Ghosts in the Holonet

[Tamera Beck]

It was her day off.

She normally spent those days asleep, surrounded by the comforts of her blankets and an empty bag of crisps. Happily taken away to the lands of her subconscious where she danced in Corellian Lilly fields, hand in hand with Oseeto, the apparent mascot of her favorite Cizerack snack treat.

Now though, she was on a mission. The night before, she'd been up late. Normally that meant sipping on sugary 'hard' namana fizzies and watching lothcat videos, and that's exactly what she had been doing, but as all things did, her YouNet binging spiraled down to something she'd not expected. She'd stumbled onto something.

Halfway stuffed full of leftover pizza, cheese puffs, and spicy crisps, she had sipped at her fizzie while digging deeper. The drowsiness had been sidelined as she delved deeper into the mystery she'd stumbled across.

For most of that night she had dug down into the old, archives pages of the Holonet. And she'd been successful.

So now, on her day off, she had to tell somebody, and that somebody just happened to be probably the one person never really excited to see her. Or was he? She'd never really thought about it. Tamera did her job with disturbing precision despite her tendencies to insert her own brand of methodology... which was normally the quick and dirty 'get it running' method. She'd never been above recommending the most expedient method of solving a problem, but at the the same time she also knew the value of a new part, and did her best to get Anauri Rabeak what he both needed and wanted.

Now though?

Now she hoped he was in his office, and bursting through the half-open doorway of his small, self-contained kingdom, Tamera was rewarded with a grumpy-looking Nehantite behind a desk.

She smiled wide as she stepped further inside, her grip on the datapad she'd brought with her tightening.

"Just who I wanted to see."

[Anauri Rabeak]

"Do you ever knock?" the Nehantite rumbled. His eyes didn't even move from the datapad on his desk, behind the name placard which read "Chief Engineer Anauri Rabeak."

For a moment longer he flicked through the information on his screen before shuffling elements scheduled for later in the day. Only when he was done did he sit back in his old chair, both the aged nerf-hide and the reclining apparatus squeaking as he did so, and he looked at the intruder to his inner sanctum. Despite having only been on shift for an hour, it had been a long day as the night crew appeared to have done more socializing than servicing aboard the station. A word would need to be had with the night shift lead, and it would be far from the first of such words.

"Morning," he grunted more than said once he realized his manners, though there was more weary discontent in his voice than cheerful greeting. "Unless it's a critical system, whatever's broken now is going to have to wait in the queue at this point."

There, that was out of the way. Now maybe he could get some stimcaff and grab his toolbelt.

[Tamera Beck]

"Well. Don't you just sound like a ray of sunshine," came the overly jovial answer as she sidled up to the front of his desk.

"Usually it's me saying that sort of stuff to you."

Her eyes shifted so that she was looking up to one of the top corners of his office. It wasn't a glorious position she held, but it put credits in her accounts and food in her stomach. It was steady, stable, and most importantly it was away from Nar Shaddaa.

"I mean, who knew that being your supply clerk would be such a... magical job... "

A quick blink, and Tamera snapped back to why she was essentially here at work on her day off. The datapad was given the tiniest of shakes, as if to try and entice the Chief's curiosity. She gave a tch, and her voice lowered to an excited whisper as a conspiratorial grin began to creep over her lips.

"I found something."

[Anauri Rabeak]

One graying, fuzzy eyebrow raised at the wiggling of Tamera's datapad, and Anauri sighed before rubbing his eyes with thumb and forefinger. When his paw came away, the same tiredness remained - the chief needed his stimcaff.

"And I'm guessing whatever it is you found concerns me?" he ventured, though he wasn't entirely sure he liked where this was headed. But, to be fair, while Tamera was often far more cheerful and obnoxiously chipper than he liked - a trait shared by much of his staff, it seemed - Anauri had to admit she was quite the competent scrounger of supplies when he needed them, so perhaps entertaining her in her little morning folly wouldn't be too much to attempt.

"Let's see," he nodded, reaching out his broad right paw, the callouses on his pads stained by grease and oil in their rougher areas.

[Tamera Beck]

"Actually, you might be surprised at who it concerns," came the conspiratorial reply as she passed him the 'pad.

She'd found the video quite by accident, and had had to do a little bit of side-searching to ferret out one with the best quality, but in the end she was successful. It was certainly one of the more interesting nights she'd spent huddled in front of a monitor, and one that'd been most fruitful. A treasure like this, after all, wasn't one that you just let fall by the wayside - no, you reached for it and held on tight so that you could show someone. And luckily (or unluckily depending on who you asked), that 'someone' was Chief Rabeak. In her relatively short amount of time here on Jovan, Tamera had come to know the Chief as having a rather unique sense of... well... dad humor.

When he wasn't grumbling about something or another, that is.

"I queued it up for you," a hovering finger gestured to the screen that merely waiting for the press of a finger.

"And before you ask, it's definitely him. I already checked."

[Anauri Rabeak]

Anauri took the 'pad with hesitation. Who it concerned suddenly concerned him a great deal as he'd recently learned that his son, Joey, had been... less than discrete about his relationships while at the Alliance Academy. Fears of video containing compromising clips of Joey ran through the forefront of his mind as he bit his lower lip, then tapped the screen.

The worst of his fears began to be realized as the video played. Hips and arms were flung this way and that to a catchy beat, but it wasn't Joey on the screen. Instead it was someone else, and Anauri's pink eyes went wide with astonishment before he looked up to Tamera in disbelief. "That's... that's really him" he blurted, then his eyes snapped back to the screen once more. "Holy Garfife, Gradoona and Mayael can never see this!"

Shock gave way to a rumbling, almost giggling laugh which shook his broad shoulders, and he shook his head at the screen. "He'll kill us if this gets out, you know. This is epic blackmail material."

[Tamera Beck]

Well, she hadn't initially intended to go the blackmail route, but only because the thought had never occurred to her. With Anauri's words though, Tamera couldn't help the startled, suddenly-thoughtful slow blink. In her mind's eye, she could already see the glowing goddess of snack foods, in brightly colored vending machine form, standing vigil in her quarters. Like her own private heaven.

"Well, I suppose it is, yeah... "

She knew just where she would put it, too.

"Might be able to get some of those high-end parts that always seem to not show up with the rest of your materials shipments?"

Truthfully, she had no idea what Anauri would ask for. It was anyone's guess, really. And then - in a show of suddenly indignant shock - Tamera put a hand over her chest as she let out a gasp.

"I mean, Sir! Blackmail!?" her voice dropped a level.

[Anauri Rabeak]

Anauri stared at her, blinking, then closed his eyes and sighed. "It was a joke, Ms. Beck," he clarified, then opened his eyes once more. "Blackmail is a bad idea, and you should never, ever try it."

The words which did not need to be added were "against me," as they were built into his tone of voice.

"But, that does bring us to the interesting question of what do we do with this cosmic gem? I mean, the temptation is to 'accidentally' patch it into the station holocomms, but that's overkill, and we wouldn't get to see the right people laugh."

[Tamera Beck]

"I think doing something like that might be a little too cruel," she balked at the very thought of doing something so... visible to everyone. Thankfully he dismissed the notion on his own, and moved on to the more perplexing bit of this little pickle.

"Well," as if exhaustion had overtaken her, Tamera plopped down into the chair opposite his desk, "... there's always those weekly briefings we go to."

It was usually a small crowd made up of the few staff who were already on duty, but the size never made having to be there any easier, and Tamera was fairly certain that if K'ohta'rrou Meorrrei had lasers for eyes there wouldn't be much left of the inside of her noggin. It was one of those small blessings that she was oh-so-grateful for.

[Anauri Rabeak]

"Hmm..." Anauri interlaced his fingers and braced the front of his muzzle against them. "Weekly briefing could be good. And it might actually get some of them to pay attention during my reports. Be a whole lot more interesting than those damn slideshows they make me do. No one likes slideshows. No one has ever liked slideshows."

One paw dropped away to his desktop, the thick pads of his fingers drumming against the old, stained, and scarred leather top. "But there's gotta be more to it," he mused. "And we have to make sure we get all our orders and shipments approved before we do this, because who knows what kind of double-secret probation we might wind up getting for a stunt like that."

A grin worked up the wrinkles forming at the sides of his muzzle. "But damn, it'll be worth it."

[Tamera Beck]

There was a slight shift in her demeanor as he spoke ill of his slideshows.

"I like those slideshows," came the mumbled support, despite it's probably unnecessary need. She knew he didn't care for the metrics he had to show every week, but they did help her make sure that all of her paddlefeet were in order; plus they sometimes shed light on where she needed to focus her order forms.

There wasn't much dissent though, as she pondered over the Chief's words. It did sound like it would be the perfect spot of fun to have, after all.

"So then, we've got two days to get ready."

Already the wheels were beginning to turn in her head.

"You wanna show the whole thing?"

[Anauri Rabeak]

"It'd be a shame not to," Anauri chuckled. "Tell you what: forward me that clip, and I'll work it in to my presentation like we've got some kind of cross-communications glitch going on. There's one already happening in Spire Six, anyway, so I'll just replicate that issue visually. Make them all think they're going to see one thing, then surprise them with this partway in. Good ol' bait and switch."

It wasn't exactly the most original plan, but Anauri also wasn't the most creative of fellows, at least outside of engineering work. Leaning back in his chair, the Nehantite tried to think if there was any better solution, but found himself interrupted by the chime of his comm tablet. His sigh, and the creak of his chair's hinge, sounded in unison as he canted forward once more, taking up the pad in anticipation of some new "emergency" question from Mayael, or an update from Gradoona. Instead he just closed his eyes and sighed again upon seeing the message which popped up.

"Dammit, Joey," he grumbled, shaking his head. Remembering Tamera was still on the other side of his desk, he looked to her apologetically. "Sorry, my son seems to forget that I am not exactly a good judge of fashion, and that I'm the last person he should be asking what shirt he should wear for a prospective date, tonight," he explained. "Your opinion?" The tablet was turned around to show two selfies of Anauri's adult son, Joey, in two different shirts, and a pair of extremely fashionable underwear. "This is what I'll get to blackmail him with later. He just hasn't realized it yet."

[Tamera Beck]

She didn't even need to think about the two options being presented. It was a no-brainer, and Tamera leaned forward, both hands coming down on Anauri's desk to support her weight.

"That one," she nodded to the picture on the left.

"It's shiny, but not too shiny. Like it's been through the wash, but it's still good because it still has a decent sparkle to it."

She wasn't near the expert on fashion like others, but she did have a flair for honesty (and snack crisps) that every so often came in handy. The Chief hadn't ever really opened up to her in this manner before, and she was feeling a bit eager to show out.

"I don't know about the underoos though. I mean, if he's hoping to get someone back to his bunk, those might just get in the way of the whole... you know... "

A small shrug, and she stood back straight as her hands came up from the desk to slap together, palms out.

"... Playin' nub-nub?"

[Anauri Rabeak]

"At least he's wearing some, this time," Anauri mumbled, though the arch of his eyebrows spoke volumes to a story behind that comment. Thumbs tapped away at the tablet and his reply was sent. "Thanks. And I think I'll let him sort out his own underwear problems. I'm not really sure why he even bothers, as I'm pretty sure he's more looking to get out of whatever he puts on, knowing the sort of men he goes after."

The moment he said it, Anauri regretted it. Family drama didn't belong in the workplace, and he knew he shouldn't be venting to Tamera. That, and Joey was an adult, and needed to make his own decisions. Also, Anauri really didn't need to think about his son's sex life.

"Sorry, I shouldn't have even brought it up," he sighed. "It's... been a long week already."

[Tamera Beck]

She made a gesture, one hand going out to swipe down at the air between them.

"Eh, it's all good."

There was a certain amount of pride in her stance though, as she felt there had been a breakthrough. After all, it wasn't often that a Chief Engineer and his Supply Clerk shared this sort of close information, was it? Usually it was 'get this', 'get that', 'try to find me some of this or that'. It was always so professional, and while in any other situation she was perfectly fine with that, Tamera couldn't help but feel a small bit more connected to the fibres that held the station together now.

Of course there was always the inevitable fall. When she went too far or inexplicably closed up. It was the one constant in her life. It was something she'd become used to.

"I won't tell anyone," she made an X over her chest where her heart was.

"Cross my heart and hope to die, Chief."

[Anauri Rabeak]

"Just don't stick a needle in your eye." The conclusion to the schoolyard oath brought a light chuckle back to Jovan's chief engineer. "Appreciate it, Ms. Beck. Both that, and, well, bringing... this to my attention. Let's keep it on the down-low for now, though, just in case. I'll get things set for the weekly meeting. Sound good?"

[Kes Akiena]

* * *



"- to why our normal output as been slightly below level. Nothing to be concerned over, just a normal fluctuation."

At the head of the table, Kes sat in a particularly relaxed slump. One arm propping him up, elbow on the armrest as his opposite hand held a flimsi in a loose grip.

"Thank you Mr. Barek."

The redhead pursed his lips, straightening his posture as he gave a skim over a datapad resting in front of him. It was all very rote, and he knew that everyone present was aware of the order to be followed, but all the same, there was a comfort to be found in the familiar. After so long spent in a manic sort of limbo, many of his staff were glad for the sameness.

"Chief," Kes' eyes lifted to the Nehantite.

"Any fresh news?"

[Anauri Rabeak]

Anauri took his cue and stood up from the table, boots thumping across the floor as he approached the main holoscreen, flicking the screen of his datapad to fling its presentation onto the big screen.

"Actually, yes," the Nehantite answered. "I know you're all frustrated that Spire Six is still out of commission. I also know many of you have different opinions on what should be done, so I'd like to address that. So on that note, I want to tell you how I'm feeling, as I've gotta make you understand what's involved in the rebuild process."

A tap to his datapad moved on from his typical white text on brown background information screens, to an image of Spire Six. The image was then digitized and pulled apart into an exploded view, pinpointing all damaged areas.

"Now, I'm not gonna tell any lies, here, as I don't want to hurt feelings, but this is what we're dealing with. We've got over twenty major systems involved, with hundreds of subsystems impacted," he went on to explain, pulling up affected areas as he went. "I estimate that if I were able to devote my full crew, along with contracting in some outside work, we could get Spire Six up and running in about a month and a half. But, we can't do that without giving up on the rest of you, and the day-to-day issues we face here on the station. Wouldn't exactly be living up to the commitment we've made to you, would it, Commander?"

Zooming back out on the image, Anauri then highlighted in red the current active work that Engineering was doing, followed by future scheduled or low-priority jobs in yellow. "As you can see, focusing on Spire Six would force my team to desert the rest of you, which wouldn't be right. We're trying to strike a balance, here, but we're also being hit by lots of little, piddly shit that is pulling my crew away from the bigger work at paw. Hand. At hand, sorry," he corrected himself. "I would like to propose that if smaller, everyday work can be handled by trained Alliance techs, or certified union freelancers, that would give my team more time to work on getting Spire Six up and running faster, which I know you all want. Any thoughts on that proposal?"

[Kes Akiena]

It was all very procedural, as Anauri went over the necessary construction specifics... except...

There was something in the cadence though, in the wording that the Nehantite used. It pulled at something small in his memory, something that tugged at the far peripherals of his old thoughts, and Kes couldn't help the inward pause. He blinked once.

Twice.

On the surface, Anauri's words seemed perfectly innocent. They were the words of a chief engineer trying to satisfy impatience and for most in the room they were words that were no different than all the other times they'd been spoken.

Most except for Kes.

But, he maintained a level expression. Thinking too hard on an old memory would only be a waste of time. As well, it was most likely that the words chosen were purely innocent.

"I think you're on the right track, Chief," his voice held a trace of suspicion still, "... any supplies you may need, I'll make sure you have them."

Another pause, and the redhead continued, his tone taking on a note of probing caution.

"... just... don't be shy about asking."

[Anauri Rabeak]

"I won't be too shy to say it, if I need something," Anauri replied with a nod. A devilish hint of a smile threatened his typically gruff features for the briefest of moments, before he moved on to his next portion of his presentation.

"Now, in this command structure, we've been together for so long that I don't think I need to say it anymore, but, seriously, Engineering is for station maintenance and work only." A shot of a half-disassembled K-Wing engine came up on the screen. "So far, I've allowed my crew to assist in Alliance naval ship repair, but this needs to stop. We don't have the manpower. Barring extreme circumstances, Alliance naval craft are to be worked on only by Alliance naval techs. Want to make it clear so that you know the rules, and so do I. It's in the regulations, and if it comes to you lot vs. navy craft, I'd rather not let you down."

[Kes Akiena]

It was confirmation enough, and Kes felt his entire body grow rigid. He knew. Somehow... he knew.

The how of it eluded him, but there would be time in the future to delve into that question.

"Your dedication to the station is noted, Chief."

A moment later, and without giving Anauri a chance to respond, the redhead shifted his eyes to the rest of those in the room.

"If anyone else has anything to add?"

There was no answer, with a few heads even giving a shake to the negative.

"Very good then. You're all dismissed."

In the midst of departing bodies, Kes lifted a hand, a single finger extended upwards.

"Chief, stay, if you would," all fingers opened then, in a gesture that was easy enough to understand, "... may I see your datapad?"

[Anauri Rabeak]

Anauri knew that Kes knew, and that glimmer of a smile returned, pulling at some of the wrinkles beneath his fur. As the rest of the command staff filed out, Anauri hesitated, as asked, and tapped a tab on his datapad which had not made it into his presentation.

"Naturally, sir," he replied, stepping forward. "I did have a bit more a multimedia component to share, but as I'm not as good at this whole song-and-dance as some others are, I figured I'd... leave that to the professionals."

With that, he flipped his datapad over and extended it to Kes, unable to hide his smile any longer, due to what was now on the open tab.

[Kes Akiena]

And there it was. A Kes from a lifetime ago. A Kes that hadn't yet joined the Rebellion. A Kes that never once thought his older self would be watching the product of a young man desperate for school funding. (https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ)