have been as simple as stating the bare facts.

But even she knew that whatever the situation actually was, as poorly as Cirr and Ben both treated it and one another...maybe it was just best that she didn't know. She'd never be able to fix it, and even if she could, by some miracle...he'd never let her. Ned pressed her hands to her face and breathed deeply, steadily, ticking the beats off in her head to establish a calming rhythm.

At least, until she heard the muffled curse through the still open doors. Right.

Back to work.

Enedra rose to her feet, leaving the mess at it was for the moment and strolling down the hallway at a brisk pace. Shoulders straight, expression even, eyes dark and unreadable. Her usual. Her nornal. The only one people ever wanted to see from her.

"Deep, huh?" she replied belatedly as she took her seat, looking up at the snow dancing across the screen. Fantastic.

"Well, fuck. Deep it is. If they had the presence of mind to jam us, I bet they tagged us with a beacon, too. This is really not our day."

[Ben Merasska]

"No way we can't do the delivery," Ben murmured, staring at the jammed camera footage. "Send all sorts of nasty folk our way. No time to find the beacon. Could be anywhere in the bay."

Ben looked up at Ned and grinned, feeling somewhat normal now they had an actual normal problem to deal with: how to deliver their goods and get out before things got too hot to handle.

"Ned, do we still have those canvas tarps?" he knew they did, and so didn't wait for an answer. "How many feet do you think we got?"

[Enedra Myrrhe]

"Agreed." Ned added, frowning at the screen and pivoting in her chair to look back down the hall.

"Huh? how many feet? Hmm...." she thought for a moment, making the mental calculations. "Twelve tarps, I think, minus one or two that got munched on when we dropped Shuvin off. Most of them are huge, about twenty by twenty, I'd say. Gods know we have a ton of rope to go with them..."

Turning back, Ned fixed Ben with an arched brow. "...you're smiling, and you're having thoughts. Am I going to like these thoughts?"

[Ben Merasska]

Ben spun around in his seat and jumped out, his grin still in place.

"Well, here's what I have in mind," he said as he marched into the cargo bay.

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

Three Hours Later - Sy Myrth system

"We're here, Ned!" Ben called as Alderaan dropped out of hyperspace and rocketed to the planet. The comm panel blinked, and Ben flicked it on.

"Finally here?"

"Can't outrun every patrol," Ben replied. "But we're going to have to do this quick. Do you have your people at the drop off?"

"Yes. Are you being followed?"

"Uh, maybe," Ben answered, keeping an eye on the short range scanners. He'd dropped them into the system far out from the planet to make sure that Cirr would take the bait.

"WHY ARE YOU HERE THEN! WE CAN'T AFFORD TO BE -"

"We're going to parachute the cargo down to you."

"WHAT?! THAT'S TIBANNA! IF IT-"

Ben shut off the comm. "Boring conversation anyway."

The scanners pinged as a ship dropped out of hyperspace.

"Ned, ready?" Ben shouted back, without taking his eyes off the view in front of him. They were entering the atmosphere. The plan called for her to be strapped in and ready to push the carbonite blocks out of the open cargo bay ramp, giving each one some time so the blocks wouldn't hit each other on their way down. Everything else had been moved and strapped in also, hopefully well enough that nothing would go flying. "We're only going to have one shot at this!"

[Cirrsseeto Quez]

"We've entered the Sy Myrth system, Captain."

Captain Quez leaned forward in his seat, eyes sharp for any tell-tale engine flare that might give his quarry away.

"Engage E-WARR systems. Mask ourr enerrgy sjignaturres. Maneuverr thrrough the lagrrangjian pojints, arround the mass shadows."

His blue eyes still searching, Cirrsseeto made a hand signal to helm, as if to signal to keep their approach easy and careful. While E-WAR could certainly mask their presence to anyone relying on contact by scope, it also meant that they couldn't actively engage sensors, which could spoil the stealth effect. All they could rely on was passive sensor information, and the telemetry from the homing beacon.

Novgorod stalked around the outer edge of the system, near to where the beacon had signaled hyperspace terminus. She banked around the outer planet in the system, coming about to continue stalking ahead.

[Enedra Myrrhe]

Her hands moved at a furious pace, building intricate knots on the lattice of ropes she'd tied to each crate. The knots served as anchors to the tarps she rigged as hasty parachutes. There was a considerable amount of prayer flooding the air and with any luck, being heard by whichever deity was feeling particularly magnanimous.

Soon enough, all of them were ready, pushed into position near where the ramp would soon lower. Another moment saw Ned herself ready - harness snug and secured to a cargo hitch built into the floor.

"Ready to go!" She shouted back, slapping the panel to open the ramp as Ben pulled the ship level and sped off across the landscape. She'd have to rely on him to give her the precise moment of the first drop, because after that, it was a simple five-count between shoving the crates off of the edge and praying again.

[Ben Merasska]

He could see the drop markers still being placed by the unsavory sorts he knew were waiting for this delivery.

"Ready, and... now!" he called through the internal comm. With the ramp open, there'd be no way for her to hear him otherwise.

[Cirrsseeto Quez]

"Captain, the beacon's speed is decelerating."

Captain Quez stood from his seat, heading to the commscan station to peer over his crewer's shoulder.

"Get me a grrjid fjix."

There could be any number of reasons for deceleration. They could be dodging asteroids, getting waylayed by another ship, or..they could be approaching a planet. Within moments, the grid readout for the beacon came in. It looked like the planetary option was the likely culprit. Cirr leaned in, tapping a few keys on the terminal to bring up the stellar mass most adjacent to the decelerating beacon.

"Overrlay wjith carrtography of that planet therre."

"Aye sir."

Cirr turned to look at the adjacent screen, as a broad continent came into view. Their field of view was still too wide. They needed to focus.

"Helm, get us jin closerr. jI want a fjix on thejirr posjitjion the moment they go to grround."

[Enedra Myrrhe]

With Ben's shout ringing in her ears, Enedra shove the first of the containers out and counted to twenty as the wretched thing plummeted. The makeshift parachute snapped out and the container began to float a little bit slower.

Thank all the gods.

Ben shouted, she counted, and then she pushed. She almost felt like she was giving birth. That visual alone almost made her breathless with laughter as she continued on.

Over and over, until each of the crates was away, the camouflage tarps snapping out to slow the descent of their adrenaline junky crate friends.

Ben probably thought she was crazy as the ramp lifted and finally closed, at which point she felt safe enough in unclasping herself from the harness and making her way back up to the cockpit.

[Ben Merasska]

"I think you're crazy," Ben said while his first mate entered the cock pit and sat down. "Laughing at a time like this. This is clearly chortling time. You're crazy."

The parachutes all held up, though it was close in a couple cases, and the disaffected citizenry quickly descended on the carbonite blocks of tibanna, loading them into speeders and scanning them for any tracking devices, before leaving the area in a bigger hurry than they'd arrived.

Ben didn't answer the comm call that came a second later. He was too busy chortling to show Ned what he meant by chortling.

[Cirrsseeto Quez]

The blip passed along on the grid, showing no signs of slowing. After an atmospheric descent, it actually started accelerating again. The commscan officer's confusion was written across his face.

"Captain..."

"They'rre dojing a drrop!"

Captain Quez was already back in his seat, eyes forward and ready to pounce.

"Get us to the planet, qujickly!"

Novgorod's sublights flared, and she rocketed to full acceleration, throwing her E-WAR shroud as she took the most direct line of approach to the drop site. Already, Alderaan was hauling sky like Queen Amidala with her ass on fire. Ben had figured it all out, and every second they delayed meant a larger chance that their intended quarry would blend back into the jungle with their ill-gotten goods. Orbit was quickly established, and the marauder corvette's sensors began intensely scouring the thick forest below.

"Captain, I'm not picking up anything on our scopes down there. The cover's too thick. We lost them, sir."

Captain Quez brooded in his seat, a frown on his face as he tightened a hand into a fist.

"Send to Alljiance Command forr rrejinforrcements. We at least know wherre ourr nefarrjious frrjiends ljive now."