Captain Coruscant and the Hirsute Avenger

[Kes Akiena]

Finding Anauri Rabeak was usually an easy enough task, made simple due to the ease of comms. Of course, on the rare occasion that a quick call failed, Jovan's chief engineer could many times be found in the main engineering bay. It was a strange warren of small offices, work bays, and short hallways that connected each overstuffed alcove. In the last few weeks Kes had made sure that Anauri had been fed a steady diet of supplies and parts to further facilitate the ease of repair to the station's systems; or at least, in so much as he could. There were times when he'd had to send refurbished materials, but repair items were repair items, and Kes knew that the Nehantite mechanic was resourceful.

The inspection was a scheduled event, though informal at best. As it was, the redhead suspected his presence wasn't exactly seen as good luck. Despite his attempts and successes at getting his engineers what they needed, he had to wonder if they saw him at times as a hindrance. Which was why he mostly stayed away. He kept his interactions limited to the strict schedules and paperwork. Sometimes he stepped in to try and smooth over and explain why some parts weren't able to be delivered, but those times were - thank the gods - few.

Stepping off the lift that had brought him to engineering, Commander Akiena paused mid-stride for a moment. He stuck one hand behind his back as the other came up to run fingers through a rather surprising mane of red hair. It was getting a bit too long; he'd have to have it trimmed.

He'd not have to wait long, he knew that much. Chief Rabeak was always a punctual individual, and had never failed to disappoint.

Jovan's Chief Engineer would be along shortly, and then the two men would be off to inspect his handiwork.

[Anauri Rabeak]

"Of course it's not working! That's why there's a ticket for it! Because it's not working! That's why you're assigned to it!" An angry voice roared from one of the offices, followed by a furious hammering of keys. The voice began to cool, though the stress underlying each word was palpable. "Look, if goes up, but not down, that means there's something wrong with the the lower motor. This is basic engineer stuff, standard for most any planet; I shouldn't have to explain this! Get back in there, test the control circuits, and figure out where it's failing, got it? Good. Gonna be out of pocket for a while, late for an inspection with the boss-man. You got any more novice questions, ask Gradoona. I'm sure she'd love to talk your ear off about 'em."

The end key clacked painfully beneath his blunt clawtip as Chief Engineer Anauri Rabeak crushed it to end the holocall with one of his newest engineer transfers. Critical thinking used to be part of the job, he recalled. Maybe kids these days were too reliant on looking up quick answers on the holonet whenever they encountered an issue. Or maybe he was just getting old. With a deep breath and sigh to calm his nerves, Anauri imagined it was likely healthy amounts of both. Taking up his cap, the brown-furred Nehantite tugged it onto his head and pulled at the lapels of his uniform jacket - the only piece of actual Jovan uniform kit he was wearing - as he stepped out of his office. Kes should be down any time, and.... he was already there. Crap.

The well-practiced smile covered any worry on Anauri's face as he strode forward, his boots thumping along the durasteel diamond-plate flooring, and he gave a quick salute. "Commander, sorry to keep you waiting. Had a, uh, fire to put out," he said. Garfife, he hoped this inspection would be quick.

[Kes Akiena]

Kes smiled up at the Nehantite, affording an understanding nod.

"Not to worry, Chief. Seems that all we've been doing lately has been putting out fires."

Which was the unfortunate truth. It seemed as though ever person on Jovan had been caught up in tamping down unruly sparks and flares, and the Commander was certainly no exception. Not for the first time did he wonder if being promoted and placed in charge of a space station was a clever punishment in and of itself. It wouldn't surprise him, but he was damned if he would give in and request transfer. No, he was determined to stick this tour out; he'd seen tougher times, after all. Hells, he'd been through the Vandelheim Campaigns. He would be able to survive this.

With one hand stuffing itself into his front pocket, the redhead gave a nod, gesturing with his free hand to the stretch of corridor that intersected their current position.

"Lead the way."

[Anauri Rabeak]

No comments on being out of uniform, no comments on his lack of decorum on the comms, and no comments about main engineering still being a bit of a wreck, with a few of Anauri's own blaster bolt scorch marks still on the walls. Good, Anauri thought to himself; if Akiena was choosing to overlook all that, it likely meant he was on a tight schedule and wouldn't take up too much of his time. Cursory inspections by commanding officers were the best sort, especially when the work being inspected truly could have been better if there had been more time or better parts to use.

Natually, Anauri voiced none of his relief, instead showing his commanding officer out of engineering and into a lift up to the main docking ring. "It's been nonstop work, but we've got four of the six main docking bays working at what the Alliance would consider fully-functional levels," he announced, the same words he used in one of his reports, he was sure. "I'd personally like to see a few things improved, but those can wait. The fifth docking bay is nearing completion and should be ready to pass its final tests before week's end. Bay six, though..."

The pause was palpable, and the Nehantite tugged at the hem of his jacket while chewing over the correct words to say. "In my opinion bay six is in such a bad state that for now we should abandon any efforts to fix it, and focus on other issues around the station. It's never worked well from the start, and with the damage it's sustained it's become a drain on our resources. We could be just fine with five operational bays for a while. I know the Cizerack want all six up and running, but after I've lost seven engineers experienced with this station, I simply don't have the manpower to handle bay six at this time. Hell, bay five was a nightmare and a half, and you had me, Gradoona, and the most experienced among us heading that one up. That's where we're headed now. I can show you everything that's wrong with six when we get there."

[Kes Akiena]

He took it all in with a nod, digesting the Chief's words in silence. The strain was evident enough in Anauri's tone, and his words left little doubt that he'd been stretched to the breaking point and beyond; yet still somehow managed to cling to some semblance of operational ability. It reminded Kes of himself. At least now he didn't feel so alone in being pulled into every which direction. The powers that be had apparently deigned he be sent through the ringer of every imaginable trivium, and he'd weathered it with his own brand of... well, whatever it was that he weathered most things.

"I'd appreciate that."

If Anauri could show him without actually having to show him, all the better. Spire six - he knew well enough already - was a galactic disaster zone. It was repairable, but the damage was extensive enough to warrant a bit more of a crew than what they had available right now.

He was more than willing to fall in line with his Chief Engineer's opinions on the matter. If six had to be out of working order for the foreseeable future, then that was what would happen.

The two rounded a corner in the corridor.

"And we'll shut down six until we're able to get to it."

[Anauri Rabeak]

"Thank Garfife," Anauri breathed a sigh of relief. "I've only been assigning a skeleton crew to six, anyhow, mostly to determine the full extent of the damage."

A paw reached for the inside pocket of his jacket where it fished around momentarily before the Nehantite's face fell. His tablet was safe and sound, just not in his pocket where it was supposed to be. He could see it in his mind's eye, sitting on his desk, recharging, awaiting his instruction to cancel the little scheduled work on six. It would have to wait until after the inspection tour, Anauri sighed, paw slipping back out of his jacket. So much for being on top of things.

In the spectrum of bosses and commanding officers, Anauri had certainly experienced far worse than Commander Akiena. While difficult for the Nehantite to read due to their limited interaction, Anauri got the impression that as long as things were running smoothly and heading in a positive direction, Akiena was fine with it. Yes, there had certainly been arguments over the availability of parts, repair timelines, excessive overtime pay and the like, but the Chief always felt like Akiena was doing his best to support the team, and Anauri really couldn't ask for more than that. They didn't exactly have a relationship outside of work, neither party had ever seemed to express interest in one, and that suited Anauri just fine. In his experience, the closer you got to your boss, the trickier it became to deal with them with the going got rough. No, professional discourse was the way to handle things, and it had suited the both of them just fine, as far as Anauri was aware.

Reaching the lift to spire five, Anauri punched in the override maintenance code, the fur on his left paw short and patchy around traces of stubborn scars which even bacta would not heal from the burns he sustained. "Figure just a few more days and we can bring in the Alliance safety inspectors," he said, waiting for the massive lift door to open. It did so with near silence, the forty-foot wide durasteel panel folding down with such a smooth operation that even the Nehantite smiled. A creaky, groaning door was no way to enter into a space station, as far as Anauri was concerned, and he'd paid special attention to ensuring the mechanism worked as well as it possibly could. Beyond was the lift floor, still covered with protective vinyl sheeting so that the engineering crews would not scuff or dirty it with their tools or loaders, and the walls were covered with quilted shop blankets for much the same reason.

"After you, Commander," he waved a paw into the empty lift. "You'll get the luxury of seeing bay five with virtually no one there. Can't say I know when that'll happen again."

[Kes Akiena]

It was certainly a strange thing to hear, just as he suspected it was a strange thing to say. Five was often in the running for being the more busy of the spires, and Kes had on more than one occasion needed to staff extra personnel to handle the flow of arrivals and departures. All things considered, it wasn't a particularly bad problem to have. Well, it was when they were needing the spire, but Kes was already holding the clamor back, fending off the daily rants from captains and irate passengers alike who detested having to wait. He'd actually gotten rather good at deflecting each insult fired his way, though his method of dealing was usually a curt nod, an 'I'm sorry', and a swift termination of the comm. Of course, things were often enough made more annoying when they called back.

It was one of the reasons he looked forward to time away from his office, and if that meant taking care of a few inspections, then so be it.

Kes stepped onto the lift, both hands now going to bury themselves in his pockets.

"Peace and quiet in five; Never thought I'd experience that."

A rueful shake of his head, and he rolled his shoulders a small bit, enjoying the feeling of not being sat behind his desk.

[Anauri Rabeak]

"You want dead silence aboard station, you should check out six," Anauri chuckled. Behind them the lift doors slid down, while the airlock gate panel folded back up, and the lift began its ascent. The low hum of electric motors could not be fully silenced, but they were at least smooth and steady as the lift picked up speed, gliding effortlessly to the main docking bay lobby at the peak of spire five. There, the lift doors opened with a pleasant, well-oiled woosh, and docking bay five burst into view.

Three clamp-lock style boarding docks jutted off of the lobby for use by large craft which could not enter a bay, but the most stunning view lay directly ahead. The gleaming expanse of the docking bay floor seemed to reflect the stars just beyond the reach of its force field to keep in the station's atmosphere. Large pieces of industrial equipment stood around the lobby along with toolcarts and scaffolding, while half a dozen members of the engineering staff worked tirelessly at access panels, or finishing structural welds. Anauri stepped out first, the thump of his boots echoing in the domed chamber of the main lobby, and he smiled. "Welcome to bay five. Probably the best she's looked since she was new."

Pride was carried not only in the Chief's words, but in everything about his stance. Paws on his hips, tail swaying just so, and a toothy smile turning up his muzzle, Anauri appeared every bit the proud father looking at his baby. With a grin, he nodded to a small personnel cart hovering nearby. "Ever stood at the very edge of a docking bay, Commander? If not, you're missing out."

[Kes Akiena]

Well," his eyes scanned the area all around him, devoid of any bodies except those of Anauri's workers.

"... I just about got sucked out of a hull breach once, if that counts."

An experience that he would never forget. That horrible, frantic feeling of clutching for dear life to the closest stable handhold that would keep him from being pulled out into space was something that would stay with him until he died. Of course, the circumstances leading up to that disaster were very much different than things now.

A pause, and his features brightened once more into his customary grin.

There was a distinct scent of freshly welded metal, industrial adhesives, and cleaning agents that mingled together, but if his last trip to five was anything to go by, this new smell was much preferred. He could still see in his mind's eye the mangled struts and inner bulkheads, twisted into shapes that defied normalcy. Scorch marks and destroyed droid parts had been all around, as well as the sobering presence of white sheets; some covering bodies, others covering only parts of bodies. It had been carnage, and the worst part was that it'd not been the only spire hit.

Anauri and his crew had worked tirelessly to right the wrongs, and Kes could see the Nehantite's pride as if it was hanging from his shoulders like a billowing cape. And frankly, he had every right to be proud. Him, his men, and their work had gone above and beyond the call of duty.

One hand came out of his pocket to give the Chief a congratulatory pat to the shoulder.

"Let's go take a look, then."

[Anauri Rabeak]

In a time of hard work and endless factors of frustration, the simple joy of gliding a personnel cart across a freshly polished docking bay floor forced Anauri's grin from ear to ear. The docking bay itself was finished, with all remaining work being done inside the domed "lobby," so the farther the pair rode into the bay, the quieter their surroundings became until an eerie silence fell over them, broken only by the staccato whine of the small carrier's anti-grav engine being slowed to a stop a few meters from the force field separating them from the vacuum of space beyond.

The thud of Anauri's boots echoed through the massive docking bay as he eagerly stepped free of the small hover-carrier, and he wasted little time stepping up to the very edge of the docking bay, close enough to feel the static electricity of the force field tickling his nose as he stared out at the sprawling canvas of stars beyond, as if they were diamonds strewn across a sheet of black velvet. And there he stood, marveling at the view, tail swaying slowly behind himself, brushing idly against the floor in a sweep of content satisfaction.

"I still remember my first look at a starfield," he announced. "I was sixteen, and it was through a plate of polymer glass, not even transparisteel; a tiny portal window on the ship which took me from Nehantish to the orbital shipyards. It was blurry, and scratches in the surface made the vision hazy, but I knew in that moment it was what I wanted to see all the days of my life. Later that day I got to see it through a big picture window on the main orbital platform. Sure, the stars are in different places now, but the feeling hasn't changed. This must be how Garfife sees the universe and all of creation."

[Kes Akiena]

The view was gorgeous to be sure, but his peripheral attentions were still halfway focused on the space behind him. On the finishing touches still being applied and polished. It was nice, to be secure in the knowledge that Jovan was slowly stepping back towards normal operational standards. It was a steady pace, and while not fast it was certainly thorough. After all, he'd much prefer the job done right rather than risk more time spent repairing shoddy work. Or worse, have to deal with an accidental death due to quick fixes that didn't really fix the problem. And a hell of a problem the spires had become, nearly blown away in the first wave of the attack.

Kes kept his smile, though it was tempered. He blinked, letting his eyes wander over the myriad of stars before him. They glittered like diamonds, set in a blanket of black velvet.

"It's certainly a view."

The story Anauri told was heartwarming, and explained a small bit about why he was on Jovan. After all, when one loved the stars, why not live aboard a space station?

"I don't remember the first time I saw the stars. I was probably very young; too young to remember properly, at least."

Another few moments passed before he pivoted slightly, affording the Chief a sweeping gaze that tracked back to where they'd come from.

"Everything seems in order, Chief." The smallest of sighs as he reveled - at least for a moment - in the knowledge that the influx of angry calls to his comm would slow... hopefully.

"I'd say as soon as you see fit, we can open five back up and start easing the congestion around the other spires."

[Anauri Rabeak]

Anauri stood there a moment longer, something compelling him to linger in the beauty of the universe unfolding before him, and the near silence of the empty docking bay. It could not last, however, and the tug upon the strings of his commitments pulled Anauri away and back to the personnel transport for a quick glide to the lift. "Technically it's not up to me when we can open. Alliance safety inspectors are due in a few days. Until they give the OK, five stays a ghost town."

It was an unfortunate choice of words, and the Nehantite regretted them immediately, but it was too late to take them back. The thought of speeding along the remainder of the way in silence weighed upon him until rescue was found in the waving arms of one of his engineers. "Hmm, hold on, Commander, let me see what's up, here."

The personnel cart banked left before whirring to a halt before a female Rodian standing next to an access panel. The moment the cart stopped, Anauri was off.

"What's the matter, Turgasso?" Anauri asked.

"Chief, Chief, we've got a problem here," the Rodian replied. "I can't get the door to docking lock two to work. It's got power, it works on manual control from the direct panel, but it won't open from anywhere else in the system, including a signal from a docked ship."

Anauri neatly slipped a penlight from his jacket pocket, stepping forward to examine the panel. The parts were new, and it should be working. "You've tested power coming in, right?" A nod from the Rodian confirmed his faith in her. "Hand me the meter, there. Let me take a look."

As if Commander Kes Akiena didn't exist, Anauri threw himself fully into his work. Connections were checked, continuity tested, and relays tripped, with each test successful until at last the digital meter in his paws squaked from signal overload, followed shortly by a small shower of sparks. The Nehantite ducked backward, arm raised to cover his face as he'd been trained, but no further pyrotechnics followed.

"Well, damn it," he growled. "Damn it damn it damn it. Brand new panel, already defective. Take it out, Turgasso, we can't repair that, it needs replaceent. Kill the power first, obviously."

"Obviously, sir," the Rodian nodded. She then paused, hesitant to speak in front of the station's commanding officer. "But, if I take this out, docking lock two won't be functional. Do we have another panel in stock?"

The chewing of his bottom lip did not bode well for Anauri's reply, until at last he nodded. "Technically, yes. I'll get it for you tonight and you'll have it first thing in the morning. Until then, see what else you can do here. Let's not give those inspectors any reason to question our work, got it?"

The Rodian smiled. "Yes, Chief. I'll get on it right now."

The digital meter was set back on Turgasso's tool cart, and Anauri boarded the personnel lift once more, causing it to rock slightly before delivering himself and his commander to the lift door. "Well, there goes my night..." he grumbled as the lift doors opened. "We've got another one of those panels, yeah.... but it's in six."

[Kes Akiena]

He'd given Anauri a strange, sideways look at first. He understood that the safety inspectors had to make their way through, but even after them, Chief Rabeak had the final say. If there was something that was OK'ed, yet didn't pass muster for Jovan's Chief Enginner, then Kes was more likely to trust the Nehantite. It wasn't a matter of not trusting Alliance inspectors; it was more a matter of trusting a man that took a particular sort of pride in his work. And the look that the redhead had sent Anauri's way conveyed as much without having to rely on any actual words.

Leaning back against the barely-cushioned seat, Kes idly watched the Chief as he worked to suss out whatever problem the Rodian had found herself confronted with.

All things told, it wasn't a long stop, and Anauri was back in the driver's seat, ringing them once more to the lift door.

"I don't see why you can't use what's in six," he replied while sliding from his seat to stand on the deck.

"It's going to be out of commission for a while, so no need to let good parts go to waste."

A strange thought then, and Kes lofted a single eyebrow as he looked to the Chief.

"If you need help, I'm available."

Anything to keep him away from his office and the never-ending comms demanding first docking rights.

[Anauri Rabeak]

As the lift arrived, Anauri cocked an eyebrow at his commanding officer, though he waited to speak until they were both aboard and the doors were shut. "You... haven't actually been to six yet, have you? Since it happened, that is."

While one of the lesser-used spires, six had taken the greatest amount of damage in the attack, leaving it so broken that force fields were in place throughout areas in order to maintain pressure inside the rest of Jovan station. Among the engineers there was the running joke that it would be faster and easier to simply cut it off and install a new docking spire than it would be to try and fix it, but as there were no other Imperial space stations to pillage, they were stuck with repairs and reconstruction.

"It's not pretty. The main lift only goes halfway up before the power draw is needed to run shield generators instead. We've installed some temporary service lifts, but there's still going to be some climbing involved," Anauri explained. "All told, it's probably going to take two hours total to get up there, remove what we need, and get back down here. Sure you've got that kind of time to spare, Commander?"

The lift arrived with a soft deceleration to a full halt, and once again the doors folded down in near silence. When the interior doors parted, all the sounds and smells of the station flooded in, destroying their temporary tranquility. Reaching for his comm stick, Anauri grunted, "Anyone slacking off in Main Engineering, get me my toolkit and bring it to spire six immediately. And if anyone ate the last koiboberry donut, I'm going to be very cross with you."

[Kes Akiena]

Kes didn't really feel the need to answer the query about his time; after all, he was a man who - in this moment - wanted to simply be away from his normal day's activities. There were only so many angry calls and impatient growlings sent his way that he was willing to endure before simply choosing to vacate his office. It'd been a conscious decision, made with the sort of finality a man has for the gravest of choices in his life.

And perhaps venturing to six was a partial excuse for escape, but he figured that it was viable enough. After all, when all one had to go off of were reports and word of mouth, sometimes an actual good look was necessary. He knew that six would be down for the count for a long while, but curiosity and a desire to be away from the madness of angry pilots was a strong one. It was necessary. It was vital. It was a trip that would hopefully give him time to salvage what was left of his patience and sanity.

In the end, and owing to the fact that they were in private, he opted to answer the question posed to him. Kes rolled his shoulders before looking sideways to the Nehantite.

"Honestly?" a tired sigh as his eyes went back to looking ahead.

"... I would like to avoid going back to the command hub for as long as possible, and if all I can get is two hours, then I'll take it."

[Anauri Rabeak]

"Heh, let me guess, the XO is riding your ass pretty hard, these days?" The words fell out of Anauri's mouth with a chuckle before he could even think to stop them. Immediately he winced before his ears burned with embarrassment and he tried to look straight ahead and professional. In civilian engineering you could get away with a crack like that, but in the military? Not so much. The Nehantite had grown so used to the amount of leeway he was given in his role as the contracted civilian head of an Alliance engineering team that he had forgotten his place, reverting to his own, far less formal style of management and speech. Certainly not something one wanted to do in front of their boss when a mid-year review was coming up.

"Ahem, sorry, that was... uncalled for," he apologized quickly. "But I know the feeling. The week after the attack I was off my ass on painkillers and still trying to keep everything running straight with organizing the teams and the workload, all while having to pull my own weight. As a young sparky I used to wonder what the hell my bosses did all day. Now I sometimes wish I could just go back to having a simple fix list for the day, get it done, clock off and go home for the night."

Out of habit he reached up to tug on the brim of his old mechanic's cap, adjusting its fit. The cap, like himself, appeared a good twenty years past its prime. It was simple, perhaps not made as well as it could have been, and certainly not what one would consider stylish compared to the new caps that fresh Nehantite engineers wore, with their snazzy colors and moisture-wicking fabrics. But it was Anauri's, and seemed much a part of his body as his own fur, as he was seldom seen without it, even in several formal staff meetings. Perhaps it was a badge of honor he felt for his role on the station, perhaps it was his way of reminding the others that he wasn't military like they were, or perhaps he was simply so accustomed to wearing it that he forgot it was even there. The adjusting tug might as well have been a scratch at some random itch, for all his body cared to think about it.

A chuckle returned to the chief engineer as a thought crossed his mind. "Garfife help this station if something happens while we're both up there. Then Garfife help us sort their mess out when we get back!"

[Kes Akiena]

Hearing Anauri speak of those first few days following the attack was like hearing himself describe his own experiences. Like his chief engineer, Kes had had to stretch himself thin despite the need for a recovery that had been marred by meetings, debriefings, depositions, inspections, and of course visits with Doctor Vek. Those had always been... interesting. But thank the gods he was here now; away from the constant nagging and harping.

"It would be a price worth paying," he grumbled mostly to himself.

But, there was something else that tugged at him, and the redhead chided himself for not broaching the subject until now.

"Samus told me, by the way, about how you helped him. He spoke very highly of you," a strange pause as Kes made a semi-surprised face.

"He doesn't shower praise very often, so when he does I generally take note."

A hand came out then, an offering that was more than a signature on paper or a writ of appreciation. Even back in the days of the old Rebellion, a man's handshake was the uttermost binding thing that he could give. It was used in so many way; to seal a deal, to express congratulations, to offer kinship... to thank.

"Thank you, Anauri."

[Anauri Rabeak]

The offered hand gave Anauri pause, causing him to consider if he was worthy of such thanks. He had been an engineer, a soldier, then an engineer once more before life necessitated a return to soldiering for a short time. It had been no conscious decision, no weighing of options to take up a gun and fight back, so thanks did not seem in order. Still, he let his own paw take that offered hand, his pads rough and calloused, the fur between those pads worn short bristly from decades hard work, and his grip was strong, almost engulfing the hand of his admittedly small commanding officer. A nod, a solid shake and it was done.

"A man protects his home and his family," came his reply. It was matter-of-fact, as if no thought had to go into it at all. In the moment, none had. Jovan was his home, Engineering was his family, and both were threatened. Paternal and survival instincts had kicked in and no amount of logic or reasoning could have altered the path Anauri had taken.

A smile worked its way up his muzzle as he let go of Kes's hand. "I hope this means I'm not in trouble for keeping an unregistered fully-automatic blaster rifle in my toolbox, then." His laugh was enough to expose his teeth, and that missing molar on the upper left side, under an old, faded scar on his lip.

[Kes Akiena]

Kes couldn't help but return the smile, infectious as it was.

"Well, I don't think you'll find yourself in trouble mostly," he looked away, "... though I think in the future it would be nice to know how big of a punch my men are packing."

A reassuring pat to the Nehantite's shoulder.

"All under the table, of course."

There was a small bit of silence, as the redhead cast a suddenly worrisome look upward.

"About how far of a climb would you say it is?"

[Anauri Rabeak]

How big of a punch my men are packing... all under the table, of course. The words hit all the wrong notes inside Anauri's head, combined with that pat on his shoulder, and he began to wonder about his CO's intentions in getting him alone somewhere. Thankfully memories of the other day at the Tea House, and talk about Kes and a certain Cizerack officer there reminded him that Kes wasn't the tail-raising sort, and he let it go at that.

"Lift will take us halfway before we had to route the power to shield generators," Anauri replied. "And looks like my tools have just shown up."

Right on schedule, Mayael appeared, jogging to the base of spire six with a canvas tool bag. The Chief accepted it with a nod before sending her on her way, and punched in the override code to engage the lift doors. Unlike five, the main door folded down with an agonizing groan, and a sharp shudder nearly two thirds of the way down caused the door to hang up before dropping a good foot or so back into its normal arc before clanging against the durasteel plate floor. The doors themselves sounded little better, but Anauri boarded without hesitation. Waiting for Kes to join him, the Nehantite smirked and said, "It's a Hamad-4. Our version of the Kang-4 Heavy. Little lower rate of fire, but increased accuracy and better stopping power. You clear us some time on the range, I'll let you go through a mag, if you want."

[Kes Akiena]

He'd never been the sort that was offered a go at the firing range, and hi reaction reflected as much.

"Sounds nice," he offered, "... I'm sure."

It was hollow at best, and in the face of his previous expressions, Kes knew than there was not much he could offer that would stack up, for lack of a better phrase. He'd never been the one the commandos came to when it came to target practice. Unless he was the one providing targets.

Instead, he focused on the climb that lay before them.

:How far up did you say we have to go on our own?"

Even before the physical exertion he could feel the flare up of deep pain in his side and leg. It made him nervous, suddenly.

[Anauri Rabeak]

Stepping aboard the lift, Anauri waited for Kes to board before pressing the button. The main doors ground to a close, and the lift set of the a shuddering jolt which soon smoothed out into a comfortable ride. "About halfway, though it's not a straight climb. One section is kinda... vented into space, so we'll have to cross over to the access tubes and ladders on the other side near the top."

His left paw clenched and flexed on its own, readying itself for the task ahead. "We... might have to take a break every now and then," he admitted - something he'd never say in front of his own staff. "Left paw's still not a hundred percent. Doc says I damaged it pretty good climbing with it right after it was burned. If I hadn't used all the bacta in the Engineering first aid kits right away like I did, it'd probably be lame and you'd be up here with Chief Engineer Gradoona right now."

A pause, then a smirk as his brown tail flicked at his own joke. "Or not, as she doesn't actually fit in some of the places we'll be going."

[Kes Akiena]

"Ah yes, spacial limitations and the like."

For lack of a better place to have his hands, Kes settled for the old standby; clasped behind his back. Though, it wasn't long before one dislodged itself to reach up and tenderly rub at the inner corner of an eye. That done, his palm moved to smooth down the front of his uniform jacket in an idle motion before once more returning to its' previous spot.

"Glad to hear you're not completely out of the game," he truly meant each word he spoke.

It was Anauri's mention of breaks that gave his worried nerves a small bit of hope.

"If you need rest, then I'm perfectly fine with that. I'm... honestly not one hundred percent myself, so a break every so often will be nice."

[Anauri Rabeak]

What, stress fracture in your knuckle from pushing so many pencils?

The words rattled through his head, thankfully caught by his steel trap of professional sense, never making it out of his lips. What managed to make it through the filter was, "You get it bad in the invasion, too?"

With a deepening hum, the lift slowed to a halt, knocking less than gently against the manual stops placed on its track to keep it from going any higher. Clearing his throat, Anauri dug into his toolkit to remove a diagnostic computer, plugging its cable into a socket in the lift's main interface panel. "Open Sesame," he chuckled, and a typically hidden doorway hissed and slid open on the lift's side, exposing a maintenance shaft. "I would say after you, Sir, but, in this case it's likely best if I go first."

The Nehantite gave his commanding officer no room to argue, plucking the connection free and stepping on through the portal. Gone were even the most remote touches of style and grace in the architecture and surroundings, replaced by cold, Imperial utilitarianism. In some ways Anauri admired it, as everything had a purpose, and there was no wasted effort. For the sake of keeping things going, it was how things should be, in his opinion. The door to the lift shut behind them, just one step in a chain of many to prevent possible loss of atmosphere in spire six, and Anauri looked at the secure door before them. "From here, we climb," he announced.

The door slid open after another override from his computer, leading to a simple access ladder tube. "Every five meters there's a hatch we'll have to open, but we'll have to close the hatch below us first, as we go up. Every time we close a hatch, we can get off the ladder to rest for a bit, they'll more than support our weight. But, it'll be a bit chummy."

[Kes Akiena]

A simple nod as he followed Anauri up, and as his hands closed around the rungs of the ladder they now shared, Kes couldn't help the grimace that found its' way to his lips. With each movement up, he felt mostly-healed stitches protesting in his side. Outwardly he had done his best to project a strong figure, but up until now the redhead had not really needed to exert himself beyond what Doctor Vek had ordered. The Durwi had been particularly adamant, and Kes had mostly followed orders; until now, that was. Still though, he suffered through for the respite it gave him.

"Uh, well," another step up.

"Took a knife to the kidneys."

It was the easiest way to explain the injury. That damn madman had left his mark, and Kes knew he'd carry a small scar until he died.

Up another small ways, and the access hatch below them closed with a hiss. Anauri pressed on though, and after another two intervals, Kes let his boots fall to the closed hatchway, moving against the access tube's wall to allow the Nehantite room to come down for rest himself.

"Not the worst I've been plugged, but it's not something I'd recommend trying regardless."

[Anauri Rabeak]

So far, so good, Anauri figured, easing himself back down from the ladder. Beside Kes it was standing room only in the access tube, forcing both men much closer than either would typically stand.

"I'm down a kidney, myself," Anauri smirked. Right paw reaching down to grasp the hem of his tee shirt, he pulled it up enough so that Kes could see a blaster scar on his side, though it was very old. "Body armor only does so much when your enemy is overloading their guns."

The shirt fell and he took to stretching out his left paw, gingerly rubbing over some of the fresher scars. "For one of the fresh sparkys, this whole job would take an hour, tops. But it looks like neither of us are the young bucks we used to be. Does mean we get to order those young bucks around, though," he laughed. "Or, in my case it'd be does. Engineering is mostly women, here."

[Kes Akiena]

"I've noticed the trend," Kes couldn't help but chuckle while casting his eyes upward to the next access hatch. A long breath, and he let his body lean against the wall of the tube.

"Talent and capabilities come wrapped in any and all packages."

A sigh.

"At least, that's how it was in the old days. Back then you didn't have the luxury of tests and the like. You just had exist in the moment and trust the person standing next to you and hoped you didn't get your head blown off. Though," a decidedly dark tone came over his voice then, "... dying was always preferable to capture."

[Anauri Rabeak]

"No it isn't," Anauri countered. His voice was firm, adamant, matching the stonewall expression on his face. "Captive, you're still alive, and you can still mount a resistance. You are still you. Dead just means you mother cries and your son gets angry."

In the cramped confines of the cylindrical shaft, the Nehantite's tail lashed against the wall, creating a soft, echoing brushing sound, as the subject had apparently hit close to home.

[Kes Akiena]

The dark tone of his voice spread to his eyes, and for the first time in a long while, Kes wore a deep frown that seemed so foreign on his usually jovial features.

"In my experience, Chief Rabeak, Imperial interrogator droids and torture tactics are enough to make a man wish for death, his family be damned."

The redhead let out a long breath, looking away and up once more.

"Times were different back then, for people like me."

[Anauri Rabeak]

"We fought the Empire, too," Anauri stated flatly. "But we did it on our own, no help from anyone else, and even some of our other kingdoms fought against us while we were at it. Don't think you have the monopoly on pain, Commander."

It was not an avenue of conversation Anauri wished to pursue any further, as it would only lead to raw nerves and disrespect. Each man's pain was his own, and others should not compare theirs to it, he reminded himself - something which truly should have run through his head sooner. Paws grasping the ladder, the Nehantite hauled himself up it once more, hoping that by climbing up he could escape the topic which stewed in the access shaft. Reaching the top, he hooked one arm around the side rail of the ladder to lock himself in place as he reached his computer's lead up to plug into the override port, then punched in the access code.

Nothing happened.

Furry eyebrows crimping, Jovan's Chief Engineer tried again, but nothing, not even a click. Reseating the lead did nothing, and neither did a reboot. If the lengthy amount of time spent attempting to open the hatch wasn't enough to signal that something was wrong, the angry flick and twist of his tail would certainly give it away to his captive audience below.

"Uh, Commander, I think we may have to reschedule our trip to six. This hatch isn't opening, and I don't have a power box to manually apply power in order to override it. This whole spire is basically buggy past the lift. Gonna give it one more try."

Still nothing. "Damn."

[Kes Akiena]

The dark left his expression as Anauri moved on to their current circumstances. Blinking, Kes let his frown ease away into a mildly perturbed look. Having to retreat back down was an unfortunate happenstance, but he supposed that all good things must come to an end, and that the longer foray out from his office wouldn't be so cut short. He could already hear the trilling comm rings, and the angry voices accusing him of showing favoritism, discrimination, or any other word for preferential treatment. Lately it seemed those types of calls never ended.

In a way he envied Anauri, as the Nehantite could take out his frustrations on the inanimate machinery and bulkheads around him.

"I guess it's inevitable," he finally ventured, letting his eyes drift back down to the closed hatchway he still stood upon. Rolling his shoulders, the redhead let a hand move to grip the side of the access ladder in a loose grip.

The next words he spoke held a measure of muted defeat.

"Best we be heading back, then."

[Anauri Rabeak]

"Yeah, I'll have to come back with a power pack later," Anauri sighed as he began his descent of the ladder. "Should've brought one with me, but, it's not something I normally keep in my walkabout toolkit. Rather heavy, those."

The words came as his boots thumped down onto the hatch below them, careful not to climb down directly onto Kes's head. Nodding to the floor below, he stated the obvious, because sometimes it needed stating. "Need you to get up the ladder there some so I can hold on here and open up the hatch below to let us down."

Tucking to the side of the tube as much as his bulky frame would allow, Anauri let Kes climb up far enough to get out of the way before straddling the stationary rim of the hatch so that he wouldn't be dropped through like cartoon character when it opened. Once was enough for that rookie mistake. Toolbag swinging from one shoulder as he bent down to reach the access port, Anauri edged it out of the way with his forearm before plugging in his diagnostic computer and running the script to open.

Click.

Nothing. Grumbling, Anauri repeated the process.

Click.

Again.

Click.

A few more times.

Click click click.

From above, Kes could not see the exasperated defeat registering on Anauri's face beneath that oil-stained mechanic's cap, but the expression was almost palpable as he righted his posture and looked up.

"Well, hope you didn't have any important meetings, this evening," the Nehantite attempted to sugar-coat the situation with a sheepish grin.

[Kes Akiena]

From his perch on the ladder, Kes looked back over his shoulder, down at Anauri with a mild expression of disbelief before slowly beginning to descend once more. His boots touched down on the still very much closed hatch. The was a healthy amount of concern in his eyes as he gave a look down first, then up to Anauri. He wasn't exactly feeling speechless, just more puzzled at this point. The thought of being stuck in a maintenance tube hadn't really ever occurred to him. A moment of thought, and he pulled a mixed expression of concern and near-helplessness while resigning himself with a small shrug.

"Nothing too important I suppose," he admitted, "Though I doubt it would make a difference right now."

Though, was it really all that bad? Sure, they would have to deal with cramped quarters, but there were certainly worse things to endure.

At the very least, he wasn't stuck with the Madame. Kes offered an easy smile as his eyes traveled back down to the hatch.

"So." The redhead allowed himself the liberty of leaning back against the wall and threading an arm through one ladder rung to use it as a leaning post.

"Know any good jokes?"

[Anauri Rabeak]

Backed against the opposite side of the tube, Anauri stared down at his diagnostic computer, running it through another reboot and patently attempting to ignore the fact that he was stuck in a maintenance shaft with his commanding officer. The officer he had so far impressed with his ability to do work such as being able to operate maintenance hatches. At the very least Kes seemed to be a good sport, and critically he didn't appear to suffer from claustrophobia.

That made one of them, at least.

Biting back the nagging knowledge of his enclosure, Anauri looked up, and slightly down again to meet Kes's eyes. "Plenty," he replied. "Though my staff might argue their level of goodness." His chuckle echoed within the tube, and that echo was enough to sour his mood once more.

Glancing up at the hatch above, he sighed, "If only we had a plank of wood, right now, we could get out of here."

[Kes Akiena]

Well, it was worth a shot, at least. For his part, Kes was woefully inadequate when it came to knowing any jokes worthwhile. Oh, he'd heard plenty, but trying to remember them? Heh. He usually had his hands full just trying to make it to his next meal with half his sanity. Still though, he kept his smile and general optimism. It was the only thing that he had at the end of the day, and he held on doggedly to the things that made him [i]him[i]. Just so happened though, that jokes were not in the running. He usually turned to others for that, as he did so to Anauri. It would be something to pass the time at least.

The Nehantite's admission of his normal fare being questionable, Kes merely shrugged in response. However, it wasn't long before his own eyes tracked upward to follow the Chief's gaze.

Brow furrowing in thought as he tried to understand what a plank of wood could do to help their situation, he finally gave up.

"I'd certainly like to know how," he questioned.

[Anauri Rabeak]

Anauri continued to look up, eyes fixed on the hatch at the far end of the tube while the rough, calloused pads of his fingertips drummed against his leg.

"Well," he said with a sigh of resignation, "We'd take the plank and balance it on something, making a see-saw. Then we'd use the saw to cut the plank in half. After that we stick the two halves back together to make it whole again. Then we take the hole, put it up against that hatch and climb out through it."

Bad jokes? Oh no, Anauri knew Dad Jokes.

[Kes Akiena]

There was a moment of silence, as he parsed through the explanation. It only took a second however, before the redhead cracked a smile and let out a low chuckle while shaking his head.

"Well," he started, but had to take another small bit of time as another light laugh escaped. It was such a silly thing, and a completely unexpected answer.

"Well, I suppose, hehe, that that's one way of doing it."

His smile remained though, as he shifted his weight onto his other leg. A thought occurred to him then, and Kes sent a teasingly critical eye to Anauri.

"Are the rest of them like that?"

[Anauri Rabeak]

"Some of them are probably worse," Anauri brought his gaze back down, his face boasting a satisfied smile. "When I ask my staff, 'Hey, want to hear a joke?,' the most common reply is something like, 'What, did you finally learn one?'"

The Nehantite did not appear to revel long in his mirth, turning his attention instead to his diagnostic computer. With deft fingers and experienced clawtips he began to pry off the battery casing in the hopes that a hard boot might jar it back to working order. Deep down he knew the issue was with the hatch controls themselves, but he had to feel like he was doing something.

"Going through some of the builds we did back on Nehantish in my day, most of us engineers developed the same sense of humor. Almost everything was cobbled together from scrap and old junk, and things were so bad that the best way to lift our spirits was by telling jokes that were even worse. Guess I picked it up from them." Glancing back up, he sighed, "Honestly it's a bit weird not having another Nehantite around. You get kinda used to things, and it feels strange when they change. Not that I'm complaining about my staff, of course."

[Kes Akiena]

Kes nodded in understanding, wishing suddenly that he could sit down. Sadly, the confines that he and Anauri now found themselves in were a bit less than accommodating, and therefor standing-room-only was the order of the day. Well, hopefully not day. An hour or two maybe, but gods not an entire day cycle. It wasn't that he disliked Anauri, but it was more an issue of basic bodily functions and the last time he'd eaten was a small toasted pastry with too much brightly colored frosting on his way out of his quarters at 0500 hours this morning and he'd skipped lunch, thinking he'd be able to grab a bite from a kiosk after this inspection was through and his stitches were itching and he was hungry and dammit now he was getting thirsty.

A sigh in answer to each running thought that sprinted through his mind, and his eyes went to Anauri.

"I wouldn't drum you off the station even if you did complain," he chuckled ruefully. It was a soft laugh that shifted into a slight groan as his gaze swept up to the hatchway above them. It would do them no good to dwell on the pressing issue though, so the redhead tried to steer their conversation into a different direction.

"What made you leave Nehantish?"

[Anauri Rabeak]

The battery casing on Anauri's diagnostic computer popped open with a harsh snap, and the engineer fumbled with both halves before tucking the battery under one arm.

"Work, initially," Anauri replied. "Unless you're a doctor or lawyer or something, there's not a lot of good-paying work on the surface, so when I was sixteen I got to go to the orbital shipyards for the remainder of my education. Paws-on, so to speak. Shipyards are where the best tech is, even if it's scrap or salvage, and you learn how to make anything work with almost anything in order to cobble a ship together, or to repair something that was incomplete. It's hard, but it's good work. Prove yourself and there are recruiters who'll pick you out for contract work on starships. That's where the money is."

He continued to fiddle with his computer, disconnecting lines which didn't really need to be disconnected, before plugging them back in and hitting the hard reset button.

"Between the ages of seventeen and twenty I think I'd worked on eleven different starships, off-world. Some were better than others, but the last one put a bad taste in my mouth so I went back home. Once there I got persuaded to join the Royal Army, and I was a soldier for eight years before a blaster bolt to the side took me out of action. By then I was married and I had a son. Leaving them behind for months at a time was hard, but I had to support them, so I went back into space, eventually earning enough to open my own shop by the time I got back."

A smile worked up his muzzle, happy times. "It was a damn good shop, and I trained damn good engineers. Got several government contracts, as well as bringing in clientele we didn't normally pull in."

The smile faded as quickly as it came on, and he returned to his tinkering. "But it wasn't meant to last. Lost everything and had to take back to the stars proper, leading crews here and there, clawing my way up the ladder until I could find a new place to call home. Found it here, and I don't intend to let anyone take it away."

[Kes Akiena]

"I don't blame you," he nodded.

It wasn't often that a man found a place that he was willing to fight for. Really fight. Anauri Rabeak had done just that during the attack on Jovan that''d seen too many good men and women die. Too many men and women that had also fought for what they thought of as home. It was a sobering thought. He chose to go back a step.

"You ever thought of inviting your son out here?"

Dossiers offered enough, and he was at least mindful enough to know that things were not the... 'best' between his Chief Engineer and his spouse to say the least, but Kes was determined to try and focus on any sliver of positive thought that he could.

[Anauri Rabeak]

The harsh snap! of the battery back onto the diagnostic computer helped to mask the expression which ran through Anauri's entire body when mention came of inviting his son to Jovan. Paws worked the device over, attempting to bring it back to life as he stared down at its loading screen.

"Every day," he grunted. "But it's not possible."

He made no attempt to offer an explanation, even a false one. There was simply the answer.

[Kes Akiena]

There was a strange sense of understanding that permeated the small confines, and Kes only afforded Anauri a fleeting look before sending his eyes back to a wall. He had no desires to ruffle feathers or make already tense matters more aggravated, so he instead remained quiet. It was a silence that of course did not last.

"I've never married, and certainly never had a child," he finally gave in offer, "... so I'll not ask you to explain."

Kes was more than aware that his limited experience with women would not afford him any deeper insight into the matter. He gave a helpless half-shrug.

"I'm the last person you want to talk of about family troubles."

[Anauri Rabeak]

The tube fell silent for several seconds, given reprieve only by a beep from Anauri's computer signalling that its reboot was complete. He hesitated.

"It's not possible because I'm not allowed to have contact with him. Legally," he sighed. The diagnostic computer slid to his side, and the Nehantite reached a paw up to rub the back of his neck. He had to tell someone. He had to have just one person on Jovan who might be able to understand. He didn't expect that person would have wound up being his boss, but perhaps it was for the best.

"I love my son, I always have," he began. "I was there when he was born, I watched him take his first steps. Nehantite males don't often interact much with their children until they're ten or so, but I was there for him whenever I could be. My ex used to call me 'Superdad.' I only ever wanted the best for him. I wanted him to be happy. But it was that desire for him to be happy, and to become his own man, which cost me everything."

There was more to come, but the Nehantite needed a moment to collect himself and gather his thoughts, separating what was relevant from what was important to him. His tail brushed in raspy strokes along the smooth durasteel tube wall he leaned against, while his shoulders fell in defeat.

"When he was fifteen, I came home early from work one day, and his mother was still at work, too. I found him in his room, in bed with another male. One of my employees." His head tilted back up to look Kes in the eye. "I know what you've probably heard about Nehantite males, and, well, some of it's true. But this wasn't mating season. Homosexuality isn't a crime in Nehantish anymore, but it's very frowned upon, and if it got out that my son was a tail-raiser, it would cost him his place in school, and cost me most of my contracts. So I backed out of the room, and later that night, when his boyfriend was gone, I took him for a ride in my car and we had a talk. I thought it might have just been a curiosity thing, but, no, he really preferred males, and I could see how much worry was in his heart that I'd disown him. I couldn't do that. I stopped, pulled him across the bench seat and hugged him like I'd never hugged him before. He was my son, how could I hate him? How could I keep him from his happiness? I promised him I'd not say anything, and he promised to be careful. And he was."

A sigh followed. "Until about two years later. This time it was his mother who came home, and she caught him and his boyfriend - who still worked for me - in the act. She was livid. When my son tried to explain to her, she wouldn't have it. Then he said that I was okay with it, and that's when everything went to hell. She filed for divorce immediately, and changed the locks so I couldn't even get inside when I came home that night. I was labeled as encouraging a deviant lifestyle in my own son, and barred from any further contact with him of any kind. I haven't so much as seen him since that day. I lost everything but my car and my tools, but most of all I lost my son."

The brushing of his tail increased in frequency, its tip snapping against the walls at either end as the Nehantite bit back his anger. "It might be good that you never had children, Commander. You don't want to know what it's like to lose them."

[Kes Akiena]

Kes listened with a respectful silence, allowing Anauri to speak. It was an unfortunate telling, but at the same time there was something wonderful hidden inside, and that was the true depths of the Chief's love for his son. Not every parent held that sort of love for their children, and it was heartening to see that even though he'd been forced to leave, Anauri still clutched that love close.

At the Nehantite's last words though, Kes merely gave a thin-lipped smile.

"Sometimes the experience is worth the loss. If you knew that you would be forced away, would you have still chosen to have a child?"

[Anauri Rabeak]

"Absolutley," Anauri nodded. His right paw fished into his back pocket to pull out an old and worn leather wallet. One side was smooth, polished by years of contact with fabric while the other side was rough and hardened by sweat. Flipping it open, he thumbed through the fragile photo holders, much-repaired with clear tape, to a picture of a young Nehantite in his mid teens. Brown-furred like Anauri, but with more headfur and a lighter build, the boy was smiling, a cheerful sparkle in his pink eyes. It was just a casual snapshot, but the family resemblance was still strong, and Anauri looked at the image before turning it to show Kes.

"That's him. That's Jofar. We called him Joey," he said. "And that's all I'm ever going to see of him again."

For the moment, he durasteel walls of their confines were forgotten to Anauri, and he lived on a greater plane of memory.

[Kes Akiena]

Kes peered at the picture, leaning forward a small bit to get a closer look. The resemblance was there, in the brow line and the shape of the eyes. He gave a nod of acknowledgment.

"He's got your looks around the eyes," he grinned lightly before his own eyes shifted past the photo to look at Anauri.

There was nothing to say in that moment, as the redhead blinked, leaning back once more and easing his weight to his other leg. His grip on one of the ladder rungs loosened a bit, but not enough to fully release. There was a satisfaction to the silence.

A minute passed, and he finally spoke up once more.

"I had a friend. Knew him from a long time ago." Talk of Jacob Nellis was still difficult at times.

"He died in the attack." His sentences were short; clipped.

"But, he left behind a wife who's probably going to be giving birth to their child next week sometime."

There was a pause, as Kes felt his features harden in a strange expression, his eyes glazed over in partial remembrance of starting that awful letter, then scrapping the entire thing; he'd actually thrown the datapad into the trash bin.

"Loss goes both ways."

[Anauri Rabeak]

Anauri allowed himself another look at the most prized photo in his wallet, accepting the silence in his own way. Then the wallet was closed and tucked back in his pocket, just as memory of Jofar was tucked back into the depths of Anauri's heart so that he could shift gears and process that which Kes related.

"No child should have to grow up without their father," he stated. "We all lost those we care about in the attack. I wasn't fast enough to save some of my engineers. That's something I'll have to carry every day, but I can't let it stop me. We're alive, we have to keep living. In my culture, only one man has ever truly come back from death, but that's just a legend."

A glance down at the hatch below brought about a sour face. "But if we don't want to become legends, I think I should give this hatch another try."

With a nod, Kes climbed the ladder to give Anauri room in which to work, and the Nehantite set about his task with practiced deftness. Plug in, scan, sequence, unlock.
Click click.

Click click click.

Click click click click click click click click click.

The staccato tapping of the mechanism echoed through the access shaft, along with Anauri's furious button mashing until he snarled and wrenched the interface cable free. "Okay, that's not working, let me try the upper one again."

The careful up and down dance around the ladder was performed, with an accidental brushing of Anauri's tail fully across Kes's face along the way, and the Nehantite was quick to the top. Once there, his paw trembled, missing the interface socket with the lead three times before it finally clicked home and he hurriedly ran through the same process as below, with no better results. Tail flicking madly, Anauri braced the diagnostic computer on a ladder rung so that he could pound on the hatch with a fist.

"Come on you piece of shit! Open up! Just fucking open up, damn it!"

[Kes Akiena]

The beginning notes of impatience were more than clear in Anauri's voice, and Kes frowned as his mind raced. Surely there were other avenues they could take to try and gain access? A low hrm then, as his frown deepened only slightly.

It more than likely wouldn't work, but it was worth a shot. Leaning away from the ladder, he sent his eyes up so that he could meet Anauri's own narrowed, frustrated orbs.

"Try access override code KS dash 27844A dash SQ."

[Anauri Rabeak]

Kes had his own personal override code? Nobody was supposed to have a universal override code outside of engineering. Anauri made a mental note to discuss the matter with Gradoona when he got back to Engineering.

More like if we get back to Egineering.

Shut up, you. I'm the one who's fine, here, you're the one who's freaking out.

A deep breath cleared both of Anauri's internal voices, and he entered the code. His reward was the farting squeal of an invalid access code returned from his computer. "Yeahhh, not going," he called back down. "It's not even taking the access code I set for everything on the station. Looks like we're going to have to go at this the old-fashioned way. Catch!"

No further warning was given before he tossed the diagnostic computer and its lead cable down to Kes. One arm looped around the ladder. the other fiddled with the strap of his tool bag where it connected to the bag itself. Simple pressure karabiners connected the canvas strap to eyelets in the bag, and he carefully attached the karabiner to one of his sturdy beltloops, then released the strap. With a rattle of metal and plastic the bag swung down from his side, dangling by its new hook point before he snagged up the strap and disconnected it entirely. "Old trick," he explained.

Threading the strap through one of the upper ladder rings, he fed one end through the front of his belt, and connected both ends of the bag's strap in a loop with the remaining karabiner. It was a simple suspension harness rig, and hardly a health-and-safety compliant one, but it was enough to support his weight as he let go of the ladder with his paws, able to hang back, suspended by his booted footpaws and the strap through his belt. Arms free, Anauri pulled his toolbag back up and began to root through it until he located a set of screwdrivers and began to open the panel which he'd had no luck interfacing with.

"If you want to have a seat, go for it," he called down. "This might take a while."

It better not. I can't keep this up for much longer.

You're going to have to. You're just going to have to.

[Kes Akiena]

Well, it was a long shot, but apparently in the end it didn't matter. With a sigh Kes leaned against the wall of the access tube. He'd not felt like sitting, and would only do so if his legs threatened him too much.

"Been sitting for most of the day, he let out in a somewhat good-natured grumble while still holding the diagnostic computer, "So even just standing around is welcomed."

Craning his neck up to get a glimpse of whatever it was Anauri planned on doing, the redhead let his thoughts wander to Tish. It couldn't be helped, really. Talk - no matter how brief - of his old friends only ever made his mind settle back into old concerns. He'd checked on her every day since their visit to the Madame's teahouse, taking care of whatever paperwork and other official documents that needed tending while Tish managed as best as she could with her pregnancy. Usually she slept, though other times she ate like a starving bantha. It was fascinating in a way, and a little bit scary.

A frown, and Kes brought his thoughts back to the here and now.

"Anything I can help with?"

[Anauri Rabeak]

"Not unless you have a power pack hidden in one of your pockets, with enough juice in it to power one of these hatches," Anauri's reply came back down with all the subtlety of falling, broken glass.

Overhead, the chief pried free a cover plate and tucked it into his coat pocket before freeing wiring within. Junior engineers, and even many mid-level ones would need to reference a wiring diagram to know what they were looking at, but if there's one thing which Anauri held in abundance, it was experience. Thirty-six years of it, in fact, working on some of the worst crap in the galaxy all the way up to cutting-edge sophistication. So it was with direct and deft handling that he began to unstring some of the wiring and move connections, hoping to overload the hatch control and either pop it open, or disengage the locking clamp which held it shut, allowing him to pry it open. There was relaxation found by burying himself in his work, a temporary reprieve from the tight walls and locked hatches at either end of the ladder. The tubular prison from which he could not escape.

From below, Kes could surely see the Nehantite bring his shoulders in, tightening his body where he hung suspended from the loop through his belt as if to make his confines feel larger.

"Think I got it," the Nehantite announced. "If we can make it to the top, we can use the radio there to call for some help. Shield generators around us kill our personal comm signals, too much interference, but the one up there is hardwired." Another deep breath, another attempt to convince himself that the door would open, that he wasn't trapped, and Anauri crossed a pair of wires.

The lights in the access tube flickered, then went out as a shower of sparks sprayed across Anauri's face, already turned away in case of such a reaction. As the sparks died out, the tube fell into darkness, utter and complete, followed by silence. Then, in the dark, a series of scratches could be heard, the sound of blunt clawtips frantically trying to pry open the hatch above. "Come on! Open up! Just open!"

It was difficult to tell which was more frantic: the scrabbling scrape of Anauri's claws, or the tone of his voice.

[Kes Akiena]

The shower of sparks in unexpected and sudden darkness cause Kes to shut his eye against the momentary brightness. He'd been too late though, and could already see spots of light behind his eyelids. He kept them shut for the moment, knowing that if he opened them he'd only see the very same pinpricks dancing about in the blackness.

The sound of Anauri's clawtips scraping against metal caught his ears, and he angled his head up despite being unable to see in the dark. He knew the sound of desperation in a voice; he'd held such tones before, and had heard it in others enough times. The frantic clawing was also a decent enough indicator that his Chief Engineer was having a rough go at things.

Which was to put it lightly.

His brow knit, unseen, and one hand went out to grasp the side of the ladder before moving up and coming in contact with the Nehantite's pantleg. Fingers held firm.

"Easy, Chief," Kes let his voice drop a tone, hoping to smooth over his fellow captive's frayed nerves.

"Take a breath. Just pull in, hold, and slowly let it out."

[Anauri Rabeak]

In the pitch blackness, Anauri felt his claws catch upon the seam of the hatch doors, trying desperately to gain enough purchase to pry them open as if the locking clamps would magically disable themselves for him if he tried hard enough. The hand upon his shin, however, brought him back to reality, and his paws slipped away to clutch the top rung of his ladder.

Deep breath. In, hold, slowly out. Biologically it helped to slow his heart in that moment, and he had to admit that the darkness held some small comfort as he could not see his boundaries. In, out. In, out, the Nehantite controlled his breath. But it all seemed to be for nothing as his fists balled and the echoing boom of his pounding against the hatch filled the shaft.

"I have to get out, Commander," his voice pleaded. "I just have to get out. We're trapped. Can't be trapped. Can't be trapped. Not again." The words were rythmic, each short sentence coming out in a single breath as he worked steadily toward hyperventilating.

[Kes Akiena]

The breathing exercise had only worked enough to allow him a short insight into the once-more rising tensions of a man frantic for freedom, and Kes bowed his head even as his grip tightened. He needed his Chief Engineer to stay calm. In the dark, they both needed to keep their wits about them. Even if there was no imminent danger or threat of attack, those small little doubts and 'what-if's' could creep in through any seam. He needed those seams airtight.

"Stay calm," there was a steadiness to his voice, in the hopes that it would impart some level of ease to Anauri's worsening state of mind.

"In, hold, out. In, hold, out. In, hold, out."

He repeated the mantra, hoping that the Nehantite was following along, and when he felt reasonable sure that he was, the redhead broke the litany in favor of something that would held to further the process along.

"What was Joey's first word?"

[Anauri Rabeak]

Darkness, echoes, the hatch sealed before him, the entire world seemed to be clamping down upon Anauri Rabeak. Not just physically, but in his mind and soul as well, crushing and squeezing him like clay inside a giant fist, the very fibers of his being feeling as if they were threatening to squelch out through the gaps, leaving him destroyed. Distant sounds came to him, those of explosions, gunfire and the crackle of flames, accompanied by a chorus of cries both guttural and horrific as memories from decades before played out in his mind.

Kes was gone, as was Jovan itself, and instead of durasteel walls there was only cracked and crumbling concrete; a small prison of overpass having collapsed after being bombed, trapping him in darkness and tight confines with no chance of escape on his own. His men screamed as they were cut down, and he could feel the earth shake as yet more bombs fell and tanks rumbled through. In his paws he clutched his heavy machine gun, meant to support his fellow soldiers, but it was useless in his concrete cell. For three days he endured total darkness, not knowing if he would ever see the stars or sun again, his mind reeling in on itself to the point of jibbering madness. It was only the thought of his wife and son which prevented him from crawling into the deepest depths of insanity in his confines.

Like a lifeline thrown to a man drowning at sea, his son once again returned to save him.

"Joey," the name escaped his lips, a shadow of a whisper. Despite the darkness, Anauri felt his pink eyes unfocusing, parts of his brain overriding his fear and terror in order to recall those days so long ago. "It... it was..." he began, then paused. The change in his breathing was audible, the sharp rasp dying down into slow, measured breath.

"Mama," he continued. "I wasn't there for it, I was deployed, but my wife told me it was 'mama.' He didn't learn 'daddy' until I returned from my tour of duty."

[Kes Akiena]

Kes smiled to himself in the dark, his ears picking up the slowed pace of breathing as it angled to a much more manageable level. This was good.

"I'm sure it didn't take long after you got back before he was shouting 'daddy' to the world," his hand remained, though the grip had begun to loosen until his hand merely rested on Anauri's shin. Another few moments later, his hand fell away to grip the side of the ladder.

There was trauma, that was easy enough to sense. But it was something that each man had to work through in their own time. Kes had done so to a certain degree with his own demons, but in the moment there were more pressing matters that needed soothing, and he was determined to make sure that both of them would be able to get through this. Right now though, his Chief Engineer needed to focus. Not necessarily on getting them out right away, but more on calming his own mind.

"Tell me more about Joey," he stated simply.

[Anauri Rabeak]

Anauri could not appreciate the tact and level-headedness of his commanding officer. It was not because he disrespected Kes, or that he disliked the words he was saying, but because even without the darkness enveloping the pair, the blindness of panic had overwhelmed his senses. Walls of defense had been thrown up in his mind to keep him focused on the one thing which would alleviate his madness - escape, but like any hastily-erected wall, there were chinks and holes in it, and it was through one of those that Kes reached the Nehantite.

Pink eyes closed, Anauri felt another part of his wall give way as he chose darkness instead of becoming its victim.

"Tell me more about Joey."

The words rang inside the walls of his mind, demanding their say over the screams of panic and fear. Memories unfolded, some mixing with his state of phobia, others providing warmth and solace from it, until at last the correct avenues became clear to him.

"He loved sports," Anauri replied, a good thirty seconds after the question was posed. "He wanted to play habatta, but he didn't have my build, he was more slender, taking after his mother. I encouraged him to play soccer instead, and he was good at it."

A gentle sweep of his tail brushed over Kes's face by accident, but Anauri did not seem to notice. "He was a good fencer, too. Quick, nimble, he could have been a master with the tulwar. By the time he was twelve I couldn't best him anymore, not with my heavier scimitar. I wish he'd have pursued competition, but he didn't. He was smart. He wanted to be a lawyer. Can you imagine that? The son of a blue-collar engineer wanted to be a lawyer by the time he was twelve."

[Kes Akiena]

"Sounds like a hell of a kid," Kes smiled in the dark. It was easy to hear the pride peeking out through the cracks of Anauri's panic. But, it wasn't quite enough to get his Chief Engineer back into fighting shape, and the redhead pressed on.

"I can see where he got his smarts, though."

There was a short hesitation as he gave the Nehantite a firm, reassuring pat to the leg.

"You don't give yourself enough credit."

[Anauri Rabeak]

"Well, I am currently stuck in an access tube, in the dark, with my boss, on a station I'm supposed to be the Chief Engineer of, and I'm trying my best to not lose my mind right now, so maybe credit isn't the thing I deserve at the moment," came Anauri's reply.

Labored, stuttering breaths followed, but the Nehantite's mouth was clenched so tight that no more words could escape. In his mind, Anauri kicked himself over and over for being so afraid of such a silly thing, a meaningless thing. Other people had much larger problems, like being eaten alive by a sarlacc, or being an alcoholic.

Alcoholic. The word triggered a response he was not expecting, and while his mind was essentially offline singing "La la la I can't hear you!" to the world, his base natures decided to take the wheel and steer things for a bit. Without the luxury of introspection, more words came.

"They say that admitting you have a problem is the first step to solving it," he said. "Well, I have a very big problem right now. I am trapped, in the dark, in a very small place I can't get out of. I have to get this hatch open, Commander. I have to get out of here. I have to."

[Kes Akiena]

Those last words were perhaps the largest understatement of the year. Perhaps. It was plainly evident that Anauri was having a very large problem with being cooped up in a relatively small space, and Kes felt his brow knit as he thought through his options. There wasn't too much available at this point in time, and for a moment he was silents as he thought through what he could use.

The choices were limited, but they were there. Not many, but certainly some. And he would use those.

"You can't be in small spaces," he repeated in summation. His next question, though a single word, had the potential to send them both in a more productive direction, or send them back 20 paces.

"Why?"

He dearly hoped that it would push them forward.

[Anauri Rabeak]

Anauri's paws gripped the ladder rung before him so tight he swore he would leave indents in the durasteel. Tail still, his head lowered, as did his voice as memories flooded back to him, and the sound of screams, gunfire and explosions rolled about his brain like distant thunder.

"It's not small spaces," he forced the words. "It's small spaces I know I can't get out of whenever I want. If one of these hatches would open, I'd be fine. I could stand in my sonic shower stall all day if I wanted, just as long as I knew the door would open when I wanted to get out."

Good. Keep going. This isn't as bad as you're making it out to be.

We're sorry, reason isn't here right now. Please leave a message and we'll call you back.

Well, instinct it is, then.

"When I was trapped, people died. When I was trapped, I lost my unit. I could have supported them if I wasn't trapped. But they died. All of them."

[Kes Akiena]

He knew the feeling well enough. It was one that he wrestled with himself, at times. Even to this day he would sometimes wake up in a cold sweat, a hand clutching at the piercing, phantom pain of an interrogator droid's needle pushing into the skin of his chest.

At least in the dark, Anauri could not see the haunted look that'd passed over the commander, and Kes shook his head to rid himself of the memories.

"Being trapped is no one's fault, especially not yours. There is no doubt in my mind that you would've been able to support your unit, but what happened, happened. You can't blame yourself for something that you had no control over."

It was not so simple as that, he knew. Hells, he knew better than a lot of people. But, on that same token they both had to start somewhere.

"I have faith that you'll get the hatch open, but rather than trying to will it open with force and anger, just try working with it. And don't look at getting out of here whenever you want in such strict parameters. Tell yourself you can get out in five minutes. During that time, try to get the hatch open. And if it doesn't, then do your best to tell yourself that you've decided to stay in for another five minutes."

A hopeful smile.

"Just imagine it's the snooze button on your chrono."

[Anauri Rabeak]

"What do you think I've been doing ever since I realized the hatches were stuck?" Anauri replied. The words escaped through clenched teeth as his tail began to sway once more.

"Believe it or not, I'm handling this very well compared to how I used to be. After it happened I got stuck in a storage closet on a ship we were working on. I dislocated my shoulder trying to bash the door down, and I'd only been in there two minutes. I know I didn't disclose this on my application, but you'd never had hired me if you knew."

Were there any light at all in the maintenance shaft, Anauri's eyes would have adjusted to it by then, yet instead there was nothing but pitch black in all directions. Deep breaths held and slowly released became his soudtrack, accompanying the rustle of jacket sleeves as his paws trembled upon the ladder rungs. "I have a light in my toolbag. I'm going to try and get it. Might want to stand on my right side against the wall in case I drop something. I may be in a bad way, but I'm going to get us out of here, Commander. I have to get us out of here."

A pause followed, almost long enough for a reply to be interjected before Anauri added, "If we don't get out of here, we don't get up to the top, I can't get the part we need, and then spire five can't open on time. That's bad for my service record, and bad for your incoming comm call queue."

[Kes Akiena]

Unseen in the dark, Kes pulled a sour expression. It was a look that he rarely made even when dealing with the infuriating backlog of comms. A backlog that was only growing. But, it was an expression that also vanished soon after forming. The first stirrings of frustration began to tug at his patience, but the redhead refused to allow himself to give in. It would be too easy snap at Anauri, but it would do nothing to further their chances of getting out. Not to mention it would shatter the delicate precipice that both men found themselves standing upon.

And so, Kes remained silent. He let Anauri vent. It would be best, and perhaps with his mouth moving his mind would move as well.

Shifting to the right, he stood in silence, one hand still on the access ladder as the other reached up to run fingers through his hair.

[Anauri Rabeak]

As the shuffling of feet below stopped, Anauri took it as his "all clear" and reached down with a paw to unzip his tool bag. Immediately a pair of box-end wrenches fell, clanging and clattering with their chromium song as they bounced and danced upon the hatch below before rattling to a stop. "Sorry," he called down.

The clinks and clanks of his tools within the rustling bag threatened to rain more hand tools down upon Kes, who unfortunately had decided not to bring an umbrella with him that way, yet moments later it seemed that the durasteel shower had passed, and a click was rewarded by a nearly blinding flash of light.

"Ow!" Anauri blurted, having turned on his flashlight while it was aiming directly up into his face, blasting him with a light so intense that he almost lost his grip upon the ladder. Paw fumbling, he flipped the offending flashlight over so he could examine the access panel he had uncovered. "Ah, not so bad," he said with a nod. "Well, it's bad, but at least it looks like I didn't met the circuit board, so that's a good thing."

Possibly more annoying than the wrenches, the words continued to fall from Anauri's mouth, voicing a stream of consciousness he was seldom known to speak aloud while working, keeping his mind focused on the task at paw. Flashlight braced between his cheek and shoulder, the Nehantite went to work.

"Wasn't always like this, you know," he announced. "When I was a kid I was great at hiding in little places. I liked it, it was fun. I've seen a shrink about my phobia, and he said to do what you said, so it's good advice, but something like that's hard to get over. The kind of thing you know is silly, but it still gets to you, y'know? Maybe if I can reach in there with this wire I can bridge some power to the lockout clamps. After this is done I might need a bit of down time. I think there's a hanger or something nice and open I could set up a chair in. Bar would be nice, but a little crowded at this hour. No, can't send that much power over this wire, it'll fry it. I'll have to see if there's something else I can use to bridge that. Kinda with Stashia was still on the station; she'd be able to help take my mind off of things after we get out. Garfife, she'd want to drag me to that tea house, I bet. I had no idea what that place was when my team dragged me along. You ever been there?"

As he spoke he worked, not feverishly as he had initially, but mechanically, able to let his brain make more sense of the problem while his mouth rattled on and on and on.

[Kes Akiena]

Anauri's stream of consciousness was rather captivating, and Kes listened in utter silence as his Nehantite companion carried on. He didn't interrupt, choosing to see if a moving mouth could generate the power to begin moving a mind. He simply stayed quiet to allow the man to work. If talking as he poked about up top helped, then he was in no way willing to entangle himself verbally and possibly distract Anauri from making any possible headway. As much as he dreaded returning to his office, he knew that it was far more painful for his Chief Engineer to be stuck here, in the dark.

And then Anauri asked a question that came completely out of left field. A question that caught him very much off guard.

Had he ever been to the Madame's tea house.

The query had been sent, and hoping to further stimulate the grinding gears in Anauri's head, Kes answered; however his tone was halting, his voice a note lower than normal.

"I... have, actually."

His eyes swept down and to the side as he remembered the trip.

"But not for the reason that most seem to go there for."

[Anauri Rabeak]

"Yeaaaaah, it's safe to say I didn't go there for that reason either," Anauri replied. One of his paws was jammed deep within the access panel's opening, groping around for something, while the other held fast to the ladder. "I thought it was a tea house. Like, where you sit down and have tea and little sandwiches and everyone's grandmother is there. Color me surprised when I was told it wasn't clothing-optional!"

The light from his flashlight flickered and danced as the flashlight was pinched and rolled between his cheek and shoulder, his paw trying to reach deeper still, to the tune of a few grunts and groans. Testing the hold of his makeshift support strap. Anauri could not resist another pounding upon the hatch with his other fist, the demons of his claustrophobia refusing to be vanquished in their entirety.

"Why'd you go? Was it when the filtration system broke down on the main pool? That only took two days to get fixed, you know."

[Kes Akiena]

Looking up, he was careful to no look directly at the beam of light shining from Anauri's flashlight. Instead he focused on the Nehantite's hands. It was a long story, and Kes made his best attempt to condense it as much as possible.

"The Madame," on fresh instinct his voice seemed to grow just a little bit quieter, as if worried that the act of even invoking her title would summon Madame Maillanaaro.

"... invited me. Well, she insisted would probably be the better word for it. I put off her comms for as long as I could before she finally just came to my office herself. You ever look at someone and see your eventual doom?"

A sigh.

"I watched her walk in and that was exactly what I saw. She'd even sent a giftbasket."

There was no need to go into the details of what that basket actually contained, so Kes pushed on while shifting his weight and letting himself lean against the wall.

"She was fairly adamant that she was a servant of the community; that I needed an open mind about it all, and that I was in need of... relaxation. Who knows what she really wanted. I couldn't shake her, so I finally said I would visit the tea house, but that I needed her to have an open mind as well."

His grip on the ladder tightened as he remembered that long walk to the tea house with Tisha.

"That woman I told you about earlier? The one who's pregnant and had lost her husband in the attack? I brought her with me. The Madame was so insistent on her role as a healer of the community, so I took from her meaning what I wanted."

For a moment the redhead said nothing, instead remembering that feeling of helplessness in the face of a grieving widow.

Finally, he went on.

"Tisha; I took her to the tea house and asked the Madame to talk to her. Try to rebuild the trust." He sighed. "Tisha almost had none of it, though I really couldn't blame her. All I could do was ask that she see things out. Bringing her there, to a business run by a Cizerack, after a Cizerack had killed her husband was a risk, but I'll give the Madame credit for not giving up."

His eyes closed.

"In the end, there was no real disaster. No explosive emotions or theatrics. It was just... one woman helping another begin to move through a painful loss."

[Anauri Rabeak]

The story Kes told was far from the one Anauri was expecting, and as he listened he began to forget where he was, and that he was trapped. Well, he began to, at least, but the power of his phobia would not be denied as it clawed and tore its way back into his mind, upsetting the furniture and making all the pictures on the walls go crooked. Doubling down in his focus on his work, he at least shooed out his panic with a broom once more, letting it snarl and roar on the porch while he attempted some blind soldering.

"Could've easily gone wrong, but I'm glad it went well in the end," he replied.

More sparks erupted from the access port, Anauri closing his eyes and grunting as he felt some of the freshly-grown fur on his left paw singe. "Trying to bypass the power to undo the hatch's locking clamp. If I can do that, I can pry this one open manually and we can keep moving up," the words came out almost mechanically. "And, yeah, sounds like your trip to the tea house went better than mine. C'mon, little wire, where are you? At least your closest staff didn't see you naked, for starters. There we go, gotcha. Or with a hardon." Immediately Anauri froze, pink eyes going wide.

"Uhhh, shit, that was supposed to be in my head, not out loud."

[Kes Akiena]

Caught off guard, Kes blinked in the mostly-dark access tube. His brow knit, then an almost sympathetic look passed over his features. He didn't even want to think about what would happen if he had found himself in Anauri's situation. Ever since coming to Jovan, he'd done his best to socialize with his staff, but there was a line that he could not allow himself to cross. It was a line that was watched by a great many eyes, and some he'd wager were simply waiting for him to stumble so that they could swoop in and drag him off to court martial. No, visiting the teahouse with anyone under his command, and actually lowering himself into one of those tubs?

A disaster. An utter disaster is what it would be.

Kes continued to lean on the wall, letting his head fall back to thunk against a panel.

"No no, that was in your head," his voice was actually a touch jovial, as he chose to make light of the flub.

[Anauri Rabeak]

"Well, thank Garfife for that," Anauri managed a chuckle. "I guess I should add, in my head of course, that it was a complete catastrophe overall, but at least it gave some of my staff a good laugh. That's gotta be worth something right?"

His paw flexed and writhed inside the access panel, accompanied by the occasional grunt, then a light whine. "Commander," Anauri said, closing his eyes once more. "I'm trying my best here, I really am, but I'm losing this fight. I don't know if I'll last long enough to get us out."

[Kes Akiena]

Angling his head to look up, Kes sent a concerned stare to Anauri. There wasn't much else he could think of, and having exhausted most ideas he could come up with quickly, he pursed his lips in worry. If Anauri essentially shut down, then there was going to be a whole heap of not-lot that would be done. He'd have to simply wait, and even that was an unknown, as there was no telling how long it'd take before his lack of presence went noticed. Noticed and actually acted upon. Though, Anauri's crew might smell foul first, so that was a hope.

Didn't make things now any better.

"You try rerouting the jumper switch through the vox control?" It was a last thought, and a long shot, at that. He'd had to rig up enough Imperial machinery in the past, and sometimes those old systems held a few surprises. Most of which was the Imperial penchant for creating access loopholes through the combination of seemingly unconnected systems.

[Anauri Rabeak]

Anauri could feel the beast scratching against the door of his mind, its claws shredding off shards of wood as it weakened the door, hinges groaning and flexing beneath its assault. Panicked breath tore in and out through his mouth as his heart raced, the pounding of his temples in time with the bashing of the beast of his fear upon his sanity.

Paws trembled and shook as he worked, tail lashing against the wall of the cylindrical shaft behind him.

"Vox control doesn't have enough power to run the servos that operate the hatch clamps," he replied, though it came out in Nehantite instead of Basic - a testament to the strain on his mind. Continuing in his native tongue, he carried on, "But if I can pull from the lighting, now that its circuit is fried, and from here, it just might be enough."

Whether Kes could understand a word of what he was saying or not, Anauri frantically went about his work, only having to beat his fist against the wall twice while he did so.

Clearing his throat, he remembered to speak in Basic. "Heads-up. I don't have spare wire which can handle the current that this needs. Going to have to jump it through myself. My boots should insulate me from the ladder, but you might want to let go of it, just in case."

There was nothing more for it. He could feel the door buckling and splintering, the hinges threatening to give way, and he gave only the briefest amount of time before jamming his index finger against the servo control, and his pinky against the three power wires he'd freed up.

Above Kes was a brief light show as sparks shot out of the access panel, and Anauri jolted hard, the flashlight falling from his shoulder to spin and clatter down to the floor below. The Nehantite's jaws clenched shut due to the surge of electricity through his system, but it did not stop the snarling roar which tore through his grit teeth. Above the din, thhe clang of the hatch lock could just barely be heard.

As quickly as it had come on, it was over, and Anauri eased his paw out of the access panel, the fur on his fingertips smoking lightly. "Heknesh frodara gupen lat!" he cursed, flexing the fingers of his left paw. For most men, the next thirty seconds or so would have been spent calming nerves and recovering from the shock, but Anauri had a vested interest in moving on as quickly as possible. Still numb from the shock, his left paw reached down into his bag, feeling around until his fingers closed down on an old-fashioned pry bar. He took care to extricate it, not wishing to drop anything more upon his commanding officer, and with little care he crammed its blade into the split on the hatch above him.

"Open sesame," Anauri grunted, jamming the pry bar in and wrenching down hard. The groan of gears and hydraulics being overridden by manual force sounded above him, but the Nehantite would not stop, working the bar deeper and deeper still until a crack of light shone down upon him, a ray of hope from the heavens. "And with the strength of righteousness, N'duk broke wide the doors of the temple!" he called out, wrenching as hard as he could upon the pry bar, the hatch opening wide for him.

[Kes Akiena]

It'd been a rather short-lived shower of sparks that washed over the Nehantite, then down atop himself before fading out just as quickly, and Kes said nothing as Anauri played the part of a power conduit. It was nothing new to him, he'd been a party to that same sort of desperation; and had a few times been forced to do the same tactic himself. It never really got any easier, and he could still sometimes feel those painful jolts rip through each square millimeter of his body in phantom remembrance.

He'd knelt to pick up the flashlight, only idly listening as Anauri went on.

The grinding of servos and whine of forced gears brought him back though, and Kes finally looked up as Anauri pushed the hatch fully open.

Blinking, he gave an internal sigh of relief. There wasn't much he felt like saying in the moment, but he spoke up anyway.

"Good job, Chief."

[Anauri Rabeak]

Anauri held the pry bar slack in his paws, leaning back and letting his improvised strap hold him in place as he stared up into the glorious expanse of light above. Like snow melting off the branches of a tree, his panic and terror fell away in clumps, freeing his spirit to rise once again. Deep breath after deep breath, he vented a sigh at long last.

"Thank you, Commander. I couldn't have done it without you. I wasn't even thinking about the vox control," he said. "Allow me to buy you a beer after we make it back to the station proper?"

The pry bar was deposited back into his toolbag, and his safety strap unthreaded to allow him to start climbing up into the next section. A well-aimed toss launched the diagnostic computer up to him, and he wasted little time in plugging it into the next port and running the open command. To both men's relief it clicked and opened immediately, leaving just one section to go before reaching the operating platform of spire six.

It was there, in the threshold of the next access tube that Anauri paused, and he swung to one side on the ladder so that he could look down and face Kes as fully as he could. "Also... thank you for helping me with my... problem. I wish you hadn't seen me like that, but, you got me through it. I truly couldn't have done it without you, sir. Thank you."

[Kes Akiena]

Looking up the ladder to Anauri, Kes gave a small nod. The breeze coming down from the now opened hatchway, though admittedly stale, was certainly fresh enough to signal that their time in cramped quarters had come to an end. Well, for now at least.

"Sometimes all someone needs is an ear, Chief."

An offered smile. There was no need to dig into any possibly wounded pride, and so the redhead maintained a simple, honest response.

"You're welcome."

He let a small bit of levity wash over his next words.

"And as long as that drink is not in the teahouse, then I gladly accept."

[Anauri Rabeak]

A hearty laugh fell back down the access shaft to reach Kes's ears. "Oh, Garfife, no!" Anauri replied. "I don't care what you might have heard about Nehantites, that is the last place I would want to take another male. Or... anyone, really."

Maybe Stashia. She'd get a kick out of it.

Keeping that thought private, Anauri resumed his climb. It was totally against regulation to leave so many hatches open below him, but as he didn't know what triggered the lockout in the first place, he wasn't going to follow the book on this one. A good engineer learns the rules. A great engineer knows when to break them. By the time he reached the final access port, the only tremor in his paws came from the strain of climbing a ladder. Atmosphere and pressure readings from the other side all listed in the green on his computer readout - a good indication he hadn't fried some shield circuit while messing about below - and so he pressed the button.

Hatches leading to large areas were always built to a different standard than interstitial maintenance hatches. Larger, heavier, and with more redundancies in both their failsafe and protection circuits, they were some of the most reliable systems on Jovan. And to Anauri's great relief, it worked exactly the way it was supposed to.

The Nehantite hefted his toolbag and tossed it out onto the floor above first, then hauled himself up onto solid ground. Spire six was still heavily damaged, with emergency lighting casting faint glows here and there, while half the decking was scarred and burnt from blaster fire and explosives, and an entire docking bay was simply... gone, while a force field kept the remainder of the port safe for workers. Anauri only had a moment to take it all in before Kes reached the top of the ladder, and Anauri extended his strong right paw to help him up.

"Welcome to spire six, Commander," he said with a smile. All traces of his previous terror had vanished entirely.

[Kes Akiena]

Accepting the hand up, Kes grasped Anauri's paw with a strong grip of his own, using the Nehantite's weight and muscle to help lever himself up and out of the access hatchway. A moment to roll his shoulders, he sent a look out to the emptiness.

Oh, he'd read the reports. He'd seen the holo snapshots that had accompanied those reports. He had seen the destruction and twisted metal; the bent girders and shorn moorings. The nothingness beyond a certain point. Where space and scarred metal met in an ugly dance of blackened scoring and angry, severed circuitry. It was a sight, that was for sure. But holos did no justice to the actual act of seeing it all with ones' own eyes. Kes frowned instinctively, unable to keep the expression from gracing his normally easy and jovial features. This here? This was destruction in its' purest form, and that he was on the edge of it - yet again - was unsettling. He knew the dangers associated with the posting he'd been given, but he'd hoped that they would not mirror his time in the Rebellion so closely. It was... disheartening. It was also enough to make him wonder if he was truly cursed.

"Hell of a view," he finally managed to rumble out in obvious displeasure.

A deep breath, his chest rising and falling, and he finally let his eye close as he inhaled the burn-tinged air that surrounded them. Even now, he could smell that stomach-dropping burnt ozone tinge in the air.

Eyes opening once more, Kes gave the slightest shake of his head.

"Damn shame."

[Anauri Rabeak]

For Anauri, the view held a very different significance. Immediately it was freedom, room to move and work without the walls closing in. Beyond that, it was a job, a rebuild of immense proportions which would require a great deal of time and effort for his crew to pull off. Of course, new saftey protocol would have to be put in place before his crew could return to spire six. First, an examination of why the hatches in the access shaft had failed, followed by regulation for everyone taking the access shaft to also carry a power pack with them. Second, there needed to be a small transport craft available at the top of the spire for emergency evacuation. Third... Anauri would compile the list later.

"You're not kidding," the Nehantite replied. The damage was severe, yes, but it could still be repaired in time. "I'll call us a ride."

No further time was wasted as Anauri approached the hard-wired comm unit and punched in a call to Main Engineering. "Hey, whoever's down there this is the Chief; I'm on spire six, at the top, with Commander Akiena. Send us a light transport for pickup. Service shaft is non-functional. I repeat, service shaft is non-functional."

A shuttle was confirmed, and Anauri disconnected. "Likely gonna be about fifteen minutes before it gets here," he announced. "I'd, uh, offer you a seat, but there really aren't any. I'm gonna go ahead and get what we came up here for in the first place. Be silly to come this far and forget it, not to mention it'd delay the opening of five."

As he turned to get to work, Anauri paused. "And, Commander, I'd..." he faltered, chewing his lip. "I'd appreciate it if you didn't tell anyone about my, uh, my problem. I can't have them worrying about me, not when they've got work to do."

[Kes Akiena]

A moment, and Kes looked to Anauri, giving a serious nod.

"Consider it done."

He knew the need for privacy more than many aboard Jovan, and respected it to the highest degree.

"What happens in Six stays in Six."

A silly saying, and usually it was attributed to Zeltron, but in this instance he felt it needed to be adapted and spoken aloud.

And like a man in a trance, Kes slowly stepped forward, one foot at a time. He let his slow gait take him closer to the yawning mouth of nothingness, and the boundary of twisted and gutted metal, with the emergency forcefields keeping the vacuum out. His hands stuffed themselves into the front pockets of his uniform pants, his features a stony mask.

There was so much staring back at him from the black, bespectacled blanket of space beyond. So many years staring him in the face. He saw triumphs, failures, pains, heartache. All hidden behind a genial smile that refused to be diminished. Through it all, he had learned to cope and press onward. He'd had to. But now, staring out into the vast expanse. There was so much potential out there. And so much evil.

In silence the redhead allowed himself a moment to wallow in thought. In what might've been. the 'what-if's'. What if he'd stuck with his studies? What if he'd never agreed to help his Uncle run the Rebel safehouse? What if he'd never met her? What if...

What if he'd done - or not done - anything?

Life was as you made it, and Kes let out a light snort in self-derision. There was no sense dwelling on the past. He was here, now. And it was where he wanted to be. Where he knew he was needed.

In some form, at least.