The White Phoenix

[Q. Samus Dage]

orto plutonia



In orbit over the swirling white marble of Orto Plutonia, I stood tall upon the viewing catwalk. I stared at the snowy planet below with a mix of expectance and trepidation in my eyes, knowing that what awaited myself and the girl standing at my left was something not many had experienced. I could still remember the last time I'd seen the old Besalisk. He'd cursed life and the Empire, and laid Dan out like the old man was nothing but a piece of generic flimsiplast. Ain't ever seen Dan look so surprised or angry, but I guess that was par for the course when dealing with Phrexus Krale. And the damned thing about it? Dan had let the raging cyclone of four-armed grit and steel leave. I guess he'd known that it was for the best, even if I'd not known it till years later. A being scarred beyond recognition was one you couldn't really keep around; you had to let the wounds heal, and that was apparently what Phrexus was doing ever since that day.

I still remember he told me he was going to an old home, of sorts. I guess it was home for him, but for me, living on some snow-swept wasteland wasn't exactly 'home'.

I was a backwoods boy, but even I knew that wasn't home for Besalisks. What it was though, was where one of our old overrun bases had been. Long abandoned after the Empire routed our little band and drove us off-world. We lost a lot of boys when that happened, and I guess Phrexus felt more at home with the dead than he did with the living.

Couldn't blame him for that, after what we'd all been through.

I let out a sigh as I felt my lips press together, presently looking down to the girl. Raifaani. What a wisp of a thing. She was tough, but in the same motion I was fairly certain I could send her tumbling if I looked at her angrily enough. She was infuriating, but I guess she was learning, as well. She'd at least been respectful enough for the trip so far for me to invite her to the bridge when we exited hyperspace over what would be our home for the next month.

I'd pooled my collected leave time, and decided to cash a majority of it in for this little 'vacation'.



Behind us, Captain s'Ilancy sat in her chair, and I could hear the faint tick of her fingernails tapping the armrest as she no doubt had buried her eye into a datapad. She'd not been exactly happy, but she'd also not denied my request.



My attentions went fully to Raifa.

"There's no safety net here. We go down there, and we are committed."

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

Like their previous meeting on Taltimant, Rai'faani wore a fur-lined parka. Of course it was a different parka entirely, as an heiress to the barony rarely let her retinue see her repeat an ensemble in her wardrobe. The voluminous hood was down, revealing platinum hair drawn into a bun at the back of her head. She cut her eyes towards Dage and his warning, replying with nothing but a brow raise as she returned her attention to the white and blue of the planet ahead.

He wasn't going to frighten her off her chosen course of action. Of course she was afraid. Her life was an unbroken cycle of little fears. But in equal measure to fear was intellect and ruthlessness. A Meorrrei learned early how to sheath thought and intent behind courtly charades, fancy, and complex lies. If you showed your blood, it only attracted more knives. Samus Dage had broken into the sanctum of her confidence already, and that trespass was grievous but irreversible. He might hold that glimpse of her fear and insecurity, but she wasn't sharing that with any other being on this bridge - even the formidable Captain Loklorien s'Ilancy. But even thinking that stoked yet another little fear, and the thought of standing exposed to a Jedi who might see her more plainly than she dared allow. Her time with Abarai Loki had already sobered her to the possibility that the Jedi weren't simply benign charlatans with an understanding of practical trickery.

Still, Rai'faani wouldn't outwardly show it. Perhaps the Jedi could squeeze that from her brain like oil from a stonefish liver, but she'd never volunteer it. She would maintain her reputation.

"Commanderr," she at last replied with a slightly-exaggerated patrician tone to her voice, "one dajy, jI wjill be Barronesss. jI won't arrrjive to that moment becausse of half meassurress."

Her head turned to regard him squarely.

"We made an agrreement."

[Q. Samus Dage]

She had admirable resolve, I had to give her that. She also had a limitless wardrobe, it seemed. Nothing really too out of the ordinary I suppose, for someone as intent on showing material wealth. I knew it was what she'd grown up in and around, and to be honest I really hoped that this little trip would begin to wean her off of that dependence. She had to have trust in only one thing - herself. And maybe a few others, but when it came down to the wire? Only one she could trust would be her own insides and whatever she'd made for... and of... herself. I'm not exactly a poetical guy, which is probably a good thing. I'm much better with the old school do-it-yourself ways of bulling through life. And gods have mercy on us, but Orto Plutonia was as much of a crucible as any for Raifa.

I'd not talked to Phrexus since he left, but I'd heard stories from some of the other commandos. Some said he'd gone mad, others that he lived with Force ghosts. I'd never asked the Old Girl about that last one, figuring it would be best to not be 'that guy'. I mean, it's not like a spirit hadn't ever been disproven, right? The Force was nuts, and it made folks do some pretty messed up shit, but hells. Not all of us are meant to be diviners, so we just rely on those that are. To an extent, at least.

And if that mad Besalisk chose to live with leftover fairies and little smoke spirits from way back, then all the more power to him.

I much preferred to be around things that breathed.


But back to Raifa.

She had the beginnings of steel in her spine, I'll give her that.

"We did," I nodded.

For want of anything better to do with my hands, I stuffed them into the front pockets of my duty trousers.

"Gonna stay with an old... friend. Me an' the Captain used to serve with him, 'till he decided to retire. Now he lives in one of the old bases from the Civil War."

I really couldn't help the smirk; it sorta came on without my permission.

"No cooks, bedmakers, or big wardrobes. What you go down there with is what you've got until we're picked up."

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

He was winding the air for any inkling of hesitation or doubt - indications that, even if present, Rai'faani was determined not to air in this place. So when he baited her with the distinct lack of amenities Orto Plutonia had in store for them, the heiress coolly invited him to dine on ashes.

"Frrom the ssound of jit then, jyourr frrjiend hass chossen a poorr locatjion to rretjirre. At leasst jyou can be cerrtajin jI'll be no worrsse forr wearr on account of the lack of a cook."

[Q. Samus Dage]

She was being brave in the face of it all, and I had to give her props for that. Was I looking for some form of regret? I suppose not, I just wanted her to know exactly what she was getting from me.

Mr. Rahgus' voice cut into the air around us before I had a chance to respond.

"Entering orbital position now, Captain. We'll be ready for shuttle debarkation in five minutes."

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

From her seat, s'Il looked up from the datapad she'd been reading, letting her gaze take in the serene planetary orb before them on the wide viewscreen. Last time she'd been here, it had been a mad rush to evacuate, shuttles and transports scattering up into space like a myriad of fleeing insects. She'd been on one of them.

And in the back of her mind, she could still hear Dan's words of encouragement, that they'd not really been beaten, and that they would make right the wrongs that'd been done to them all. That they would take their revenge on the Empire for the slaughter endured here.

She let out a long breath.

"Thank you, Mr. Rahgus."

The 'pad was set on the armrest then, and the Lupine rose to her feet. She tugged at the lower hem of her tunic, but made no effort to step any further. Her voice rose however, to address the two standing on the catwalk.

"Whatever it is the two of you hope to find down there," she let her hands rest at her sides for only a moment before moving them, fingers coming together at the small of her back.

Samus had half-turned to face her.

"... I hope that you find it."

She went on.

"Rrou'ani Meorrrei, I wish you luck."

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

If Captain s'Ilancy was indeed peering past the veil into the middle of her, she at least wasn't making her discovery known. So maybe it was honesty or maybe it was charade, and it didn't matter any more than it would among aristocrats back home. Rai'faani clasped her hands in front of her.

"jI wjill be cerrtajin to let mjy motherr know jyou have been a help to me. We both apprrecjiate ourr frrjiendss, Captajin."

Courtesy that says everything and nothing. Rai'faani bowed her head by the slightest of deferential degrees. She then turned her attention to Dage.

"Afterr jyou, arr'uhaai."

[Jeremy Varin]

* * *


His shuttle touched down with the barest of whispers on the old, snow-swept landing pad of a forgotten Rebel outpost from at least a lifetime ago. He'd never heard of the place, but then again that wasn't anything to be surprised over. There were probably a host of other places he'd not known about that had at one time or another been 'home' to the old Rebel Alliance. He wouldn't be shocked in the least if at least three quarters of the known planets in the entire galaxy had once housed a cell or two. It really was just one of those things that the Empire had a knack for creating - people that chafed beneath its' bootheel and decided to do something about it.

From the comfort of his pilot's perch, Jeremy feathered the engines so that their landing was as light as possible - a habit he'd picked up from having to ferry about the Captain, and it seemed to carry over into every other transport job he'd been assigned to.

"Looks a bit too cold for me, Commander."

Frankly, Jeremy was more than happy to stay right where he was. Communicating via the internal comm system only meant he wouldn't have to be exposed to the cold when the nose ramp descended.

"Not sure I'd choose the same vacation spot, I gotta say."

[Q. Samus Dage]

Varin was a decent enough guy, for someone who'd once been a TIE pilot. At least, that's all I'd ever been able to get out of the man. I really didn't care too awful much, so long as he did his job and didn't vent folks out into space. Guess that was a healthy concern, when the man who took you down to a planet used to be the same one that wouldn't think twice about shooting you out into vacuum.

Perspective. s'Il always said it was a matter of perspective, and in a way she was right. But, I also didn't have that same sort of extra sense she did, so I was left to operate within my own perimeters. The Force was one of those things that I respected, but I also knew that it made people do things. Things that were wrong. I trusted the Old Girl, but not like I once used to. And I know that it hadn't exactly been the Force that made her into the monster she'd been, but rather... well, I'll be honest. It was Dan.

Now that was a son of a bitch.

Had all of us strung along.

Hells, even the thought of him made me angry, and I could taste a hint of bile in the back of my throat.

Ok, enough thinking about that asshole.

We were landed, and Jeremy was talking. Probably would be good to answer, but in a way this was Raifa's show. It was up to her to answer.

I slowly undid my crashstraps, stretching a bit while rising to stand.

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

If one could derive temperature from a glance, Orto Plutonia was frigid. Of course it was white with snow and ice, just like Taltimant was. But Taltimant had peaks and valleys, and green spaces that sprung from wind breaks and provided their own cover. Orto Plutonia's frozen landscape was scraped over by a howling bluster that seemed to whip half the ice and snow into the air in a perpetual suspension, bleaching out the features of the world in the distance to formless profiles in cool blue. Rai'faani caught herself in the midst of a psychosomatic shiver in time to play it off in the face of the pilot's commentary. She unbuckled her crash webbing, rolling her shoulders as she stood in a stretch.

"Havjing ssomeone to ssleep next to tendss to take the chjill out of the ajirr."

[Jeremy Varin]

He chuckled over the intercom, but chose to say nothing in response. He wasn't about to test his luck, no matter how much fun he was certain he'd have with a girl who looked as... bendy... as Ms. Meorrrei. And lords help him his imagination was an active one. Not that it needed much help.

Still though, Commander Dage seemed to take on a certain role with the young woman, and Jeremy wasn't about to test his boundaries.

"Well, all of that aside," it was obvious he wasn't about to leave the comforting warmth of his cockpit any time soon, "... I'm sure the heaters in those old barracks will keep a body warm enough."

[Q. Samus Dage]

I gave a little hrmph, not interested in the direction that Raifa's words tended to track along.

Instead, I focused on ambling my way to the lockers, pulling the nearest one open and jerking out my old groundpounder duffel. I hadn't used it in years; maybe decades? Ever since we got that old Marauder Corvette the need for such things kinda fell to the wayside. Some boys dumped theirs at the nearest depot point, but I kept a hold on mine. Me an' Kori both did. We made a bet once, after drinking two bottles of high-class Rodian bourbon - first one to lose theirs had to buy the other a lady-friend for a week. We never got to finish it, since... well... you know.

Just another thing that that rat-bastard Dan had ruined.

Though I guess in the end - maybe even from the grave - Kori had done made sure I was on that stop to Jovan. Made sure I was good and hungry when I ran into T'yeellaa. Talk about doing your best friend a solid. And from beyond the grave, too.

The locker was slammed shut; old habits.

"Try not to bed every swinging dick that comes across your way," I couldn't help but grumble in her direction.

"Because frankly, you should be more worried about the cold making your nipples fall off than what you can get twixt those legs of yours."

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

"Oh, do rrelax," Rai droned as she tugged her own luggage free from the stowage for possibly the first time in her life, "jI thjink jI can manage a few dajyss jin the tundrra wjithout havjing to rrjide ssomethjing prrettjy."

But just to twist the knife, she glanced over her shoulder with perked ears.

"Although, thjiss wjill be ourr ssecond rretrreat togetherr. Majybe jI'll lajy jyou down on a wampa-sskjin rrug bjy the fjirre...afterr jI kjill jit wjith mjy barre handss, of courrsse."

[Q. Samus Dage]

"And ruin that fancy nail paint you got going on there?"

I made a half-gesture at her while slinging my duffel up onto my shoulders.

Varin was mindful enough to begin the process of lowering the nose-ramp, and I slowly trekked the short distance to stand patiently at the apex. No reason to rush the experience of feeling the cold here.

"How about we make sure that our berth is livable first, eh?"

[Phrexus Krale]

He'd gotten the message a few days prior.

He hated messages. He hated outside contact.

But, this had been from Samus, and grudgingly he'd suffered through the missive.

Help some spoiled rich girl learn how to live on her own. Help her to survive. Help her to learn how to kill. To live her own life, he surmised from his own interpretation. He'd grunted to the empty air around him at the time - Krags and Sykes gone for the afternoon. Something about gathering supplies. He'd not asked, and they'd not said anything beyond their intentions. Besides - what was he going to do... stop them? They did just as he did - exactly whatever they wanted.

The old base had been cleaned up for the most part, the barracks ordered and made livable. The old rec room wasn't too much, seeing as how it was a bitch to get good reception out here. Standard Holonet channels only. The old Warstocks room was still there, refilled from his own dime. No one really asked questions, which was good. He'd even made sure to take care of a few potted plants; not the same as the damn plants that Dan's one-eyed wolf-witch insisted on having about, but plants regardless. Made it seem more homey and... and right.

Crazy Jedi and their crazy needs.

Krags hated the plants, and Sykes hated the countless clocks on the back of the main entry foyer's back wall. Something about how knowing the times of most of the important galactic time zones was maddening. It was always an exercise to maintain the peace.

At least with Krags and Sykes it was relatively normal fare. Nanti... well hells. Nanti just hated everything. And it was a deep hate; an evil hate. A thing that Phrexus had to wonder was rooted in the Dark Side. He was fairly certain that Nanti had no idea about connecting the Force - let alone the Dark Side of it. Still though, it sometimes made the old Besalisk wonder. Some of the things that he'd seen Nanti do...



In the late afternoon, standing at the yawning doorway of his home's hangar, Phrexus Krale felt himself frowning. Guests weren't really his thing, but Samus had asked. Asked nicely.

Wrapped in a layered taun-taun pelt, the Besalisk watched as the nu-class shuttle settled itself onto the outside tarmac.

Moments later, the nose was lowering, and Phrexus let his scowl deepen.

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

The view had only hinted to the reality, and Rai's breath escaped her lips at the first blast of icy chill in the wind. Goddess, this was cold. The heiress resisted the urge to hug her arms around her middle, but her hands certainly clenched into fists and retreated slightly into the oversized fur-lined sleeves of her parka. She curled her tail close around her waist, taking effort to tuck it under the jacket's hemline for a degree of protection.

Sure, she'd probably felt this cold before on Taltimant, but back at the lodge, a fire and a cup of mocoa was an hour away - or two hours tops. Likely no such luck here, and Rai's tempered pride wasn't about to ask for it and give Samus an ounce of leverage on her. Of course, he was loping forward in the gale on his long legs, leaving her several strides behind. Rai quickly made up the distance, chopping her feet in short, quick steps until she stood abreast.

Ahead, she spotted a figure half-obscured by the wintry haze of blowing snow. Even from this distance, she could tell that Dage's friend wasn't humanoid, and didn't appear to be all that easy on the eyes. She choked up her grip on the straps of her rucksack, shifting the weight with a steamy grunt.

[Phrexus Krale]

The two figures drew closer, and Phrexus made out the familiar body shape of Samus Dage. The tall, lanky Myomarian was a decent fighter when it came down to it, and he'd been proud to serve alongside the man. He also remembered Kori, and how the two Myomarians had been as constant as the twin suns of Tatooine. Shame about Marlon. Samus had sent a comm, explaining what'd happened, but not really going into too much detail. Didn't really need to, when it came down to death.

The second body coming near was one he didn't recognize, and his eyes narrowed to slits as he felt one of his hands ball up into a tight fist, still in the warm confines of the pockets that he'd stuffed all four hands into.

His hood was padded on the inside with wampa hide, the white fur lining his face, and Phrexus let out a grunt as the two came close enough to hear.

"Didn't think you'd actually show," came the growled words.

He half-turned, gesturing with a nodded head to the interior of the mostly-empty bay. Two CUC-S's* were parked, one of them held aloft by two three-ton lift winches, the repulser coils having been pulled out and laid out directly beneath it. A bank of aging toolboxes ran along the far wall, along with workbenches and a smattering of tools that he'd not put away. In the back corner rested an old TX-225 GAVw 'Occupier' combat assault tank that had certainly seen better days. A pair of CK-6 swoop bikes sat dormant beside the tank, their hulls battered, but it was easy to tell that they were serviceable and often used.

"Go in."















*Commercial Utility Cargo Speeder

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

Didn't think you'd actually show.

The comment annoyed the heiress, who cut her eyes towards Samus. He'd surely been the genesis of it, passing an undeserved reputation to this gruff-faced alien about her level of commitment. From Samus, it would have simply been the usual frontierish sass, but Rai bristled at the way this newcomer discounted her.

There wasn't any time to rectify it, however. Not to her liking, at any rate. The besalisk ushered them into the camp, leaving Rai with nothing to chew on but the gristle of her wounded ego. She'd find time to set this creature right, but then again, she wasn't here to salvage her own maligned feelings. There was work to be done, and she was serious about doing it.

[Q. Samus Dage]

In a rare moment of misinterpretation, Samus took her side-eye as the opposite of what she'd intended.

They passed into the bay area, following Phrexus past the vehicles he had stored.

"I told him I'd visit for his birthing day," his own ruck was hitched up a little higher on his shoulder, a free hand moving to unclasp the top button of his cold-weather jacket.

They stepped through an open doorway into a dimly lit corridor, the Besalisk still in the lead.

"... and I... well," a helpless shrug, "...I forgot."

[Phrexus Krale]

Phrexus gave a throaty growl, continuing forward.

"No-good Myomarian," he grumbled in confirmation, "... didn't even send a card. I thought you backwoods sorts excelled in those old rituals."

He led the way through another door, this one leading them all into a stairwell that went down.

"Guess I was wrong."

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

"jI djidn't rrealjize jI'd be sspendjing mjy tjime wjith an old mated couple," Rai droned, glancing to each of her escorts with an unimpressed flattening of her ears.

"Pleasse ssparre me the warr ssstorrjiess of the tjime when jyou ssharred a foxhole and jit wass too cold to be alone. jI've rread that one, and jit wass trrasshjy the fjirrsst tjime."

[Phrexus Krale]

Heading downward, Phrexus only offered a grunt. Two of his hands moved up to begin unfastening the hasps of his overcloak as he walked, a gait that demanding a body keep up.

"Ain't that way, girl."

He pushed through another door, this one leading into another corridor, though now the temperature had considerably warmed and his outer layer was pulled completely off to reveal a surprisingly chiseled form; rather than the normal gut that those of his species developed in their old age, Phrexus Krale had maintained a trim, fighting figure. His aged BDU's clothed a solid rock of a body.

"I'd recommend you start reading better novels if that's the sort of chatter you intend on starting out with."

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

"jI don't carre forr novelss, rrealljy." Rai coolly deflected, drawing her parka back to shake her hair free. It was utilitarian movement, and she quickly pushed her shoulder-length locks behind her ears.

"jI'm morre jinterressted jin prractjical rreadjing, and otherr prractjical thjingss. jI'm ssurre Ssamuss hass gjiven jyou the detajilss alrreadjy."

She glanced to the human, interested in exactly what measure he'd seasoned his explanation to the Besalisk. She still didn't fully understand his reluctance to handle her training himself.

[Q. Samus Dage]

"I said you wanted to learn how to take care of yourself," he spoke up, shedding his own thick overcoat.

As the hallway ended in yet another door, he went on.

"No need for flowery existential silliness."

Letting the coat slide from his shoulders, Samus stepped out into an open receiving area as he draped the outer clothing layer over one arm. To the left stood a pair of double doors, and to the right was a familiar wall that separated the common area from what had once been an old rec area that'd doubled as a mess hall. He remembered well enough the layout of the old base; one floor up was another level of barracks, and 'toyland', the old term they'd come to use whenever talking about the armory. A level below was where the heavy munitions had been kept, as well as the old warfighter tunnels. Those led to a buried motor pool that'd been blown to pieces during their evacuation.

He doubted that even Phrexus had the patience to dig it out of the snow after so long.

"He knows you're not here for a vacation," he further confirmed.

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

Samus was digging a hole for himself with his words. Flowery existential silliness? She hadn't a notion what he was on about, and it wouldn't do any good to take a swipe at the bait. Instead, she soldiered on with her ruck, opting to keep her parka on her shoulders if only because it would be more cumbersome to carry her luggage otherwise. Still, the weight of the pack was more than she was used to. The Heiress grunted, shifting the bulk again over her shoulder.

"Well, that'ss cerrtajinljy not the casse. jI don't rrememberr the lasst tjime that jI carrrjied mjy own luggage."

She paused with the others, taking a glance at the multiple doors at the corridor intersection.

"What jiss thjiss place, anjywajy?"

[Phrexus Krale]

"An old place," Phrexus grunted the short answer.

He bulled through the doors to the rec room, heavy metal slabs that had durracrete and gavra-lead cores. They could withstand a thermal detonator, and had on at least one occasion. Inside the spacious room, a pair of tables had been set up, and a few old sofa sets lined one of the far walls. They were simple pieces of furniture, their upholstery faded in spots and worn smooth in others from years of use. A hutch to the right, an old weapons locker to the left; each one scuffed and scratched. There was a heavy-duty coat rack beside the locker, which the Besalisk now hung his hide overcloak on.

"Leave your gear by the door," he went on, voice full of grit and gravel.

A sectioned off corner, in the back of the room, had been turned into a kitchen of sorts. An upright cooler unit, polished metal countertops, an industrial-sized gas oven... everything a body needed to prepare at least the basic essentials of a meal. It was this area that he tromped into now. A sliding pantry door was opened, and three boxes were pulled down from one of the shelves.

"We can get to your rooms later. Right now it's lunch."

One of the boxes, an Alliance-issued MRE, was tossed onto the counter. The second, he held up for the girl to see.

"Is Cizerack," he intoned, making sure to hold the box in such a way that she could see the glyphs of her native tongue.

"Kaalowai Ala Queen," and without ceremony that box too was dropped to the counter.

"Eat."

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

Rai'faani unburdened her shoulder of the ruck she carried, taking a brief moment to massage the spot the strap had rested on before she shook out of her parka. The ruck was tipped against the wall where instructed, and she hung her coat on the little space afforded by the space-hogging Besalisk clothing item.

Phrexus returned with his parcels, and the Heiress inspected the Kaalowai Ala Queen with skepticism before taking a seat. She knew that military rations existed in about the same way that she knew quasars existed - purely on a secondhand basis. Most starships carried them in the event of an emergency to provide in the event that fresh or live food was unavailable. That was the extent of her knowledge. Therefore, it was a rude awakening when Rai carefully clawed away the flimsplast cover on one of the food cartons, revealing a form-pressed bolus of protein slicked with oily residue. She took a careful sniff, and immediately withdrew a few inches to safe distance, fixing the dreadful concoction before her with a look of metered disgust.

"jI'm not hungrrjy."

Which was a lie, but a conditional one. She could certainly eat, but under no circumstance would she eat whatever this was.

[Q. Samus Dage]

His own gear stowed for the time being, Samus sauntered his way to the counter, palming the unopened box of barely-food. It sure wasn't Idiri's cooking, but it would do. It was fuel, nothing more nothing less. And while he'd become somewhat spoiled on the Kaleesh woman's cooking, he also knew when vacuum-packed - he gave a quick look to the aurebesh - Zuunbury Steak, was a necessary evil.

Sitting down heavily at the table next to Raifa, he tore open his own box. Out came the 'steak', followed by a mint, tuber-wafers, a stick of gum, a packet of sugar-preserved namana chunks, and a small pouch of 'sauce'.

"Best eat anyway," he tried to encourage.

"Out here, your body is a machine, and food is the fuel for that machine. These things -" he tore open the plastic holding the wafers, breaking them into quarters before popping one into his mouth and moving on to the fruit.

"- they're not great, but they'll keep you alive."

[Phrexus Krale]

For his own part, Phrexus pulled apart his own packed lunch. For himself, he didn't really care what he ended up with. It was all necessary and filled his stomach; it put energy to his muscles and kept him moving. The cardboard was pulled away to reveal a sealed bit of plastic pouch containing what was supposed to be the main meal. Nuna chili with rice and tuber paste. The sides were a small buiberry and nut bar, a stick of chewing gum, a mint, and air crackers. The gum he saved for Nanti, though the ingrate never seemed to want it, and so the bowl on the counter beside the cooling unit had grown full-to-overflowing. Hells, he'd even thrown a few of the offending sticks away since there wasn't much room left in Nanti's gum bowl.

At Samus' explanation he gave a customary grunt, and a single nod of his head that turned into a rolling motion, cracking the bones of his neck in the process.

"Can't afford fine dining when you're out here, Girl."

A fingertip tore open the chili packet, and he shoved a thin metal spoon into its' unseen depths. stirring.

"Maybe tonight you can go out and get yourself some wild animal to feast on, but if you don't eat now, you won't make it back from that hunting trip."

He spooned out a measure of chili slop with a single, rather small chunk of nuna, not even staring at it before shoving it into his mouth. It went down quickly, and another spoonful was shoveled into his maw. The third spoonful was dispatched in much the same way, but the fourth was pulled up and out, and held it at eye level. His gaze focusing on her.

"Fuel."

It disappeared like the rest, and he sent his full attentions to his lunch, his last word a repeated rumble of his previous instruction.

"Eat."

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

The heiress pressed her lips into a thin line, drifting her eyes from Phrexus back to the embalmed thing stewing in the carton in front of her. There was no amount of digging heels that would get her out of this. Worse still, they both were right. This wasn't a vacation, and she'd come here for a reason. She'd be damned if she left this frozen waste with her tail between her legs on account of going hungry.

Still, there was confronting that truth, and then there was eating it. Rai figured that the more she spent dreading the moment, the worse it would be, so she snatched up the vacuum-formed cutlet and snapped a brusque bite into it. Immediately, she felt a strong urge to spit her mouthful back into the carton. The protein was salty and mealy, seeming to turn to wet sawdust with every chew. Her jaw tensed, and her eyes watered. Rai took a heavy gulp to finally heave it down, and swished down half of a water bottle to chase it. Her eyes averted both Samus and Phrexus, and she simply worked in silence, forcing another mouthful under duress and repeating the ritual again and again.

[Q. Samus Dage]

With one hand wrapped protectively around his own meal, the blonde tore into his 'steak with the vigor of a starved man. Old habits died hard, and mealtime in a place with so many memories attached to it seemed to bring out a bit more of the primal instincts bred by so many years of being in the Rebellion. He guarded his food, all while relentlessly shoveling it into his mouth at a concerning speed.

The sauce packet looked as though it'd been torn into pieces before its' contents had been smeared on the main entree.

Quick, darting eyes spied a small pack of unopened freeze-dried spicy wei'aashi peas that Raifa had dug out of her own box, and quick as a whipsnake he reached out. Greedy fingers snatched it up and away, only to deposit the packet within the safety of his sentinel-like arm. He'd had the little things once when he and T'yeellaa had gone out for dinner, and they'd actually been quite tasty. Of course he was certain that the military touch had made them a bit less than appetizing, but he wanted to give them a try anyway.

He swallowed the last of his 'steak' and oozing sauce, let out a slight hiccup, then set into the peas as though they'd been his all along.

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

The dinner table thievery elicited an immediate response as Rai'faani draped a sauce-grubby hand over Samus's wrist. Her claws extended to the point of being felt, but not so far as to break skin. With the back of her free hand, the heiress wiped her lips clean.

"Thosse arre mjine."

It had ceased to matter how abominable the food was. Rai'faani was sure that ration-grade wei'aashi was as execrable as the entree, but it was now about fundamentals and boundaries. She wasn't going to let Dage cross over hers without pushback.

[Q. Samus Dage]

A snort, and Samus shook his hand free before popping one of the peas into his mouth.

"Guard your food," he said simply, "... or else it'll get stolen."

Still his free arm remained around his small amount of boxed food, and reaching over with his other, he shoved Raifa further away down the length of the bench seating.

"Remember that next time."

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

The moment Samus pushed her, something white-hot snapped in Rai's chest. She clamped down fully with her opposite hand over the one Samus used to shove her along. This time her claws definitely bit. Rai's eyes were cobalt fire, and she could feel heat surging in the tips of her ears as she squeezed Samus's hand with all her might.

"Gjive. Them. Back."

[Q. Samus Dage]

If he was surprised at her reaction, he certainly didn't show it. In fact, there wasn't even an eye twitch when her claws came into play. Maybe it was the fact that his tolerance had grown since his time with T'yeellaa? Either way, he gave not an inch in the face of her order.

[Phrexus Krale]

A harsh laugh sounded out as he watched the two, and the Besalisk skirted around the counter edge, his chili finished. One half of the buiberry nut bar had disappeared behind his teeth, the other half still held in hand.

"Best get used to thieves when it comes to chow time, Girl."

Moving to sit on the opposite side of the Cizerack, Phrexus let his bulk rock the bench, creaking protests from the aged metal and wood construction following his settling weight. One of his arms snaked around her back to roughly grab the bag of peas from Samus' hand, and he jerked them away before dropping them in front of her. Samus didn't really protest, only giving a shrug as he was still held in her no doubt prickly grasp.

"Arms around your food," a hand gripped one of her wrists and guided it around the scattered bits of her box, "... like this."

The rest of the nut bar was popped into his mouth, and he didn't even swallow before going on.

"Eat fast, and protect what's yours."

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

The hard-eyed stare remained on Samus for a moment longer, then Rai relented. Her claws withdrew into fingertips as she released her hold on his hand. She pecked out a handful of peas from the sachet with her bloodied fingers, pushing them through her lips without ceremony and with just enough pause to chew and swallow. She manned the ramparts as she ate and swigged water. When she perceived Samus drifting too close again, her tail swatted him across the back.

[Phrexus Krale]

Another rumble of amused laughter, as Phrexus leaned back slightly to give a harder shove to Samus, roughly pushing him further away from the Girl.

"She's wise to you, Myomarian," he angled his head to elicit an audible crack from his neck.

"Quick study, this one. Quicker than the one-eyed wolf woman, even."

A crashing came from the floor above, followed by drifting laughter and a clatter of footfalls that faded into the distance. Ignoring the sound, Phrexus huffed out a breath from his nose as his features shifted into a sideways look at the Cizerack. He gave an uncharacteristic wink

"That one... I had to bloody her nose and black her eye before she learned."

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

Now it was Phrexus who caught a wary gaze. Rai drank eagerly the last gulps of water in her bottle to push the last glue-like bolus of rations down her throat and hopefully banish the offensive aftertaste. The only thing that broke her attention were the sounds from above. Sensitive Cizeri ears twitched and triangulated upwards, followed a moment later by eyes tracking the sound to the tiles above. The noise subsided, and the heiress returned her attention to the besalisk as her ears lowered towards him.

"jI thought we werre to be alone. Who jiss above uss?"

[Phrexus Krale]

He grunted a partial-answer, letting his gaze track back to the countertop and his mug of water.

"Sykes most likely."

A hand came up to wave away the admission.

"You won't see her, probably. She's one of those private types. Too much time in the field; doesn't trust anyone really."

"But Sykes- "

His eyes snapped back to Samus, who was now staring at him with a healthy amount of incredulous worry. It was a hard look, allowing no argument.

"She's here, just shy."

[Q. Samus Dage]

The bit of cracker that he still held, halfway to his mouth, seemed to lower by a fraction.

Locked in a stare with the Besalisk, Samus couldn't help the beginnings of a deepset frown. His eyes searched for any note of wavering sanity, but there was none in the serious visage of Phrexus' features.

The cracker was laid to rest on the table.

Kasara Sykes had died during the Malastare offensive.

Fifteen or so years ago.

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

There was still a sheen of sauce left behind in Rai's carton, but she'd suffered enough. She pushed the container away towards the middle of the table as she observed the interplay between Samus and the besalisk. There was something being left unsaid here, but she couldn't make sense of what that might be.

"Ssjykess jissn't the onljy one herre who valuess thejirr prrjivacjy. Wherre arre mjy quarrterrss?"

[Phrexus Krale]

For another moment longer he held Samus' gaze, his own eyes hard and unwavering. A moment later he pushed away from the table, lumbering up to his feet.

"Yes."

He waved away the remnants of lunch, the motion shifting into a gesture for the two to follow him as his long strides took him across the rec room, to the doors.

"This way."

[Q. Samus Dage]

There was of course more that he wanted to say, but Phrexus had moved on, and Samus only let out a string of unintelligible grumblings as he too rose. Each small packet and pouch was stuffed unceremoniously into the main box, which was taken up without a second though. A refuse bin sat beside the counter, and he tossed the garbage inside before following the Besalisk.

His previous light-hearted attitude had significantly soured, and taking up his ruck, the rangy blonde grabbed Raifa' as well, his mind clearly not on his actions.

He let Phrexus lead the way out, across the open common area, and through the double doors on the far side. Another corridor stretched out in front of them. He knew well enough that each door down the way led into small bunk rooms, but it was up to their host which ones they would be staying in.

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

Rai's eyes cut sideways as Samus drew up alongside her.

"jI can take that."

Clearly something heavy was on the human's mind, otherwise he would never have shouldered her luggage like he was some Calanic catamite. It all pointed to the last bit of awkward conversation revolving around Sykes. The heiress placed her hand on the luggage strap, and withdrew it the moment she felt unexpected dampness and tackiness. She turned her hand over to find her fingers were wet with red.

"Quentjin Ssamuss, jyou'rre bleedjing on mjy bag. Sstop. Gjive jit to me."

[Q. Samus Dage]

Her voice and its' distinctly perturbed tone pierced through the fog of his previous thoughts, and Samus blinked. He looked over and down, at her efforts to take back her ruck, and the slick covering of red blood that was now covering a portion of the strap.

"Oh... "

Another blink, as Phrexus ground to a halt, one meaty hand going out to turn the doorknob of the second door they'd come to.

The blonde used the moment to let Raifa take back what was her.

"Sorry."

His hand now free, he gave it a shake, as if by doing so he'd rid himself of the red sheen smeared over his wrist and fingers.

"One of you in here," Phrexus gave a passing gesture to the now-open doorway, then turned to send another hand out, pointing to the door across the hall.

"... the other in there."

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

"Arr'u fjirrsst." Rai deferred in a sliver of courtly etiquette, gesturing from Samus to the first door. She took no further notice of the stained condition of her ruck, instead pointedly making eye contact with the human in another attempt to glean some meaning in his unease.

When none could be found, the heiress took two steps back toward Phrexus, then followed his second gesture to the door across the hall. She paused, looking back at Samus again, before keying her door open and passing through the threshold.

[Q. Samus Dage]

He'd not even really acknowledged her sudden propensity for niceness. She'd demanded he take the first room presented, and he had. Did it really matter? Perhaps? In the back of his mind there was a small voice that said her deference was uncharacteristic, yet the very much larger voice that drowned it out was screaming at him. That he had misjudged the old Besalisk; had made a grave tactical error in judgement.

That larger voice was now pounding in his head like a hammer, telling him that he'd made the biggest mistake of his life. He'd brought himself and T'yeellaa's sister to the home of an old soldier driven mad by years in battle.

Dropping his ruck, Samus scowled deeply, moving to the lockers and opening the second one up. It had a full set of cold-weather gear; boots, pants, and a jacket. A sowmask hung from the top, waiting to be pulled off its' hook and slapped onto the face of the dumbest 'cruit duped into the old 'rakku hunt' prank.

He closed it back up, then turned to Phrexus, a hard glint in his eye.

[Phrexus Krale]

The Girl had gone into the opposite room, and Phrexus took a step inside, closer to Samus. He continued on, bulling past the blonde with a rough shoulder.

"Ain't dumb," Samus," he growled low so that none but the two in the room could hear.

"I know when Sykes went. I know she took a bolt through her neck, and that she was dead before she hit the ground."

The Besalisk still felt responsible for the loss of his friends' life, and the pain was an underscore to the sidelong look he now sent the lanky blonde Myomarian.

"Got me a Jakobeast. Keep her upstairs, named her Sykes."

He halfway sat on the sturdy metal desk that was on the sidewall, one pair of arms rising to cross over his chest. His chin lifted, exposing the top of a scar that - while old - was no less terrible looking than the few days after he'd gotten it.

"Still got my sanity, if that's what you're concerned over."

[Q. Samus Dage]

A still-cautious look was sent to Phrexus, and Samus picked his ruck back up, only to shift it over to fall onto the available bunk. It was a thin mattress, made up with clean sheets and two woolen blankets with another two folded neatly at the foot of the bed. The pillow sat atop those, and with a grunt that signaled he had heard the words spoken, he roughly undid the wide leather straps before pulling on the zipper.

"Those things aren't exactly ideal pets, you lunatic."

The old commando only gave a shrug that spoke volumes about how much he cared for Samus' assessment, and to his credit the blonde reigned himself in enough to not start throwing punches. Phrexus Krale had a well-earned reputation for breaking arms, bloodying noses, and just generally turning those who picked fights with him into sad sacks of sobbing messes.

Instead, he settled for falling back to old habits and half-growled words.

"You got the whiskey in the usual places?"

[Phrexus Krale]

He knew what Samus was thinking, and what made him stop from lifting a hand. It was enough to make him grin, lips pulling back to expose his teeth.

At the question, Phrexus let a hand drop, his waist bending slightly as he tapped the bottom drawer of the desk. It slid open at his touch to reveal four bottles of the cheapest, bottom-shelf whiskey - two bottles of Old Ithorian, and two bottles of Fighting Mynock.

"I keep the good stuff locked up, so you can put to bed any notions of stealing my Palpy Van Wrinkle."

A long breath was let out then, and he pushed away from the desk.

"Get settled. If you need me," he started for the door, heavy footfalls signalling his departure.

"... I'll be in the bay working on my tank."

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

A few minutes after Phrexus left, a soft knock sounded on Samus's door. Rai leaned halfway against the frame, waiting for the human to respond.

[Q. Samus Dage]

Sat at the desk, Samus had liberated one of the bottles of Old Ithorian. He'd made it as far as unscrewing the cap and taking a single, first pull when the knock sounded. He swallowed, feeling the angry fire that blazed an unforgiving trail down his throat.

"It's open," he coughed slightly, setting the bottle back down while leaning back in the simple wood and metal chair.

Everything here was as it had been all those years ago, and he couldn't help the blanket of nostalgia that he now wrapped himself comfortably in. All he needed now was an old pack of unfiltered Rebel Strikes and a lingering bout of snow-cough.

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

Rai entered the room holding a small medical kit. She turned it over in her hands, as if considering what to do, before tossing it to Samus.

"Herre."

[Q. Samus Dage]

One hand let go of the bottle's neck to rise up, fingers closing around the small medkit she tossed to him.

It was brought down into his lap with little fanfare, and he looked at it momentarily before his hand abandoned it in favor of the bottle.

A grunted 'thanks' was her only answer, and he took another swig. Wiping his mouth with a swipe of his sleeve, he finally angled his eyes to look at her.

There was a sigh, and he once more focused on her 'gift', shifting it up and onto the desk. A nimble flick unlocked the hasp, and the hardcase flipped open to reveal the standard fare; a handful of individual kolto packets, some gauze, individually packaged alcohol pads, a small bottle of disinfectant, adhesive patches, a small sewing kit for stitches, a small plastic baggie full of cotton balls and cotton swabs, extra dressings, eye wash, and plastic gloves. It was all standard.

"A surprising show of thoughtfulness," he acknowledged as he began to dig into the case's contents.

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

"jI don't want jit gettjing jinfected." She explained herself plainly, ears pushing down to a neutral angle. Her weight rocked from heels to toes before her tail switched.

"jIt'ss about ssurrvjival, rrjight?"

[Q. Samus Dage]

"That it is."

His grumbled words were pushed out as he pulled out a few slim packets of kolto, some alcohol rub, and a thin gauze pad.

He gave a nod to the opened bottle.

"Drink's on me, if you want it. It isn't the best; hell, it's about the worst thing I've ever had, but it will keep your belly warm."

His attentions returned to the task at hand then, and tearing open the small alcohol pad packaging, pulled the wisp of rubbing wipe out. A half-second later and he was scrubbing at the red mess that made up his hand.

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

She deferred with a wave of her hand.

"No thank you."

There wasn't a point to be proved here. She was hardly a temperate person, but she was ruthless enough to know when sobriety benefited her.

"Arre jyou gojing to tell me what'ss gojing on?"

Simple and direct. Spoken without force or implication. Again, Rai'faani projected little emotion to spice her words.

[Q. Samus Dage]

Wiping away the blood, Samus moved on to the kolto, and he twisted open one of the thin packets with ease before squeezing out a small bit onto his wrist.

"Right now? Not much."

He frowned at the sensation that cream was causing as it mingled into the small puncture spots. It wasn't enough to make him grumble, but rather more of an annoying sting that sent bursts of quick pain through his nerves.

"I don't really recommend going exploring upstairs though. Seems our host has taken it upon himself to adopt a jakobeast."

The packet was dropped to the desk.

"Named it after a dead friend."

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

Rai had no idea what a jakobeast was, but the way Samus framed it, it didn't sound friendly. But that was secondary. Her nostrils flared slightly in the half-admission.

"Sso that explajinss Ssjykess."

What it didn't explain was that something here had caught Samus by surprise.

"Ourr hosst jiss a pssychopath. That wassn't parrt of jyourr plan, wass jit?"

[Q. Samus Dage]

Her estimation of their circumstances here now was not exactly in keeping with his own, but only by virtue of his past experiences with Krale. He didn't figure the old commando for a psychopath, only someone that had been on his own for a bit longer than was safe.

"Not a psychopath, no. His judgement is peculiar, though."

He reached for the bandage wrap.

"He won't let us die, if that's what you're thinking. I still trust that old soldier with my life; he's saved it on more than one occasion."

The plastic wrapping over the roll was torn away.

"As for my plan, I'm not too worried over it. Having a jakobeast up above wasn't expected, but I trust Phrexus to keep it handled. Naming the damn thing after an old, dead friend was surprising, but in the grand scheme of things I can't blame him. Sometimes those old times and those old friends are comforting."

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

If that was the justification, it barely budged on Rai's sensibilities. Her ears flipped up, as if she was trying to triangulate the next outburst from Sykes.

"Sso then merreljy loneljy to the pojint of delussjional."

A sordid thought crossed her mind, and she looked to Dage with a distasteful sneer.

"He'ss not taken to fuckjing ljivesstock, hass he? jI mean, bessaljisskss arre hjideouss, but ssurreljy he could do betterr."

She shivered at the thought, which turned to a shiver of genuine cold. Rai massaged her arms with her hands.

"Whateverr jit takess to sstajy warrm."

[Q. Samus Dage]

Samus rolled his eyes.

"He may be blaster-rattled in the head, but he's not going to go off and plug a hole that he has no business messing with."

Slowly he began to wind the elastic wrap around his wrist.

"Whatever you might think about him, he's lived as long as he has because he knew what he could do, and took the chances he needed to take when he wasn't sure that he could do a thing. But, that doesn't mean you should look at that as being foolhardy. A bunch of us are still here because we took those same chances, and knew the risks involved. We'd made our peace with death, and came out ahead. Some continued on serving, others - like him - decided it was best to leave. Nothing dishonorable about that sort of decision."

There was a pause, and he looked up to her while pausing his motions to reach for the bottle and take another plug.

"None of us go soft, we just know when it's best to step away."

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

She could never quite tell when Dage seemed poised to launch into a war story she had no interest hearing. Fortunately, he kept the platitude here brief. Rai skirted the periphery, eventually taking a seat on Dage's cot with enough distance between them to maintain a veneer of decorum.

"jYou trrusst hjim. jI don't. Therre'ss nothjing perrssonal jin ssajyjing jit. jI wass taught frrom a jyoung age to evaluate rrjissk and charracterr. jIf jI can't rreljy on that jinsstjinct, jI'll be usselesss asss a rrou'fai."

Her voice was metered and even in its pacing, with traces of her blue-blooded affectation. She glanced to Samus.

"jI'm ssleepjing jin herre tonjight. Wjith jyou."

[Q. Samus Dage]

That gave him pause, and Samus shifted in his seat, sliding so that he sat sideways with one arm draped over the chair's back.

"I think not."

He didn't glare daggers at her, rather his expression held an even keel.

"You've got a perfectly good bunk, your own personal space, and privacy. That old scaly bastard won't do anything to you while you sleep, if that's what you're afraid of."

He had to wonder if that was truly the case, or if she was simply trying to poke in under his skin. Her own features betrayed nothing, and the blonde finally allowed himself to give her a strange sort of look; one of soured namanas mixed with understanding and encouragement.

"As long as you're in this old base, and well - so long as you don't go upstairs, you're perfectly safe."

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

"jYou can have the mattrresss, jI'll ssleep jin the corrnerr jif jI musst, jI don't carre."

She wasn't going to be brushed aside on this. Eventually he was going to have to start taking her seriously.

"jI have a bad feeljing about thjiss, how about jyou ljissten to me forr once!"

Her voice raised on the edge of the sentence, which seemed to surprise Rai'faani. She made a tactical withdrawal, focusing on kneading her cold hands.

"Therre'ss no harrm jin jit. jI'll go rrjight to ssleep. jYou won't even know jI'm herre."

[Q. Samus Dage]

For a few moments he sat in silence, eyes boring into her as he thought over the words that she'd spoken. So long as she didn't try any funny business, he supposed that there was no real harm in letting her stay. Finally, he relented.

"If that's what you want," he rumbled while rising to stand.

"But there's no need to sleep on the floor," hells if he was actually going to give up his bunk; not when they could easily enough be dragged to wherever one wanted them to be.

With a gesture that she follow, Samus set his jaw.

"Let's go get your mattress. We'll just drag it in here; they're made to be able to move around without too much trouble, so putting it in here won't be a bother."

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

The glow of relief was almost warming, and Rai rose at once to head to her quarters, before Samus might dawdle and change his mind. She half slid her mattress off her frame by the time he caught up with her.

"Thank jyou."

It was said mostly to fill out an awkward silence, but it wasn't entirely disingenuous. Rai made eye contact with Samus as he carried his end.

"Perrhapss jyou arren't ssuch a brrute afterr all."

[Q. Samus Dage]

"High praise," came the chuckled answer as he finished helping her move the mattress into his own room.

"I do try to be a nice person every so often."

Moving the mattress into his room was easy enough with the both of them working together, and situating it into a corner along the back wall, Samus gave a look to the still-open doorway.

"Best get your things, I suppose."

He'd let her gather her own belongings, as the desire to sit back down and enjoy a few more pulls from his bottom shelf liquor was great. He sighed, lowering himself to sit once more in the aged wooden and metal chair.

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

She didn't spend long dawdling in gathering her rucksack, and Rai'faani was back in Samus's room promptly. She rolled out the fitted sheet and began haphazardly drawing it over the mattress. It was learning by doing. A few frustrated attempts, and Rai eventually overlapped all four corners. She draped the sheet and blanket around her svelte figure, and slid onto her makeshift bed, fidgeting to find a position resembling a resting state. She watched Samus watching her, as he sat contentedly nursing the bottle.

"jYou sseem to be enjojyjing jyourrsself." She grunted in between trying to fluff up her flat pillow.

[Q. Samus Dage]

"I'm trying to relax," he grunted in answer, and with a sigh let his head fall back to stare at the paneled ceiling. It was early evening, and he couldn't exactly blame Raifa for wishing to call it a night. Except, he wasn't exactly ready to do the same. There was a strange sort of restlessness that plagued him.

Beyond the bandaged wrist, beyond the jakobeast above them.

It was memories.

"Last time I was here, things weren't exactly in the shape they are now. And it certainly wasn't as... peaceful."

A scurrying of scratching claws reached his ears from up above, heavy, padding footfalls echoing into the distance.

"Weren't anything like that," he gestured over their heads, bottle still in hand.

"No. It was more of the concussive variety. Lots of blasterfire and detonators involved."

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

Samus's invocation scratched its way under Rai'fa's skin, and the Heiress shifted uncomfortably as she stared at a fixed spot in the ceiling. The mere mention of blasters and detonations brought an easy and uncomfortably clear recollection of the tinny report of droideka cannons and battle droid blasters. That feeling of mortality and frailty pushed onto the head of a pin quickened her heartbeat. It was very easy to feel like she was in the moment again. Scared, vulnerable, and cornered.

Now it was Rai who felt like she needed to relax. She'd written herself into a corner, however. Pride wouldn't suffer a crutch here, and she wasn't going to look for sleep through a bottle. Not tonight, at least. She wet her lips by pressing her tongue briefly between them.

"Sso that'ss how jyou rrelax jin the face of memorrjiess, then?"

She sighed.

"What elsse do jyou have?"

[Q. Samus Dage]

He admired her restraint, and thought over her question. He was comfortable with bad liquor, but that was him and not her.

"I have stories," he finally offered, still looking upward.

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

"Sstorrjiess?" She replied with exasperation. Rai propped up on an elbow, sitting up enough to look at her roommate.

"Ssamuss, how arre warr sstorrjiess gojing to help me ssleep? jI can sstjill hearr thosse blassterrss clearrljy jif jI even thjink about Jovan, and...jyeah...jI've been thjinkjing about jit lateljy. A lot."

Her expression darkened, and Rai averted her eyes back to the floor.

"jIt doessn't go awajy, doess jit?"

She looked back.

"jI can't prretend jit doess."

[Q. Samus Dage]

"Stories help those feelings go away, even if for a little bit," he soothed, taking another plug from his bottle.

"Not everything is about the war, or some terrible tragedy, you know."

A long, drawn-out sigh, and the blonde let his gaze fall back down to her. She didn't exactly look... comfortable. Or at least he didn't think so.

"People like me and Captain s'Ilancy, even old Phrexus... we're still all mostly sane because of stories. It's what helped us through the nights and the fear."

A thumb passed over the cheap label pasted on the glass bottle, and he angled his neck sharply, an audible crack sounding.

"Back then, my old Smuggler's Treasure story was popular."

It was a feeler, and one he cast out in the hopes that she'd bite. Sometimes an old yarn was just what a tense mind needed.

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

She rolled her neck slightly, her reposed posture less guarded than a moment before.

"Sstorrjiess beforre bed tjime? Mjy fatherrss ussed to tell them to me, to get me to ssleep."

Rai grinned in recollection, flicking her ears.

"To convjince me therre werren't monssterrss jin mjy closset. jIt worrked. jI neverr found a monssterr therre."

She deferred with a shrug.

"Tell jit to me."

[Q. Samus Dage]

That she was used to such a ritual was unsurprising, and Samus gave a shallow nod as he shifted in his seat. He stared past Raifa, to the far wall and its' off-white paint.

"Ok, then."

His free hand moved to rest on one leg.

"Back when I was young... I'd guess no older than eight years... my younger sister and I were convinced that there was a cache of smuggler treasure stashed somewhere in the Red Mountains back home on Myomar. We spent way too much time speculating on where it could be, and what exactly was in it, and we'd even made maps to where we thought it was."

The hand that held the bottle lifted only enough to send splayed fingers into the air, a motion meant to convey the airy times of youth and what those times brought with them.

"We'd read all the books in the library that we could about the Red Mountains, and all of the legends that were told about them. Some were about old cartographer sites, a few mysterious disappearances that were never solved, but there were a number that had to do with the Karassaba Pirate Gang and all of the possible places that they stored their loot. On Myomar, everyone knew about Karassaba; the old Nikto had gotten himself a group together to raid ships, then smuggle their treasures back to Myomar. Guess he figured that it was out of the way enough that no one would really go looking there."

He took a level off from the bottle.

"And he was right, for the most part. No one ever really went to Myomar unless they had to. We're so out of the way that most folks don't really know we're there. So anyway, it was said that Karassaba brought back a horde, almost, of stolen gold and jewels from luxury liners and yachts that he and his pirates had gotten their hands on. There was even a sidenote in one of the books about a shipment of Imperial credits that he'd managed to steal. Don't know if that one was actually true or not, but when you're young all you really see when you read those sorts of stories is a cave full of treasure that you could use to buy all of the hologames and candy that your heart could ever desire."

Samus paused then, letting himself remember back to those days with a fondness that was impossible to miss.

"Me an' Coraline spent hours in the library, just pouring through those books and trying to figure out where Karassaba's treasure was. We had pages earmarked, that we thought were important; hells, we even had a special notebook that we wrote threories in; where we thought certain landmarks would be, where each possible gully and dried up riverbed was. If you really think about it, it was impressive, all of the work we put into that damned notebook."

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

Samus's story was floral and meandering, and Rai tried to imagine it from his eyes. It was hard to envision Dage as a cub. In her mind's eye, he was as he was, just a smaller version of himself.

"jI'm guesssjing that ssjince jyou'rre herre, that jyou djidn't exactljy fjind a cache of rrjichess?"

Or maybe he did. That would be amusing/infuriating. Samus Dage, the secret tycoon.

"Unless jyou jusst rrealljy enjojy prretendjing to be folkssjy. Sso what happened?"

[Q. Samus Dage]

"Well."

She seemed halfway interested at least, and her half-sharp barbs gave the impression that she wasn't cross enough to dig angrily into the why's of his old yarn. It was heartening, and maybe - just maybe - she was a little bit interested.

"Sure as those stripes on your face," his gesturing hand sent a finger her way even as his bottle-hand lifted to deliver another plug down his throat.

"... we found something. Or well, someone. Ma an' Coraline were out wandering the back of the north-edge grazing fields, trying to pick out landmarks. We even went over the fence that marked the old property line; or at least, the valley line. My Da owned a small portion of the land that was a part of the Red Mountains, so we weren't really trespassing on anyone else's stake. We just started up the foothills then the mountain base, is all. We thought we'd come across Teigar's Hand, some old rock formation that looked like a hand reaching up to the sky."

He was looking past her again, his eyes on the wall behind her as he seemed to settle further into the story.

"Behind it came an old man, beard halfway down his chest, with dried bits of chewing tabac crusted into the hairs around his mouth. He stank like an eopie pen, and his clothes were like those old prospectors you hear stories about, out on frontier words. Old guy looked a mess, but hells, his eyes were sharp as needle-points."

There was a pause then, as the blonde made a face. It was as though he could smell that old man all over again. Strange how some memories triggered stuff like that.

"He looked at Coraline, then at me, and then he squared up like we'd just trespassed on his property. Course, we hadn't done any such thing; land belonged to our Da, so we weren't really worried too much. But he still looked a right mess, and offended that we'd gone and disturbed whatever he was doing back behind that bit of rock. Looking back on it, he was probably having a long piss, but when you're kids, stuff like that doesn't factor in and you think the rotter's up to nothin' good. Or that he's hiding something."

He shrugged then.

"But this old guy, he looks at us kids and tells us to get off and leave him alone. Says he doesn't wanna have to stick us like a couple of shaaklets. The he looks at our notebook, which Coraline has open since she'd been trying to compare the rock shape with the drawing she'd made, and gets a narrow look in his eyes. Old wreck spit out a stream of tabac juice that landed on my shoe, and says that we're lookin' for ghosts and need to get our heads out the clouds."

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

"Sso he wass hjidjing ssomethjing then? And he thought jyou werre a pajirr of clajim jumperrss?"

Rai shifted, still searching for the ideal patch of comfort her sleeping space could afford.

"jI thjink jI've sseen thjiss holo. Sso, how djid jYoung Ssamuss deal wjith the djissrresspect of a djirrtjy boot?"

[Q. Samus Dage]

"Eh, he rattled off some string of gibberish, then wandered off. About all we could understand was what he'd first said, about chasin' ghosts and whatnot. The rest... I think it had to do with mules and crusted up engine coils. I think. Coraline always had a good ear for understanding mumbled words, but even she was at a loss."

A pull from his bottle, and a released paahhh as he swallowed.

"As for the tabac, Young Samus wasn't a complete idiot. He knew better than to start a fight with an old drunk drifter that held no decent command of Basic, so he just let the old prospector go. Men like that are different, and it's best to not raise their hackles. So, we just kinda stood there for a bit longer, watching him leave, then after he'd gone around a bend in the trail, we went back to the notebook. Teigar's Hand was a pretty distinctive rock formation, so we were certain we'd found it.

"We marked in our book exactly where it was on our map, then started off for the next landmark, the Jathy Sinkhole. Least, that was what we knew it as. Who knew what it was really called, but a lot of the old books had it listed as a big collapsed shaft had opened up over an old mining tunnel from back in the day. We figured it was the old Jathy Sinkhole that everyone made sure to avoid. Apparently the land around it was still unstable, and there were still coal embers burning underground from the fire that had closed the Jathy Mine. It was an old place, from a long time before even my own Grandpa was a sprog."

Slowly, his words seemed to trickle to a stop, and Samus let his eyes return to his bottle before ponderously replacing the cap.

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

At last Rai found a position on her side comfortable enough to endure, and she cinched her covers beneath her chin, watching Samus turn momentarily introspective. Her fangs flashed in the dim light as she yawned, but she remained an active audience.

"Then what happened?"

[Q. Samus Dage]

"That, I will tell you tomorrow night."

Her yawn was infectious, and slowly getting to his feet, the blonde trundled his way to his bunk. A hefty sigh, a groan, and he let himself practically fall to sit on the edge of the mattress. He leaned forward, hands going to hitch up one pantleg, then the other so he could undo the quicklaces of each. Kicking off each boot, he let out another gravelly growl before reclining fully; not even bothering with the blanket just yet.

"For now," the tiredness in his voice was easily detected, and there was no room for doubt that he would be asleep within minutes of his head hitting the pillow.

"... it's time for... " a second yawn, "... bed."

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

Disappointed in the lack of a satisfactory conclusion, Rai sighed. The blue of her eyes cast back the feeble light in the room, and she blinked slowly, trying sleep on for size. It didn't quite take, so she watched Samus in his brief and unsatisfactory display of undress, creak back onto his mattress.

"Thjiss jiss funnjy."

[Q. Samus Dage]

Doing his best to make himself comfortable - which was honestly not that difficult, Samus rolled onto his stomach, burying his face into his pillow. His words were muffled, but thankfully recognizable enough.

"mmfmhHoww sssho."

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

"jI thjink thjiss jiss the fjirrsst tjime jI've sslept wjith a man wjithout..."

She yawned again, heavier this time.

"Ljike jI ssajid, funnjy."

[Q. Samus Dage]

The silence that followed her observation was broken about thirty seconds later, but not by any sort of reply.

Instead, it was a slow buildup of a snore that cut off abruptly, only to start once more a few moments after hitting its' crescendo. And again. And again. It was paced and rhythmic, with some growing in volume, and others remaining quiet, but never quiet enough.

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

The sonorous pitch waxed and waned in no clear pattern. Rai pulled her covers up so that she could tuck one ear under the hem, leaving the other pressed against her pillow. Sleep eventually came, but it was poor and frequently broken by a sudden snort or gasp from Dage.

[Q. Samus Dage]

* * *


Early rising was no real difficulty, and Samus was certainly no stranger to rolling himself out of bed, only half-awake, to stumble into his small fresher. This morning was no different than the others, except for the fact that there was an extra mattress taking up a good portion of floorspace in the already small quarters he'd been given, and so his mental state cleared quick enough as he swung his legs over the side of the bed. The cold tile that met his bare feet went a long way to further push the fog of slumber from his brain. At some point in the night he'd managed to pull a single blanket over part of his body, which he now pushed off to the side.

Rising to stand, the blonde made sure to not wake the pile of blankets that currently occupied the mattress against the far wall, and stepping carefully around, he slipped through the doorway into the small fresher unit. The door closed quietly, and now alone, he rolled his shoulders before finally stripping of yesterday's clothes.

Thirty seconds later found him in the shower, enjoying actual hot water. Steam billowed out from around the clear shower curtain to fill the rest of the fresher, and he stood beneath the stream of near-scalding liquid bliss.

Apparently living on a world that was mostly snow and ice had its' perks.

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

Rai woke with a shiver, locking her jaws to keep her teeth from chattering in response to the frigid air outside her cocoon. She pulled her covers over her nose, holding in that state for a moment until it didn't feel like ice. From there, she carefully peeled out of her warm haven, finding yesterday's socks beneath her covers as she quickly sheathed her bare feet. She wedged them into waiting boots, mindful not to put either heel or toe against the cold floor. She coughed a steamy puff into the chilly morning air, shouldered her heavy jacket and wool cap, and disappeared out of the room.

[Phrexus Krale]

He'd fallen asleep while repairing one of the repulsor regulators on his tank, only to be woken up by the cold nose of one of the many tooka-cats that had taken up residence in his bay. They weren't necessarily nuisances, but there were certainly times when they annoyed him; usually it was during the times that they insisted on sleeping atop the very things he was working on.

But now, he didn't mind so much, even though he could feel the curled up form of one of the feline critters on his shoulder. Delicately, he sat up straighter while reaching an arm around to cup the animal and let it slide gently down. It was a pale lavender, with a toothy grin that stretched wide and owlish, black eyes that blinked groggily up at him before letting out a scraggly, rumbling purr.

His lips peeled back into a smile, and the Besalisk let out a henh before turning about and starting back into his home, the tooka still cradled in his arm.


He was coming through the stairwell doorway when the soft click of a closing door sounded, and slowly he came to a stop, his head ponderously swiveling about to look at one Rai'faani leaving Samus' quarters.

The tooka, still content and happily snuggled in the arm of his much larger caretaker, the tooka craned its' head, blinking as it stared at this newcomer.

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

Rai wedged the small pistol holster into the belt of her pants, cinching it down until the clips snapped into place.

"jI'm gojing out."

[Phrexus Krale]

"Oh?"

His rumbled answer reverberated through the air with a hint of amusement. A free hand came around to skritch at the tooka's head, yellowed fingernails furrowing into the soft fur between its' ears.

"And what are you planning on doing?"

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

"jI'm gojing to catch ssomethjing to eat."

She said it like it was obvious, then realized perhaps it wasn't. Rai sighed, shaking her head.

"Lasst njight wass horrrjid. jI'm not havjing that agajin."

[Phrexus Krale]

If he had eyebrows, they would've lifted in a show of curiosity and humor. This little one had a flair for the dramatic, and inwardly he found it somewhat funny. He could still remember the face she'd made the night before.

"Well then," he turned to look away from her, towards the balcony that overlooked the old receiving area and the closed double-doors leading into the rec room.

"... if I was you," his head angled back, fingers still scratching his feline friend, "... I would march yourself right back into those quarters you left and grab the coldweather gear stowed in the lockers."

A free hand waved dismissively at her heavy jacket that, while certainly sturdy, would do little to protect her for longer than twenty minutes in the snows outside.

"That's a nice jacket, but it won't keep you warm for long enough."

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

She glanced in the direction the Besalisk indicated, inwardly weighing mental scales whether it was best to be prudent or prideful. She opted for the former.

"Fjine."

Rai glanced down at the Tooka, who returned a beady-eyed stare. It looked well fed. Hopefully on something other than ration packs.

"What'ss the huntjing ljike herre?"

[Phrexus Krale]

"Got a lot of taun taun, and a fair amount of snowbear roaming about in the lower cliffs."

The tooka squirmed about then, an unspoken demand to be let down, and like a gentle giant, Krale slowly knelt down to allow the still-purring feline to slip from the crook of his arm. It stood for only a moment, then twisted back to rub its' head across one of his forearms.

"Close by though, there's plenty of winter jakrab and horned mountain goats."

A strange smile seemed to pass over his craggy features as the tooka passed its' tail along the underside of his jaw. It was an expression that looked wrong on him, but at the same time it somehow fit.

"Do not kill any of the tooka."

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

She was already on her way to the lockers, but paused at Phrexus's warning. Rai glanced back to the besalisk, and then to his pet with a charmed life.

"jI thjink jyourr ljittle frrjiendss arre ssafe. Untjil we rrun out of jackrrab. jIt'ss ssurrvjival, rrjight?"

Rai lined up the nearest tooka with a finger gun, winked, then 'blew out' her fingertip. With that, she headed off to suit up.

[Q. Samus Dage]

* *



His shower had been glorious, and Samus had spent a few minutes longer underneath the hot water, feeling as the steam cocooned him in its' warmth. How often did a body get to enjoy the delights of an actual water shower? They certainly weren't aboard Khera'Va'ss'io, and sadly even the facilities on Jovan were sonic. About the only times he'd been able to really get a good natural bout of cleaning was whenever they were recalled to Dac or Bothawui for whatever reason or another. And even then, that was such a two-edged vibro-blade. He'd never enjoyed the more official bits of meetings with the upper levels of the Navy, but the showers... core alive he would deal with the bad just to get five minutes of the good.

Two minutes passed; enough time for him to step from the shower, scrub dry, and re-dress himself with swift expediency. His socks and boots were pulled on, followed by his overcoat.

Stepping out into the hall, Samus gave a quick look left and right, then trundled his way to the balcony that overlooked the receiving are. Krale was busying himself with something at an old desk which he'd re-purposed into what looked like a feeding station. At least, that was the guess, judging by the gaggle of gathered took-cats milling around his feet.

"Never figured you for a cat person."

A grunt from the Besalisk down below, and Krale half-turned to look up at the blonde.

"They're mostly quiet and don't talk back," came the answer, accompanied by a toothy grin.

Samus couldn't help the smirk that settled over his lips, and giving a shrug, turned to head for the stairwell that would take him down to the receiving area.

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

Cocooned and swaddled in cold weather gear, Rai quickly deduced that this was less and less like Taltimant after all. The weather was too harsh to allow for something to wear that might give more agility. Instead, she had to tromp through the drifts and overnight accumulation in heavy layers. Each step she took was less a reflex action than one planned in committee, and it was slow going until she got out of the drifts. Once she did, all she had to contend with were the gale winds, and Rai pushed the heavy woolen scarf over the hood of her parka to keep it out.

At least smells carried far and clean in the cold air. Maybe because of a lack of anything else, the sparse scents of wildlife could be picked easily off the wind, so long as it wasn't searing the tip of your nose off with frostbite. Rai found a trail and in short order made her way towards a recently filled-in drift. With one mittened hand around the grip of a light survival rifle, she cleared away the loose snow with her other. Slowly, carefully, until there was a sudden burst of movement.

BZAT! BZAT-ZAT!

Five minutes later, Rai tromped back into the bay with rifle in one hand, and a blaster-pelted jackrab in the other. Wedging the rifle against the wall, she slapped at her heavy coat to knock the accumulated powder off, before snatching the scarf from her wind-chapped nose and lips.

[Q. Samus Dage]

Breakfast had been quick but surprisingly tasty; a hot stew that Krale had in the cooler unit, heated up until it was steaming. A stale piece of bread from a breadbox that looked to've begun life as a proton torpedo casing, and a mug of hot caf. It had a bit more body to it than last night's dinner, and he appreciated the fact that the old Besalisk had enough supplies to make actual food. War rations were good in a pinch, and were necessary for getting what your body needed with as little taste as possible, but here there was no war, and no immediate need for them - other than to have something quick and ready to eat.

Krale was settled on an old sofa that looked as though it'd seen much better days, a gaggle of lothcats sprawled all around him as he preened each one in meticulous fashion. It was a bizarre sight, to say the least. But, Samus was in no way about to delve into the how and why of the old soldier's current life choices, or the companions he seemed to prefer. A creature a few floors above them that was barely domesticated, a herd of lothcats... were there any other animal friends that he didn't currently know about?

Tearing the bread into two halves, he dipped one portion into the stew.

"I'm surprised this old place is still standing."

"Me too," was the grunted huff of an answer, "... took a fair bit to get it back to operational standards."

"I'm sure."

The bread with its' hot dressing of stew was shoved into his mouth, and the blonde couldn't help the sharp exhale of steamy breath, his mouth open while still trying to chew without further burning the inside of his mouth.

"..hhhottt... "

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

Rai entered the mess room with her kill, trying not to shiver like a leaf in a breeze. One hand gripped the jackrab's hind legs and the other clutched across her chest to hold tight to her opposite shoulder. She retrieved a tray from the kitchen, deposited the dead animal on it, and wordlessly took a seat. Living a privileged life rarely brought her to a state of hunger. The sound from her middle seemed like she was being hollowed out from within. Rai didn't dawdle then, expertly hooking a thumb claw into the soft skin at the jackrab's belly to open it to the neck. She stuffed in a mouthful of still-warm offal, hunched over her tray with the guarded posture she'd learned the hard way the night before.

[Phrexus Krale]

From his comfortable 'perch' on the sofa, amidst his herd of lothcats, Krale watched the girl return. Her expediency in getting herself a tray, then marching herself to the table to sit... and then by the gods she guarded her food like an angry ghratarrg! It was enough to make him laugh aloud with delight.

"Your little one learns fast, Samus!"

[Q. Samus Dage]

With mirth in his eyes, Samus continued to shovel his stew into his mouth, now that it'd cooled just enough for him to do so.

He swallowed, wiping a forearm over his mouth.

"She's no dummy," he chuckled wryly, as much a statement to Rai'fa as it was an answer to Krale.

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

Rai snapped a manageable length of entrails apart with her fingers, tucking into a manageable portion of still-warm intestines while fixing Krale and Samus alike with a look that insinuated that if they tried anything, they might regret it.

"Of courrsse jI'm not. jI've had the besst forrmal educatjion jin the galaxjy. Motherr majy have pajid the tujitjion, but sshe djidn't bujy the grradess. And jif jI can learrn frrom Corrusscantji prrofesssorrss, jI can learrn what jyou have, too."

She finished that statement with a sinewy bite of meat.

[Phrexus Krale]

There was a low, rumbling chuckle at the Cizerack girl's last words, and from his comfortable spot on the sofa, Krale let the tips of his fingers trail along the back of a spotted lothcat that was sitting happily in his lap.

"She's humble, too."

[Q. Samus Dage]

"You get used to it," he mumbled from around another bite of bread and stew.

Turning his attentions once more to Rai'fa, he went on.

"Today is mostly for gathering supplies," he intoned.

"Nothing fancy, and nothing grand. We need to make sure you've got enough food so you don't have to go out every day looking for food; at least, to the extent that we can."

He swallowed, then began to scrape the last of his bread around the bowl's edges to mop up the dregs.

"Need to also look into starting maintenance on the swoops. Doesn't matter if they run, they still need looking after."

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

Rai continued to eat her jackrab in workmanlike fashion, not pausing to savor or enjoy anything, even though it sounded like this might be the last bit of actual food she might have for a while. Supply gathering. Swoop cleaning. This all sounded exceedingly dull. But if Samus thought she'd take that bait, she'd sooner go stand out in the snow drifts in the nude.

"What do jI need to do?" She came up for air, licking an accumulation of blood off the back of her hand.

[Phrexus Krale]

"The larder is getting lean, girl."

Krale spoke up finally from his ensconced seat, amidst the gathering of tooka cats around him.

"My stocks of meat are redlined, and I need more. So that means hunting."

A massive hand fell to gently run along the length of a deep purple pelt, ending at the tip of a particularly bushy tail.

"I'm told you're a fair enough hunter, so I'm sure you can figure out what your going to be doing for most of the day."

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

Something was bothering her, and the Besalisk helped to put a fine point on it.

"Mjy name," she drew out the words in steely patrician edge, "jis Rai'faani. jIf jyou can't brrjing jyourrsself to ssajy jit, jyou can call me Rrou'eita Meorrrei."

Rai at last looked away from Phrexus, snapping a jackrab bone in half.

"jYou want me to hunt? jI'll hunt. jYou don't have to take anjyone'ss worrd that jI can do jit."

[Q. Samus Dage]

"Don't take it personal," Samus was already rising from his seat, his empty bowl in one hand.

"He doesn't even call me by my name."

Ambling into the kitchen area, he set his dishes in the sink, flicked the handle to turn on the faucet, and took up a sponge.

"Old men who are also old soldiers have old habits," he shrugged, giving his bowl a sweeping scrub.

"Best not to take it personal."

His spoon was set into the drying rack, eventually followed by his bowl, and as he shut the water off, Samus dried his hands with a nearby shop rag that had been tossed on the counter.

"We all have names here, but we all also have peculiarities."

[Phrexus Krale]

"Apparently some Myomarians have brains to go along with what they like to think they carry around in their pants," came the grunted response, as Krale rumbled his way up to his feet, dislodging a harem of tooka cats in the process. He gave the girl a look, then headed for the kitchen area.

"I'm going to eat, and by the time I'm done I want the both of you out in the snow and working on refilling my stocks."

His look seemed to linger longer than normal, and with a deep frown that was only accented by already wide jaws, the Besalisk pivoted on a heel before planting all four palms on the island.

"That is, if the delicate Naboo flower Rai'faani isn't too offended by having to make herself useful."

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

The only reply Phrexus got was cold silence. Rai figured the better use of her time was to eat and not get baited on by the stir-crazy Besalisk.


* * *


With barely enough time to clean the bones and then her hands, Rai was once again cinching on her cold weather gear. Phrexus had gone off to do whatever the hell he was doing, leaving her and Samus to prepare to face the cold together. The heiress watched Samus suit up as she did the same, a look of disdain fixed plainly on her face.

"jI hate hjim."

[Q. Samus Dage]

The overcoat he'd shrugged on was cinched tight, and Samus did a last pass through the locker he stood in front of, making sure that he'd gotten everything.

"Oh?"

He'd had a fair notion that the two wouldn't get along, but the possibility of them becoming pals wasn't why he'd brought her here.

"And why is that?"

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

Rai checked the charge pack on the blaster pistol she'd used earlier in the morning, inspecting it the way Samus had shown her on Taltimant. She diverted her eyes to his, seeing an expecting expression on Samus's face that only served to stoke her ill feelings.

"He'ss an arrrogant, djissrresspectful boarr. He quesstjionss mjy abjiljitjy to hunt when jI'm the onljy one who djidn't eat rratjionss thjiss morrnjing? jI rrealljy sshould behead one of hjiss fjilthjy tookass and leave jit at hjiss doorrsstep sso he can ssee how well jI hunt."

All said in puffery, but the anger warmed her skin, and Rai felt better for saying it.

[Q. Samus Dage]

"You know," he tried to cool her down as the door to his locker was shut. It clanged in the sort of way that was a clarion call.

"... he's been out here for a long time. Him not hunting this morning doesn't mean he hasn't done it hundreds of times before."

Reaching up to the top edge of the row of lockers, he pulled a hood down, and two pairs of snow-goggles. One set he tossed her way.

"He's an old soldier; older than me, even. And he's been living here for long enough that he knows what he's doing. Don't let him get to you too much, yeah?"

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

She stretched the snow goggles over the hood of her parka, snapping them to a resting position at her forehead.

"Who ssajyss he'ss gettjing to me? jI'm made of tougherr sstuff than that."

Whether Samus believed her or not, Rai felt particularly determined in the moment. She stuffed her pistol firmly into its holster.

"Let'ss go. jYou've got ssome catchjing up to do wjith me."

[Q. Samus Dage]

She could deny it all she wanted, but the very fact that they were having this conversation now, about Krale, told volumes. The old Besalisk was an aging, crusty old creature who could count his friends on one hand; and even of those, there was a decidedly small margin of exposure that they could stomach.

"It's not a contest, Rai'fa," he chuckled as his outer coldweather jacket was cinched tight. The goggles found their place over his eyes, and the fur-lined hood was pulled over his head with one hand while the other reached for a longrifle. It had started life as an old DC-15, but Krale had modded it extensively so that now it served as a long-range hunting weapon. A scope along the top rails was protected by two caps over the lenses, and shouldering the firearm, Samus gestured to two bulky Balutar swoops that had been kitted out with straps and cargo racks.

Straddling the saddle of one, he plucked the waiting face-shield from where it rested one the handlebars.

"Anything else you'd like to get out before we go, then?"

He was sure there was, but whether she had the inclination to unload on him now or later, he was sure it would happen at some point.

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

Learning her lessons, Rai tucked her tail up and into the gap between her parka and thermal undershirt. The lack of counterbalance in the cold wouldn't really matter until she was tromping afield, and even then, it wasn't going to be graceful.

She mimed Samus's entry into her own swoop, making note of what he did along the way.

"Am jI rrealljy sso djifferrent?" she asked, mostly to Samus, but also to herself, "Frrom T'yeellaa?"

She wasn't certain what had brought the question about. Samus was probably the catalyst, but she'd always considered herself close with her eldest sister, and the crucible of this outer rim human had left her with doubts.

[Q. Samus Dage]

"Night and day," was all he offered for now, before the face mask covered him up.

A moment later, the swoop surged to life, and Samus slowly eased ahead. The yawning mouth of the vehicle bay loomed a short distance ahead; far enough away to keep the gusting snow from creeping in too far, yet close enough all the same.

Breaking out into the morning sunlight, he was glad for the snow goggles that shielded his eyes from the harsh brightness. Snowblindness and snowburns were a real thing that he wanted to avoid, and as he banked down the winding, half-tracked pathway that would take them down into a lowlying valley, he enjoyed the mostly quiet respite. The engine was all he heard now, and for that he was happy. It allowed him to focus.

There was no need to look behind him, as he knew that Rai'fa was keeping pace.

Rounding a switchback into a straightaway, Samus eased the swoop faster, letting the angry-sounding engine open up. The Balutar jumped forward like a hungry beast, eating up the distance to the next turn.

A bit of speed would be good for the both of them.

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

The answer, like so many things Samus said, didn't sate her. Instead, the words worked their way through all the layers of protective clothing she wore, irritating her where her defenses didn't matter. There was anger, but there was something else, undefined and therefore unable to be confronted.

The swoop mollified that irritation to some degree, and Rai focused on keeping pace with her guide. The biting chill of the wind was held back in part by the wind screen, in part by her clothing, but largely by adrenaline in the moment. She wouldn't be some laggard for Samus to have to double back on. No, she'd keep with him on the ride, wherever it may go. She even began to enjoy the feel of the engine's acceleration, of the centripetal force as they banked which pushed her firm to the saddle. When a straightaway presented itself, Rai opened the throttle, accelerating to draw parallel to Samus. Through the canopy, she cut a glance at him, waiting for his next move.

[Q. Samus Dage]

Two more switchbacks brought them further down, and Samus eased his throttle back, allowing the speeder bike to coast under it's own momentum the rest of the way into the valley. There certainly wasn't much in the way of vegetation, but the strewn-about cluster of rock dotting the landscape would at least offer the cover that they would need.

Finally he applied the brakes, and both slowed completely to a stop beside a particularly large boulder. He killed the engine, and dismounted with little fanfare, taking the moment to stretch.

"Seeing as how one of us has already bagged herself a meal, I'll let you spot for the first few hours... or at least until we bag our first snowfawn."

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

"What, hourrss?" Rai's queried words went up an octave, and the heiress regretted it instantly. Still, the cold crept into the creases when the wind blew just right, and while she was fine now, Rai had concerns about what she'd feel like after hours in the open tundra.

She pressed her goggles firm against her face, offering no further hints of dissolution.

"What wjill jyou be dojing?"

[Q. Samus Dage]

"Sitting here waiting for you to spot something," he answered idly, pulling the long-barreled hunting rifle from his shoulder to begin his normal checks.

"If you get chilly, there are cold-weather blankets and thermal wraps in the hardcase saddlebags on the bikes. I think Krale has some heat gel inserts for gloves stuffed in there also."

He hooked a finger over the edge of his face wrap, pulling it down just enough to flash a white-toothed smile her way.

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

By contrast, Rai pulled her balaclava up to obscure the less-friendly frown. Samus was dangling these little temptations over her head, probing her for weakness. She'd seen that before. Take the blanket, Rai'faani! Take these heating gels, Rai'faani! *You* need them, of course. Traanjirra's tits, she did! She wasn't about to give Samus the satisfaction of seeing her cut a corner. Him or the Besalisk.

The Meorrrei heiress cinched her mittens tight, drew her survivalist rifle from her speeder's saddle loop, and tromped a few paces to find a spot that both gave her a wide command of the valley, but also a needed wind break. She squatted to sit, paused, then stood, kicking away the snow beneath her to expose bare ground beneath.

"jI'm herre to sspot. Sso, jI'll sspot." she muttered to herself, watching the residuals of muffled steam hiss through her balaclava. The world below was tinged in an orange hue thanks to her solar-protective goggles. Goggles or no, the way the snow on the ground caught the sun caused the features of the landscape to blur if you stared at one place for too long. Rai'faani blinked the effect away as she tucked her mittened hands under each arm.

[Q. Samus Dage]

He watched her stomp off, not exactly sure what sort of frustration she was now harboring. Another moment passed, and he shrugged it off for now. They were here to hunt, after all. If she was cold, then she'd take advantage of the supplies he'd told her of. He knew that he would.



* * *
Three Hours Later


Propped up on his rock, Samus felt like a statue. Rai'fa hadn't hissed at him, which meant that not a single snowfawn had come out into the open. Out of habit, he lifted up a piece of jerky that he'd made sure to pack, and took a bite from the strip. He chewed, then swallowed and let out a long sigh before finally leaning back. His fingers felt like sticks of ice, and with a frown, he rocked back to perch atop his knees. The cold had finally seeped through enough, and he wanted one of those heated gelpacks.

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

The heiress's stubbornness and pride ran deep, but so too did the cold of this place.

Rai had spent the past three hours in grueling vigil, staving off both the cold and the crush of boredom. At least the cold had forced her to stay creative, moving her extremities and figuring the best way to keep the chill at bay. To her dismay, the moisture of her exhaled breath had collected on the outside of her balaclava and crystallized first into frost, then into ice outright. When it became stubborn to breathe through it, she had snatched the cover from her face to peel the lattice sheets of frozen condensation. That left her face exposed to the raw cold air. She briefly removed her goggles as well, massaging at her tender cheeks with mittened hands that didn't seem to help until she applied friction.

Her teeth chattered, sending a quaver that ran down her spine and through her belly, threatening to undo her. Rai fought against it, jumping to her feet, if only to hop and run in place long enough to move blood through her legs. She winded the air for a scent. With the air so cold and dry, smells tracked easily. Unfortunately, the wind turned against her, and the only thing Rai could track was Samus and the parcel of dried meat he was gnawing on.

Rai'faani wanted a sign. Something, anything that would point her in a fruitful direction. Carefully, she peeled back the fur-lined hood of her parka, giving her ears clearance to spread wide and catch any sound in the valley that might betray her prey. It didn't take long before they began to ache with the cold as well. Defeated, Rai pushed her ears back into the hood, drawing it fast over her head. She returned her goggles and balaclava back where they'd been, then turned back for the speeder.

Even pride had its limits. Rai opened the speeder saddlebags, pulling a thermal blanket free which she promptly cocooned herself inside. For a moment, she stood by the speeder, shaking like a leaf until her temperature could catch back up.

[Q. Samus Dage]

He was right behind her, and reaching around, plucked a satchel out from one of the saddlebags.

"It's ok to admit to being cold," he murmured, opening the flap and rummaging around inside for one of the gelpacks.

"Big thing is to not be so stubborn that your fingers end up freezing off, you know?"

He gave her blanketed shoulder an encouraging pat.

"Doesn't mean you're any less strong, I promise you."

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

“Th-th-that majy be trrue herre,” she admitted through her chattering teeth, “but jitss dangerrouss to sshow vulnerrabjiljitjy.”

Rai was weighing Samus’s wisdom against a lifetime of teachings. At least from her expression, she was giving the human’s point of view it’s due. While she did, her hands worked out of the blanket, reaching to the saddlebag for the gel packs.”

”jI ssupposse an exceptjion to that rrule exjisstss.”

Her quavering wasn’t quite as intense as before.

[Q. Samus Dage]

"Come on, now," Samus reached out to give her a reassuring pat the her shoulder, turning the gesture into a side-hug.

"I know you're a tough gal, even despite that bit of excitement on Jovan."

His quick embrace was ended in the next moment as he let out a long puff of air.

"Let's pack up and start heading back. Maybe if we're lucky we'll find something on the way."

His rifle was set atop the seat of his speeder, as he took another moment to look around them at the stark white landscape.

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

Pride threatened to well up again and keep her fixed at her vantage until a kill was made, but Rai found the urge easier to shrug off this time. It helped that enough warmth was being generated to keep her from visibly shaking. The heiress nodded to Samus, and reluctantly returned to her speeder. She couldn't help but pause a few times in the process, scanning the snowy landscape for a sign of anything breaking the contours of the ground. She clutched her rifle tight with both hands, hopeful until the end. At last she sighed, shoved the weapon firmly into the saddle loop, and mounted up again.

[Q. Samus Dage]

His scanning gaze settled on her, and how she seemed to clutch her rifle like it was the most comforting thing in her life.

"You know," he couldn't help but voice his observation.

"I remember when you once complained about a carbine being too heavy."

A nod to her hunting rifle, "... that thing is heavier than that old clanker model back on the station."

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

"jI guess jI've become accusstomed to the wejight."

She hadn't thought about it before. Neither here nor back on Taltimant on her firing range. In a way, her response was more than just the literal. Rai looked at Samus as he looked at - no, measured her. That was it. He measured her. Everything she did and was.

"Whateverr jit takess, Arr'uhaai."

[Q. Samus Dage]

He gave a nod, and moved his own rifle so that he could straddle his bike.

"That's very true. And sometimes, just sometimes, 'whatever it takes' involves making sure that you yourself are taken care of."

He gestured to their surroundings, "... all of this wasn't necessarily to shoot a snowfawn or any other bit of game, I just wanted you to understand that you're going to have times where swallowing your pride is necessary, and life-saving."

His brow knit then, and he stared at her with a steely gaze.

"I had to learn that lesson the hard way, during an incursion raid on a planet in the Outer Rim. I'm trying to make sure that you don't have to learn that in the same way."

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

* * *

The next morning brought the same shock of cold, but Rai'faani was ready for it this time. The chill didn't shock as much as it left a dull ache, which she could handle. The dry air had chapped her lips, cracking at her bottom one just enough to feel the pain when she yawned.

She yearned for a bath. Samus had already left his quarters, so Rai gathered her change of clothes in hand after slipping her double-socked feet into boots. She crossed the hallway to the barracks communal shower. She opened the door, and to her relief a rush of warm humid air greeted her, along with the tinkling sound of a running showerhead. Standing for a moment to soak in the warmth, the heiress finally set her bundle of clothes on a shelf and began to peel out of her pajamas. Her stomach protested from a night of consolation rations, but Rai'faani ignored her morning hunger for want of cleaning yesterday's exertions away.

She rounded the corner to enter the shower.

[Phrexus Krale]

The great, towering bulk of Phrexus Krale dominated the main shower area, and he soaked in all of the heat that he could, enjoying the steam clouds as much as he enjoyed the heated jets of water. Natural armor plates bulged over his back, covering a still muscular - if not portly - form. The years had given him weight that he'd not had in his youth, but he had made sure to maintain his strength. After all, one did not survive here if one was a scrawny weakling.

Head up, his mouth was open to expose a maw of sharp teeth, and so engrossed in the glorious warmth, he swayed in place.

He growled in satisfaction, and dipping his head into the patch of falling water, let it fill his mouth for a few moments before spitting it back out, and turning about, opened his eyes just in time to watch a slender body round the dividing wall from the other side of the showering room.

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

Of course it was the Besalisk. Rai'faani frowned, eventually ebbing into a neutral expression with lightly-flattened ears. She would have much preferred Samus for company, even if only for the juvenile reason that he was pleasant to look at. Phrexus was a melange of mottled scales, belly, and assorted other unpleasantries. Rai quickly found a spot of tile on the wall to fix her attention to, but didn't make the mistake of keeping her shower partner entirely out of her field of vision. She ducked her head beneath the stream of water, letting her hair get fully doused before reaching for her shampoo.

[Phrexus Krale]

He watched her with disinterested, half-life eyes for a few short seconds, then with a grunt, turned back around as two arms came up to brush a sheen of water from his face. The other two arms busied themselves with lathering his barrel-chest with a copious amount of soap.

"If you're looking for Samus," he started with a grumble, "... he is already getting himself some food."

He could tell that she didn't let him completely out of her sight, and with a hmph, went on.

"And kindly keep those wandering eyes to yourself. I have a delicate constitution."

Of course it was said in jest, and the deep, gravelly rumble of his sandpaper voice only served to make his words even more absurd.

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

"Whjy would jI be lookjing forr Ssamuss?" Rai resisted the insinuation, reinforcing distance with her patrician dialect. She began to lather her hair, working from the roots back and down her blonde tresses.

"jI'm ssjimpljy enjojyjing the ssjingle good amenjitjy of thjiss jice-crrussted forrtrresss."

At the note of the Besalisk's constitution, the heiress did finally invest her attention fully at her side of the wall. Besides, she could hear the oaf well enough to satisfy her wariness of cohabiting a shower with him.

[Phrexus Krale]

"Stars, girl, there are plenty of nice things about this place."

He turned back to face her. His false modesty suddenly gone, Krale planted his feet in a wide stance, all four of his arms spread wide as his mouth opened in a bizarre smile that seemed to show more teeth than any being had any right to have.

"For one thing, me!"

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

The sudden outburst caused Rai to turn around again, and instantly she wished she didn't.

"Ai'kosa!"

Turning her back once more, the heiress pushed back suds that threatened to enrcoach down into her eyes.

"jIss jit ssuppossed to look ljike that?"

[Phrexus Krale]

It wasn't exactly a lecherous look that he gave her, but it wasn't an innocent one, either. Though, in the very next moment, her last words were enough to break him from his moment of full-frontal pride, and a sudden look of concern clouded his brow as his eyes swiftly went down.

"What?!"

Two arms went akimbo, one lifting to scratch at his scaled temple, and the last coming up to frame his chin.

"My best boy here looks normal to me!"

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

"That'ss not a cock, jitss a batterrjing rram."

Even in the name of libertine excess, there was such a thing as too much. Rai furiously scrubbed lather into her hair in an attempt to distract herself and unsee what she'd already seen.

"jI pjitjy the ljivesstock of thjiss outposst."

[Phrexus Krale]

"Aahhh," he snapped his jaws a few times, a hand gesturing and waving to the air as if to dispel her insinuation.

"I have no need to do anything of that sort."

Half-turning, he let the water wash away the lathered soap that he'd scrubbed all over himself.

"Not everyone is as starved for sex as you Cizerack."

Another grunt.

"Many of us are happy enough with warm food and a peaceful life."

Which, was a strange admission coming from one who had spent much of his life on a battlefield.

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

Goddess, guilty. Rai didn't have anything to say to that one. Maybe she had been hoping a little to find Samus here, if only to give herself the illusion of opportunity. It had nearly been a week since she'd had anyone. Had she ever gone so long without?

"Mjy ljife wass warrm and peaceful enough." She passed her hair under the stream again, squeezing her locks in a downward motion to expel the last of the shampoo.

"But that'ss all changed now."

[Phrexus Krale]

"You'll need to earn it after-the-fact, then."

The last of the lather was washed away, and reaching out, he turned the oldstyle knob to shut off the steaming water.

"A lot of us had to work for quieter lives. And a good bit of those never got the chance to make it to the end."

A thick-fingered hand snaked over to a towel rack, and he pulled a brightly-colored, oversized towel (a gift from Loklorien's daughter, and replete with action poses of some character named 'Action Johnny Rebel') toward him so that he could begin the ritual of drying himself off.

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

What Krale said was above objection, so Rai didn't offer one. She continued to bathe, applying lather to her body.

"jI'm awarre of mjy prrjivjilege, Phrrexuss. jI majy not ssharre the common trroubless of jyou or Ssamuss, but mjy possjitjion attrractss jitss own dangerrss."

[Phrexus Krale]

"Is that so?"

His grunted words held a certain tinge of curiosity as he toweled himself dry.

"And what sort of dangers do you face? An unfortunate nail painting session?"

He couldn't help the laugh that began at the bottom of his throat, and went on.

"Or perhaps you jumped into bed with a man who was too big for you!"

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

She turned to face him again, a scowl on her face.

"jYou don't know a thjing about me, Bessaljissk. Mjy famjiljy jiss powerrful. That kjind of powerr attrractss dangerrouss enemjiess. The kjind who won't hessjitate to kjidnap orr even kjill to get what thejy want. Sso majybe jI haven't fought jin ssome grreat warr, but people ljike jyou and people ljike Ssamuss have the luxurrjy of anonjymjitjy that jI don't have.

jI have no jintentjionss of bejing ssomeone'ss vjictjim."

[Phrexus Krale]

Oh, he'd been told all about the girl, but it didn't keep him from enjoying the action of pushing her buttons.

Running the towel over a forearm, Krale gave a snort.

"And that's why you're here. I know."

Another arm was rubbed down.

"I have to wonder why you chose Samus to teach you all of this, though."

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

The suds had washed clean from her body, but Rai no longer found comfort in the shower. She'd normally condition her hair, but that need seemed small in the face of this sudden provocation. Rai cut off the water. She stood in the silence that followed, dripping dry.

"Therre wass an attack. jI wass wjith Ssamuss when jit happened. He...ssaved mjy ljife."

The admission still made her feel uneasy and vulnerable. Instinctively, Rai's tail curled in.

"jI've neverr felt sso usselesss, neverr felt ljike jI had sso ljittle contrrol overr mjy desstjinjy beforre. jI wass terrrjifjied."

[Phrexus Krale]

He still stood like some burly sentinel, but he at least allowed a strange expression of softness to descend over his craggy features. He closed the distance between the two, his hulking form dwarfing her. A single hand came down to rest on her shoulder as his free hands threw the towel over his shoulder.

"You chose a good teacher, Little One. Samus is a survivor, and he isn't still breathing today because he was soft. The man knew when to pull the trigger, no matter how hard it was."

Another hand held up a cautionary finger then.

"But, do not tell him that I said that," he rumbled.

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

It took fortitude not to recoil from the Besalisk's hand, but Rai stood her ground. This obviously counted as good behavior for the alien, and she reluctantly respected the gesture.

"jI'll keep jyourr confjidence." Rai reassured in proper cadence, "A Meorrrei alwajyss rrewarrdss herr frrjiendss."

[Phrexus Krale]

Again his teeth bared in a distorted 'smile'.

"I'm not your friend, I'm just here to make sure that the two of you don't turn into ice-treats out here."

Stepping back, Krale turned away from her to lumber his way out of the shower area and toward where he'd draped a pair of large trousers and an undershirt.

His towel was tossed over a drying rack, and he set about dressing himself.

"Tell me about this family of yours, Little One," his voice graveled out while pulling on his clothes.

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

He'd taken her literally. Rai wasn't surprised.

"We'rre not frrjiendss jin the ljiterral ssensse, no, but jyou'rre dojing me a favorr. That doessn't go unnotjiced. Mjy famjiljy valuess ssuch frrjiendsshjipss."

He asked about her family. Rai'faani opted to wrap a towel around herself before trying to explain.

"The Meorrrei arre an old and rresspected Barronjy. The mosst powerrful of the arrjisstocrratjic houssess on Carshoulis, ssave forr the rrojyal famjiljy."

[Phrexus Krale]

"Corusca gems in your bloodstream, then," he huffed out.

"Don't rely on that too much. I knew someone once, who thought she was much the same."

Thick fingers deftly worked the large buttons of his shirt.

"Said her family was important and long-standing, and for all of her fancy words, she still bled like everyone else."

He moved to a mirror, and leaned over the counter to begin inspecting his teeth. Seemingly unsatisfied, the Besalisk pulled a scrubbing brush from a travel pack, as well as a tube of cleaning paste.

"Don't trust anyone but yourself, Little One. Your own muscle is what will help you, not your name."

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

"jYou ssee the parrt of the galaxjy that'ss jin frront of jyou, what jyou can sshoot orr fjight hand-to-hand. jI admjit that jI have ljittle talent forr that, but a dessjirre to learrn."

The heiress clutched her shower kit, giving the Besalisk a pointed glance.

"Asss forr trrusst?"

She drew a vibro-knife from the pack, just far enough so that the light glinted on its blade.

"That jissn't a Meorrrei vjirrtue."

The weapon was returned to its scabbard, along with its implication. Rai'faani wasn't going to be anyone's victim.

[Phrexus Krale]

He paused momentarily in his scrubbing, the brush growing still as he looked down to the small vibro-knife she flashed. With a hmph, he let his eyes return to her own clear blues.

"And what is a Rai'faani virtue."

It was the first time he'd spoken her name.

Not 'girl'. Not 'Little One'. Rai'faani.

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

She considered the question put forth to her. It was an unusual one, in that Rai couldn't recall anyone ever bothering to ask it of her. She'd been asked thousands of times about qualifications and studies, of which she had no shortage of responses. But being a woman of letters was expected of an aristocrat. What, then?

"jI rrecall a lecturre on phjilossophjy jI attended jin unjiverrssjitjy. Thejy sspoke at length on vjirrtue. jIf jI rrecall, the pjillarrss of vjirrtue arre temperrance, prrudence, courrage, and jusstjice."

Rai'faani paused, frowning as she glanced to the side.

"jI posssesss none of thesse thjingss."

Her eyes returned to the Besalisk.

"But jI have otherr qualjitjiess."

[Phrexus Krale]

He let her have this moment. Though, he had no appetite to stand and try to guess anything, so he prodded her along.

"And those are... "

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

"Ambjitjion, jintujitjion, and cunnjing."

Rai's ears skewed, then perked.

"Thejy don't ssound asss noble asss vjirrtuess, but no woman can excel wjithout at leasst one."

[Phrexus Krale]

Finally he resumed his brushing, and turning away from her, leaned down to spit a stream of frothed paste and saliva into a sink. A pass of his free hand over the water activator, and he rinsed off his brush before letting it fall to the counter. Cupping his hand, he brought up a handful of water to his mouth. A second later he spit it all back out again.

"You intend to be a survivor, then."

The corner of his towel was brought up, and he wiped his mouth free of any excess buildup left over from the paste.

"Those three are good traits to have, if that is what you're wanting."

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

"What good arre vjirrtuess jif jyou don't ssurrvjive?" Rai scoffed. "Hjisstorrjy bookss arre fjilled wjith verrjy vjirrtuouss and verrjy dead people, Arr Krrale. jI have no jintentjion of jojinjing thejirr numberr. Whetherr that'ss jin the face of a hosstjile takeoverr orr a blassterr."

Rai whipped one towel around her chest before furiously scrubbing her hair with another, then drawing it and twisting it atop her head into a turban.

"Can jI assk jyou ssomethjing?"

[Phrexus Krale]

She whipped out a snappy reply that only made him roll his eyes. Gathering the rest of his toiletries, he'd thrown his towel over his shoulder when her question gave him pause.

He thought on the possibility of simply telling her no, and to keep walking. But, she had asked in earnest, it seemed, and so he obliged with a slight grumble that seemed only partially feigned.

"I don't know. Can you?"

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

"Hass anjyone everr wrronged jyou deepljy? jI don't mean ssomethjing asss bjig asss the warr wjith the Empjirre, jI mean jyou perrssonalljy?"

Rai stared intently, needing to hear the Besalisk's insights. Her tail slowed its sway until it stilled.

"To the pojint of takjing rrevenge?"

[Phrexus Krale]

He stared down at her, knobby brow furrowing as his eyes narrowed. What she asked, it was a request that compelled him to dig into a past that was of the sort that he'd rather forget.

"Well," his gravelly voice was low and thoughtful, "I suppose the better question is 'which time hurt the most'."

She seemed undeterred, and he let out a long breath, turning briefly to finish gathering his toiletries into their tote before snatching it from the steel countertop.

"I had a sister. Younger. She did nothing but smile and laugh."

Drawing up to his full height, the Besalisk now towered over Rai'faani.

"Until the day that she did neither, because of an Imperial pilot. Her crime was buying flowers, and taking joy in them. She bumped into him on a pedway, and he didn't think that she was 'sorry enough'."

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

It was easy enough to paint the image in her mind, because Rai'faani already had the sanguine shades. The biting sense of loss of her father - that could easily be a sister.

"What djid jyou do?" She asked Phrexus quietly, her breath quickening somewhat.

Rai didn't have to ask what became of his sister. The kind of man who was embittered enough to not only become a rebel, but a half-mad hermit of a rebel - there was no happy tale waiting to be heard. She didn't need Phrexus to tell her about grief. She wanted something beyond.

[Phrexus Krale]

"It took a while, but I found the pilot. Didn't take too awful long, since back then there were some in the Empire who liked to brag about the things they did, knowing they wouldn't be caught or punished."

Still he stared down at her. There was a terrible calm that seemed to rest in his gaze.

"After all, they were the ones in charge, weren't they? They held the power."

One meaty, muscly finger came up.

"Until the day I found him. Wing Lt. Karu Tayban learned what metal girders tasted like that day."

The Besalisk felt his shoulders hunch forward, as though he was remembering the rhythmic, staccato beat of a head repeatedly hitting a support pylon until it was nothing but blood, shattered bone, and ground bantha meat.

"I left him in the lower levels for the womprats to finish off the carcass."

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

The Besalisk skimped on the visceral details, and Rai didn't press him for those.

"And afterrwarrd? Djid jit change anjythjing? Would jyou do jit agajin, jif gjiven the chance?"

[Phrexus Krale]

"Some will tell you that it changes nothing - that your loved one is still dead and all that you've done is create another lifeless body. But, if I had to relive my life a thousand times," slowly, he leaned down, head angling to the side.

"... I would destroy that man. Each. And. Every. Time."

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

Rai's expression didn't change, but she tightened her fingers into fists, feeling the tips of her claws press against the skin of her palms until pain.

"Thank jyou forr jyourr candorr, Arr Krrale."

At last she relented, feeling the beginnings of her own blood welling against her fingers, and the endorphins that followed. Now, more than ever, she wanted to kill the man who killed her father. In the present, she'd have to settle for killing him a thousand times over in her mind.

"jI have to get drressed now."

[Phrexus Krale]

With a grunt as her only answer, Krale lumbered his way past the waifish Cizerack.

"Don't take too long," he mumbled out, "Samus is out feeding the tauntauns, and when he comes back, we eat breakfast."

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

Rai quickly returned to her room, getting dressed as quickly as possible to prevent the cold from setting in. By the time she pulled on her parka, the shivering had begun. As she rifled through her belongings, it ebbed. She pulled out the med kit she had let Samus borrow two nights prior, finding the kolto bandage roll. She double-wrapped her palms where her claws had dug in during her conversation with Phrexus. Upon putting it back, the heiress saw her a familiar makeup compact at the bottom of her kit.



* * *


"Good morrnjing Ssamuss." Rai purred, the vulnerabilities of the morning left behind her as she entered the tauntaun pen. Her nose crinkled as the unpleasant odors of the stalls hit, but she otherwise didn't protest it. Surveying the layout of the pen, Rai moved to hoist a hay bale from a high stack at the far wall, moving it to the stalls opposite the ones Samus was working.

[Q. Samus Dage]

In the last stages of making sure that one of the feeding troughs was filled, Samus turned to give Rai'fa a quick glance.

"Didn't expect you to be up so early," he grunted out. There was no condemnation in his voice, just a simple statement of fact.

"But, it's good to see you out and about regardless."

Shifting his body weight to the side, the blonde peered into the heated water tank, and satisfied that the water level was where it needed to be, he turned on a heel to tromp back through the snow toward the sheltered stalls.

"There's a busted section of dune fence out on the easterly range that Krale wants us to fix," he went on, "... figure we'll go back in after this to pack up some lunch, let these stenchbags finish eating while we get our gear, then head out."

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

"That'ss fjine." Rai grunted as she shifted her weight to carry the hay bale, moving it towards the feed trough. She hooked her claws under the cord, working at it until she felt the snap beneath her fingers. She quickly pulled apart the fodder, tossing handfuls into the feeding area before dusting her hands off.

[Q. Samus Dage]

She was determined to keep pace, and Samus gave her every chance to do just that. And when the morning chores had been tended to, he led the way back inside. Their boots tromped on the durracrete floor, each stomping off excess snow buildup as they continued further inside.

"I don't know exactly what's in the food stocks, so it'll be like Life Day in the trenches, so to speak."

He gave her a wink then, as they passed through the doorway that would lead into the common room, followed by an almost brotherly elbow into her shoulder.

"Least you get to pick out what you eat, even if pickings may be slim."

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

By now, the thought of the food in this place had dulled from an outrage to an endured indifference, and Rai shrugged slightly at the thought of wading through rations of dubious quality. The jeeta also helped to keep her mood on even keel, igniting a warmth in her belly that radiated to her extremities and kept the cold from biting.

Of course, it also ignited other things as well. The endorphin rush lightened her mood and sharpened her senses, such as the way Samus smelled after the mild exertion of the morning. It made Rai'faani keenly aware of her deprivations. Krale had her figured out, she had wanted to find Samus as the other person in the shower. She could tell herself it was just for the viewing, but that wasn't the whole of it. When the human elbowed her shoulder, Rai'faani trilled slightly, her ears perking at the contact. She grinned, following him close.

[Phrexus Krale]

"About time the two of you finished your morning chores!"

The bellowing voice met the both of them, as Phrexus Krale finished the last touches on his breakfast preparation. It was a simple meal, with shaak bacon strips from his private reserve, a few tuber hash patties, some scrambled nuna eggs with Rodian steak spice mixed in, and a few slices of toasted bread. Nothing fancy, but he was at least mindful enough to make sure to feed the bellies of those who were taking over his normal daily tasks, even if it was for a short period of time.

"I hope those lazy stinkbeasts didn't give too much trouble," came the following response, his words a deep gravelly rumble as they left his mouth.

"Since you two are going out into the pastures today to do repairs, I thought I would make a filling breakfast to keep you warm."

There was a strange, gentle sort of caring in his motions as he doled out the portions onto three plates. And when that task was finished, he lifted up the first, holding it out toward Rai'faani.

"Ladies first."

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

The smell of a warm breakfast reached her before the Besalisk's booming voice. Rai'faani raised an eyebrow at what passed for spectacle in this frozen outposet, glancing to Dage momentarily before returning her attention. It was still what passed for food for forrda, but this was obviously not some embalmed abomination like what she'd endured the first day.

She took her plate, giving a slight nod of her head.

"Verrjy grracjiouss, Arr Krrale."

[Phrexus Krale]

He beamed wide, showing a row a teeth.

"Anything to keep you from eating my tookas," he chuckled while handing an identical plate to Samus.

Moments later he took up his own.

"Forks are there," a gesture to the two utensils sitting atop a pair of cloth napkins.

"Now," he continued, "... don't expect food like this for every morning. I'm only helping you because you're helping me."

Another grin, and he scooped up a forkful of eggs which was summarily shoveled into his ready-and-waiting maw.

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

"jI would not darre eat jyourr tookass."

Rai replied in an innocent tone as she took the foreign eating implements and napkins and found a seat. As if on cue, one of the well-fed felines bounded up to the table, obviously intent on plying a practiced trade of looking affectionate in exchange for scraps. The heiress glanced to Dage, winked, then back again to her host.

"jI'm cerrtajin thejy'rre loussjy wjith fleass."

A purple-furred paw encroached at the boundary of her plate, and Rai exposed her teeth to the fuzzy thief, letting out a small hiss, which was more than enough to convince this particular bandit that it was unwise to challenge the larger cat. It quickly vacated the table in a skittering of paws, as Rai grinned, breaking her first rasher.

[Phrexus Krale]

The girl had become a bit more personable, and Krale found himself taken by the same affliction. He gave a light henh at the interaction between Rai'faani and Katu, and continued to watch as The Cizerack woman chased the hopeful Tooka from the table.

"Even the Tooka are bound by the laws of mealtime," he chuckled.

Finding no goodwill from one, Katu and her gaggle of compatriots began to crowd around the Besalisk's legs, tails perked, heads cast upward to show off a small gathering of sharp-toothed 'smiles'.

Of course he could not refuse them, and with a grumble, Krale speared a few globs of egg before tapped it off the fork onto the countertop.

What followed was a careful dance of jumping, four-legged bodies that all vied for space atop the counter.

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

She kept up her wary vigil for another moment until she was certain the tookas were committed to begging for Krale's scraps only. Then, Rai attended her own breakfast. Aside from the thing she knew was bacon from what her T'yeellaa had said, nothing on her plate looked recognizable in the slightest, and the heiress didn't particularly want to open the seal and ask what any of it was. It smelled agreeable - well, the bacon did. The rest was a mix of grease, and something that smelled not burned but close to that smell.

Rai'faani turned the fork over in her hand briefly, before figuring out the why of it. She awkwardly speared a hash brown, frowning as she hoisted it by this strange prosthetic metal paw until she took a tentative, crunchy bite. Initially confused, Rai felt eyes on her to her right, and dispelled the look in a moment, hunching her shoulders forward as she leaned over her plate.

Samus's eyes weren't the only adjacent distraction. Even through the olfactory onslaught of breakfast smells, Rai could smell the closeness of him. Her mouth dry, she reached for her water and quaffed.

[Q. Samus Dage]

His own plate had been taken with damn-near glee, and the blonde let it clatter to the table as he sat heavily. Fork in one hand, Samus placed a guarding arm around his plate as he speared a forkful of tuber hash. Dredging it through the eggs to pick up some of the seasoned bits of yellow blobs. He brought it up to his mouth, and without hesitation shoved the whole thing past his teeth.

Chewing, he cast a quick look to Krale and his gang of hooligan Tookas.

A swallow, and he abandoned his fork in favor of plucking up a strip of bacon with two fingers. Another hungry bite, and he finally let his eyes switch from the Besalisk to Rai'fa.

"Good, yeah?"

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

"Hm." she replied, which combined with a shrug into a positive, if ambivalent reply.

"Cerrtajinljy betterrr than the rratjionss." Rai crunched into the salty bacon, taking a moment for the jeeta to further enrich the epicurean moment. Her tail moved in a contented sway until brushing against Samus's back. Finding the resistance pleasing, Rai swayed again, this time returning and lingering a beat longer.

Chores and food. Chores and food. That was life as she knew it in this bleak little outpost. Up until this moment of small enjoyment, the experience had been some kind of austerity pornography. Lessons sifted out of small doses of suffering, she was beginning to understand that to an extent. But she'd be lying if the deprivations weren't weighing on her.

[Q. Samus Dage]

His chewing stopped in that moment, and giving her a long stare, Samus finally swallowed before slowly latching onto his plate and deliberately sliding away from her.

The fork was taken up once more, and he gave a cautionary wave with it at her.

"Manners, Rai'fa. Don't forget why we're here."

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

Manners! The absurdity! Speaking of austerity pornography, Quentin Samus Dage closing up like a tundra flower in a blizzard. She gave him a blank look, momentarily dispelling her presently-overactive imagination.

"Two dajyss ago jyou werre sstealjing food off mjy plate, and jyou talk about mannerrss?"

Dining on ashes and frustration was less desirable than her breakfast, and Rai took out her deprivations on a heaping bite of eggs.

"jIt'ss jusst a touch. Nothjing morre."

[Q. Samus Dage]

It was a slightly unimpressed stare that he settled upon her at that. Presently, his attentions returned to his food, and he took up another forkful of egg and hash.

"Let me guess," he halfway grumbled, remembering something T'yeellaa had once said, "... your tail has got a mind of its own."

Of course, when the eldest Meorrrei sister had said it, it'd been sweet and cute and completely endearing. With Rai'fa, it was different.

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

She slightly smiled at the joke without laughing, but the smile soon drifted away. Rai thoughtfully chewed a bite of bacon, deciding whether to evade this conversation or to entertain it, and whether or not it would come to any good or not.

"No, jI'm fajirrljy cerrtajin that jI and mjy tajil arre of the ssame mjind."

Keeping her eyes forward, she took another bite.

"Call jit a fleetjing moment of weaknesss."

[Q. Samus Dage]

* * *


They'd gone out in the CUC-S that was still serviceable, a load of supplies packed into the back bed. The cab was toasty enough, as Samus had made sure to start the thing ten minutes before they'd left to allow the defrosting unit to work away the frost and the internal heater to warm up the rest of the interior. It was an old model, with a bench seat, overly-large control yoke, and a long shaft that ended in a leather-wrapped knob, belonging to an ancient manual repulser-clutch. Where Krale had managed to find such an old model was beyond Samus' mental grasp, but he didn't question it too awful much since he'd missed the feel of a shifter knob in his right palm. It was like being back home, on Myomar.

Cresting the last hillock, there was nothing but white that stretched out for miles in all directions, broken only by a string of fenceposts that marked the border of the Besalisk's pasture land. Snowswept desert was a more appropriate label, but he wasn't keeping score.

Up ahead, there was a break in the fence, and Samus slowly pulled up alongside the fence, traveling down its length until fillay slowing to a full stop just before the break.

Looked like something had gotten in a tussle with the wood slats and fiberwire, tearing a sizable portion away. Broken planks and twisted metal could be seen strewn about.

The shifter was thrown into neutral, and pulling up on the handbrake, he let his left thumb release the clutch pad on the yoke. The vehicle idled then, as he surveyed the damage from the comfort of the cab.

"Well."

A sideways look was sent to Rai'faani, who was firmly planted in the passenger side of the bench seat. At least this old speeder model had a fold-down console, with two steaming cups of caf currently occupying the drinkholders. Samus took the pause in his estimations to take up his own beverage, carefully bringing it up for a tentative sip.

"Looks like we're going to have a bit of fun. Gonna patch this up the same way we used to do back home, I think."

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

"Onljy jyou could fjind fun jin ssomethjing ljike mendjing a brroken fence."

Rai's barb was only half-hearted, her attention diverted completely to the damage in the fence. She frowned slightly, leaning forward on the bench seat.

"What do jyou thjink caussed that?"

By her estimation, there were enough life forms on this ice ball to fill a medium freighter at best.

[Q. Samus Dage]

"Honestly? I couldn't tell you."

Replacing his cup back into the holder, Samus leaned back in his seat as he continued to survey the damage. A few moments passed before he moved once more, and even then it was to simply pull a small flimsi notepad from the inside pocket of his thick, canvas overcoat. An oldstyle stylus was removed as well, and he flipped the pad open to a blank page. Numbers and equations were scrawled on the small slip of flimsi, along with a few notations of the supplies that they both needed and had nestled in the back of the speeder.

It was mostly to doublecheck what he already well-enough suspected, and Samus furrowed his brow as he lifted his eyes to once again stare at the damaged section of fence. Murmurs to himself, mutterings of numbers as he sent his eyes to the broken portion of fence before them. All the while his stylus was writing out those very same numbers on his pad.

"Not terribly big," he mumbled as his attention returned to his notes.

"Probably just put in a loop and lever gate. Make it easier."

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

Her curiosity drifted from the damaged fence to Samus's scribblings, and Rai shifted in her seat to get a better vantage over what he was writing. Her eyes danced over the equations jotted in the margins, bringing her to a quick bit of observation.

"jYou can do that wjith a meterr and a quarrterr lesss materrjial, and jit sshould be sstrrongerr."

It was take-it-or-leave-it, and the heiress did nothing to push the issue more than to gesture for his stylus.

"Majy jI?"

[Q. Samus Dage]

* * *

Mending the fence had been an easy enough affair; nothing a strong grip, locking clamps, and some elbow grease couldn't fix. The two had worked largely in unison, and Samus had to give his young charge credit - she thought on her feet when the right conditions were met. Of course, being in such cold temperatures tended to make any and all determined to finish a job that much faster.

The tools had been returned to the bed, and the blonde shuffled his way back to the driver's side, his hand coming down on the doorpad.

He hesitated then, a sudden thought coming to him.

Rai'fa was still doing... something... at the newly-repaired fence, and he called out to her.

"You ever driven an old manual repulser speeder?"

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

With her back turned to Samus, Rai allowed herself the indulgence of a smile as she looked over the result of their work. It was one thing to know the answer to something, but seeing it put to practical effect was another matter. Before she could become too self-satisfied, his voice called from behind, causing her ears to briefly plane.

Rather than giving him the satisfaction of her explaining that she'd spent her entire life with servants handling the matter of driving speeders, the heiress simply pivoted on a heel, the tension in her ears easing.

"No."

Of course, being Samus, he never asked an idle question. From the expecting stance at the threshold of the door, it didn't take much to take a guess. The snow crunched beneath her boots as she approached.

"But jit lookss ljike jyou'rre gojing to sshow me how."

[Q. Samus Dage]

He gave a slightly lop-sided grin then, stepping to the side just a small bit to partially lean on the old speeder's door. She approached, and he watched as she closed the distance between them. Finally, he inhaled deeply, feeling as the cold air chilled his lungs, only to be expelled once more in a puff of steam.

"It'll be a good first try, I'd wager," he went on.

A full step back then, and he pushed the door more fully open before turning on a heel so that he could skirt around the front and open up the passenger side door. Hefting himself up and in, Samus rolled his shoulders just a little bit, and reaching up over his shoulder, brought down the safety straps, securing himself snuggly.

"Just so long as you don't burn up the motivator box in this old bird, you should be fine."

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

Oh, so we're learning by doing...in a vehicle that could careen into something and explode. Rai'faani could feel the incredulousness rising into her expression.

"Jusst ljike that, then?"

Samus's winsome half-grin - the one he always wore when he was about to cut loose with some nerf-poke parable - was unmissable. Rai's slightly-aghast look subsided, replaced by a serious face as she quickly took a look at all of the controls that she'd never paid attention to before.

The controls in front of the seat had two hand-grips, and some buttons on each side. No idea what any of those did. Between the two seats there were two levers? Toggle sticks? No idea there either. In front of that was the comms and environmental control suite. She knew about those. Below the driver controls, there were four foot pedals, which seemed problematic, since most sentient species had only two feet.

"...jusst ljike that." she muttered.

She eased into the seat, her nose again picking up that strange combination of musty closeness of bodies combined with the sharp unnaturalness of inert coaxium suspension. Well, Samus was right about one thing - this thing was old.

Since they were probably about to die or get seriously hurt, Rai took a moment to make extra certain that her crash webbing was secured.

[Q. Samus Dage]

A lean toward her, and he propped himself up with a casual elbow on the center console divider. His free hand came around, and he gestured to each no-doubt foreign looking control that he was guessing she might not be all that familiar with.

"There," a finger pointed to the starter switch, "... that'll turn us on, but be sure you have one foot on that second-from-the-left pedal. You gotta push it all the way in and hold it there, then it'll start when you hit the ignition button."

A bit of thought, and he gave a quick shake to one of the levers between them to make sure it was out of gear. Good. Craning his neck to make sure that the far left pedal was still fully depressed, he nodded to himself.

"Now, that pedal that's all the way down is your emergence brake, and you can disengage it with that little pull-handle under the steering column. Wait until we start though before releasing that brake. Got it?"

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

She didn't even glance in his direction. Instead, Rai's eyes caromed from control to control, mentally compartmentalizing Samus's familiar-if-slightly-meandering instructions.

Her hands paused just above the controls, fingers lightly kneading air as she walked the process out again in her head as Samus explained it. Jaw tight, she committed to the act. Okay, second-from-left petal first, but farthest-left pedal second. Shifting in her seat slightly, Rai pressed down with her full weight on her right foot until she could feel the second-from-left petal find resistance at the floorboard. Okay, find the start button - there it is! Rai jammed her thumb into the prominent toggle, feeling the affirming shimmy and rumble as the speeder's active powerplant came online, intensifying the otherwise subtle cavitations in the repulsorlift. Okay, next...

Rai's grip tightened at the controls. Pressing the tip of her tongue slightly between her lips, she reached below, fingertips finding what had to be the switch he'd described. There was a slight resistance, then a break as some ratcheted tension somewhere in the vehicle released with a loud creak. That, and the sudden shift of movement on the repulsor cushion elicited a brief gasp, which she regretted. She'd ridden in this jalopy almost a dozen times now. Why was this now surprising to her?

There was now the tricky part of her right foot standing on the second-left pedal. She wasn't sure if she would need to brake again. Carefully, Rai allowed the toe of her left boot to edge onto the petal occupied by her right, slowly shifting it out of the way so that her left foot was applying pressure.

[Q. Samus Dage]

"Good so far," he rumbled in encouragement, "... now. The second-from-the-right pedal is your normal brake. You'll use that anytime you want to stop. That e-brake is just for when you're parked and leaving the speeder alone for a while."

She sat stiffly, but he couldn't entirely hold that against her. He was much the same when his own Da had taught him. Then again, he'd been about 7 years old when that happened.

"You've got your clutch pushed in, so now you can shift into first gear, ok?"

The blonde took hold of one of the levers, and with a little shake, he jammed it over and forward. The speeder gave a little shudder as the gear engaged, and a moment later he took it back to neutral. His hand lifted to trace an pattern in the air between them.

"Furthest toward you and up, that's first. Straight back is second. Over and up is third, and straight back from third is fourth. Make sense?"

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

"Whjy not jusst have fourr buttonss herre?" she frowned, easing her palm over the pommel, still mentally sorting Samus's orientation directions. It seemed needlessly complicated. Still, she pressed onward. Over and forward. The mechanism shifted clumsily in her grasp, not feeling like a natural movement. A half-second later, the power plant's hum shifted, as did the rumble under her seat. Okay, so if second-from-right was the brake, then the one all the way to the right must be the accelerator. With the clutch still engaged, Rai probed the far-right pedal. She knew she didn't want to stand on this one the way that she did with the other one, so she tested its response. Light pressure didn't budge. She increased until she felt a break, which then seemed to move with less resistance than she was expecting. The power plant spun up. Something angry sounded in the compartment ahead, and then in an instant, the power died, throwing the speeder into a jarring shudder as the weight dropped against the auxiliary anti-gravity buffer.

"Aah!" She blurted as her frazzled tail tuft beat against the middle console audibly.

[Q. Samus Dage]

He was ready for the stall, and rode the shuddering halt easily enough. In fact, he very nearly laughed aloud at her reaction. For now though, she needed a teacher, not a bully who took joy in her mistake.

"It's all good," he did smile reassuringly though, "... everyone does that when they first start out."

He thought back to her question about control layout, and tried to explain.

"Well, this is an older model, and so things are the way they are. The newer models of this speeder have everything nestled into the steering column, but it's like all things that get improved upon. Sometimes the first ones are a bit more rough around the edges than their successors."

Reaching over, he gave her shoulder an encouraging pat.

"Try again. And this time, once you get this old thing into first gear, slowly let off the clutch while gently pushing down the accelerator, ok? Do your best to feel the motivators and repulsors as they spool up, and let those be your guide. It's easier when you feel how they behave rather than fight against them."

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

There was a discomforting amount of vaguery in Samus's explanation, and Rai was somewhat annoyed at the imprecision of it. It all reminded her of riding fathiers with her sisters. Of course, T'yeellaa always seemed to understand whatever the beast she rode seemed to convey. Rai had never taken to as naturally to riding, and hadn't advance in it more than she was required to.

Still, she'd put too much effort into this to quit. The very idea of being bested by this rusted piece of garbage scow was unacceptable.

Going back to zero, Rai went through the steps. Engage clutch. Power up, shift, disengage clutch, accelerate. Again, the speeder stalled.

"Kosa!" She scowled, not pausing an instant. Repeat the steps. Clutch, power, shift, release-apply. The next few times, she made subtle changes to her footwork, blindly venturing into darkness. She could feel the sputtering anticipation of a stall. Eventually, she found her window, and the speeder eased forward. Rai exhaled, feeling the new resistance of the acceleration pedal as the speeder bounced forward in ungainly paces. Ears perked, Rai focused her attention on the controls, keeping them level as she eased a little more acceleration.

[Q. Samus Dage]

It was a jerking, bumpy ride to begin with, and Samus let one hand grasp the doorhandle as he maintained a steady enough perch in his seat.

"Good, good," he brought his eyes from the front to the side, watching how she gripping the steering yoke with an durasteel hold.

"Try to relax, it'll be a little smoother, I promise. The only way you're gonna get better at this is if you don't let it win."

Probably a useless thing to say to Rai'fa - the girl was one of the more stubborn creatures he'd ever run into over the course of his years.

The speeder was picking up a little more now, and Dage once again leaned some of his weight on the center console.

"Ok, ok, you're still doing good. Now, push in the clutch, take your foot off the accelerator, and put the shifter into second. Then do the same thing as you did before - letting up on the clutch and pushing in the accelerator. That way you can go faster and not burn up your low gear."

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

Still breathing through gritted teeth, the heiress applied what Dage taught her, but not without tense protest.

"When do jI know that jI'm ssuppossed to do that?!"

For the moment, she took his suggestion at face value. There was that same feeling and sound, a hesitation right before stalling, and Rai averted the crisis, transitioning gears. Their speed picked up. If the process of changing gears was frustrating, the feeling of being in control of power felt as natural as anything.

[Q. Samus Dage]

His hand went out then, a finger extending to point at an illuminated rev-meter.

"That there, that tells you when you need to shift. When the bars get up to the five marker, then you want to shift up."

The glowing bars were currently fluttering between three and four, as Rai'fa started to apply more speed.

"Each time you get up to that five, then you can shift. In the last gear though, if it goes over the five, that's fine. It's built larger than the others, and can take the more high speeds a lot easier."

Easing back into his seat, he cast his eyes to the front once more. They were bouncing along back toward Krale's fortress home at a marginal pace, and Samus wasn't in too much of a hurry to get back. This was a time for learning, and if she chose to take a few more laps about then he'd gladly oblige her.

"It takes time to get used to, but once you do, it'll come as natural as breathing, I promise."

[Karazak Slavers Remnant]

* * *



In the far distance, a body lay prone to a rocky outcropping, macros lifted and sooming in on the utility speeder could be seen as it rumbled through snowswept pastureland; halting, jerking about, shuddering as the thing threatened to die. The watcher had seen the girl get into the driver's seat, and the tall blonde human make for the passenger's side. Probably a first lesson. It would certainly explain the poor driving.

The body behind the macros shifted little, and the group ensconced behind it waited patiently. They'd arrived a day ago, their mission a simple one. Kidnap the girl, and they could keep the human and the Besalisk for themselves to help fill out their dwindling slave pens. Normally the group would raid a small village, but the money being offered for the girl was too good to pass up.

One of the waiting ones crept up.

"When."

A bit of quiet, as the macros finally lowered slowly.

"Tonight. While they sleep."




* * *

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

She took his advice as it came, applying each new piece of information to what she already had. That familiar sensation in her feet matched the meter at the control console. Clutch-shift. Rai felt the slight delay and then shift of energy as the vehicle prepared for fresh acceleration. As she cycled the gears, Rai began to feel more comfortable behind the controls, and allowed herself to enjoy the feeling of moving at speed. In the open, there wasn't much threat. She accelerated again, more assertively. The speed began to pick up, and the juddering of the speeder shifted from a dull bobbing to a few quick and tight shimmies as a wake of displayed snow kicked up in their wake. Rai shifted again, pushing the speeder faster...

[Q. Samus Dage]

"There you go!"

She was getting better, and Samus smiled wide.





_ _ _



Their impromptu driving lesson had had a bumpy start (quite literally), but it had ended on a high note, and Rai'fa had enough of a grasp of the mechanics after the blonde had made her stop and go more than a few times. She was finding the the old CUC-S's ticks and peculiarities easily enough, and more importantly remembered them. And because of that, he'd allowed her to pull the ancient speeder into the yawning garage area to park it beside the old tank that Krale was currently underneath.

Rai'fa killed the engine, and Samus hopped out with a surprising bit of spring to his step. Gloves held in one hand and his other going out to shut the door, he looked to his young charge as she stood on the other side of the hood. He gave her a wink and a grin that held a tinge of pride.

"Not all that difficult, now, is it? Maybe I should make you be my chauffeur from now on."

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

The thrill had come and gone, and while Rai was pleased at learning how to drive the speeder, the feeling that came with acceleration had limits the same as the machine beneath her.

"jIf jyou do, we sshould get ssomethjing fassterr."

It was something she'd never remotely been interested in, until this moment. Now, all she wanted to do was go out riding again.

[Phrexus Krale]

Krale slid his bulk out from beneath the tank, and with a deep rumble of a groan, lifted himself up to stand. All four hands went to wipe away the accumulated grease on the front of his shirt.

"What's this then, Samus," he hawmed. The girl was on the driver's side, and it was most certainly not the sight he'd expected to see.

Ambling closer, the Besalisk stopped at the very front, placing two still-very-grimey hands on the hood as his gaze went from Samus to Rai'faani.

"I do surely hope that you've not burned up my motivators, Young Miss."

And yet, it wasn't spoken in the normal impatient gruffness that he'd had in the past. Instead, his deep, craggy voice held a note of almost... playfulness?

A third hand came up to waggle a finger at her.

"Because if you have, I'll make sure to send you home with a bill."

He was almost teasing her, now.

[Q. Samus Dage]

He knew that tone, and couldn't help but laugh.

"He will, too. He once made Captain s'Ilancy repay him when she accidentally broke the priming pin on his favorite E-Web."

The memory was enough to make him shake his head in mirth.

"And that was back when none of us even had a credit to our names!"

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

The heiress exchanged a glance with Samus, not quite keeping the amusement out of her expression. It was possible that he hadn't informed Krale of her second vehicle - a custom-built Nubian star yacht.

"jIf therre'ss anjy damage, jyou can bjill me." she smiled glibly, leaning slightly against the speeder's frame and appreciating the residual heat within.

[Q. Samus Dage]

That Night

He'd showered, taking only enough time to make sure that his hair was scrubbed clean and the rest of his body soaped down then rinsed off. A quick towel-dry, and an old pair of BDU's thrown on, and Samus sauntered from the communal fresher area with his small toiletries kit in one hand. It was getting close to chow time, and ducking into his quarters long enough to toss the kit onto his bunk, he pulled back out to head for the common area. Already the smells of cooking food was reaching his nose, and he allowed his pace to quicken.

Passing through the open double-doors, he rolled his shoulders.

"Ronto? Is that ronto you're cooking up?"

[Phrexus Krale]

The kitchen was a flurry of activity, as Krale was focused on the sizzling cubes of skewered meat being seared on a cast beskar grill-top.

He grunted at the call from Samus, while at the same time turning his attentions to another pan that held mushrooms and onions. A swift stir with a wooden stir-spoon, and he reached over with a free hand to pull a bowl of trimmed loccard greens closer.

"It's a meal," he finally answered, as the blonde began to invade his space.

"Oy!"

His tone took on a distinct growled sound, and he shouldered his old mate back.

"Need space, Whistle-britches. Either go sit, or pass me the butter broth over there."

Samus opted to help, and the bowl of butter broth was slid across the countertop so that was within the Besalisk's grasp. A third hand began to turn over the skewers. There were already four of the sticks pulled off the cooktop, mostly raw with the exception of a slight browned crisp on them - those were for Rai'fa.

Speaking of...

His voice rose to a rumbling call, then.

"Rai'faani!"

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

Her life didn't have many moments of deep introspection, usually because things were happening too fast. But here and now, while Rai'faani waited with a towel wrap on her head with robe cinched at her waist, she began to think about the immediate absurdity of this situation. She waited for her fresh clothes to finish their cycle in the tumbler, noting how thin the foam layer of her shower sandals was that now kept her bare feet from making contact with the most freezing floor in her life. And while the sonic setting on the tumbler was more than enough to both wash and dry clothes in the same session, she was indulging in a simple vice of fresh, clean, but most importantly, warm clothes from the dryer.

BING

The cycle finished, and Rai'faani swung the tumbler's door open, glancing briefly back towards the doorless entry of the laundry alcove, to make sure the coast was clear. Only then did she yank free the cinch at her waist and let the robe fall free, as she quickly rifled through her clothes in the correct order of operations, getting clothed quickly to preserve every degree of blissful heat, rather than out of some kind of vestigial modesty. She'd even thrown two blankets in with her clothes that weren't even dirty, just so she could swaddle herself after her clothes were on. And in that perfect moment of thermal bliss, as Rai'faani closed her eyes and brushed a cheek against the shaggy fluff of an Alcorrian fleece throw...

"Rai'faani!"

And in that moment, she saw her reflection in the tumbler door. A vaguely-humanoid burrito with a turban. And she did not care. Nine times out of ten, dignity and pride would win the day. But right now, she'd had a good day, and didn't honestly give a damn what she looked like, so that's exactly how she showed up two minutes later.

[Phrexus Krale]

She looked like some bundled-up Anteevian Kedouin trader, wrapped up in layers to protect from the cold. She even had the head-wrapping. It was enough to make him pause for a half-second, but in the next moment his attentions returned to the onions and mushrooms.

"Over there, in the dry-stocks storage," he gruffed out as a fourth arm gestured to a slatted door, close to where she now stood, "... get me the jar with the red and gold label."

Samus thankfully had backed off, and began to tend to setting the table for three.

"And be quickish," he turned over another few skewers, "... time is key."

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

"jYou have fourr handss and sstjill need anotherr one?" she quipped, already on her way to the dry-stocks storage to hunt down the missing parcel.

There were easily over a hundred different containers in the closet-sized space, and a bevy of competing scents assailed her nose, even through what seemed to be sealed boxes, jars, and bags. Putting the back of her hand to the base of her nose to stifle a sneeze, Rai zeroed down on colors only. That helped her to narrow it down to two. One was in a language she didn't understand, and the other was cryptically called Gemji paste.

Introspection could wait, and Rai put both on the counter. This whole sordid ballet of mad science that forrda called cooking was at first offputting and offensive, but the heiress had to admit that there was something akin to sorcery at work. That made the weird into something almost artistic.

[Phrexus Krale]

Finishing turning over the skewers, he reached for the jar of komu powder. He ignored the gemji paste, guessing that she only grabbed it since she wasn't entirely sure which labeled jar he was wanting, going only off of the colors that he'd listed off. With two fingers, the lid was quickly unscrewed to reveal a secondary lid with a smattering of self-punched holes. And with a swift motion, the Besalisk turned it over to shake glittering specks of green and black dust over the mushrooms and onion still sizzling away in their skillet.

A grunt in thanks, and he set the jar back atop the counter.

"Over there," he pointed to the bowl of butter broth.

"Take that, and pour it into this big pot here."

An elbow angled up to indicate a large pot that rested on an eye, the water within at a rolling boil.

"And then take those greens in that bowl over there... " a nod to the bowl of loccards, "... and put those in also."

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

Sorcery. Alchemy. Something unnatural, intriguing, inscrutable, and opaque. If Rai stopped to question any of it, she might truly be derailed, so she didn't. The most liberty she took was to give the powdery contents of the now-used jar a sniff, which elicited a nearly eye-watering response.

"Kosa." she grimaced, wrinkling her nose as she screwed the cap on again. Finding the broth, Rai couldn't resist smelling that too. Something rich. Familiar but different. She deposited it where she was tasked. Last were the bowl of...loccards. Eating vegetables was already alien and suspect as it was, but upon smelling the deep green leaves, she frowned, putting distance between her nose and the offensive greens, her ears planing flat in displeasure.

"That..." she paused to find the most diplomatic way to sign her displeasure as she grabbed fistfuls of leaves to add to the pot, "...ssmellss ljike a farrt."

[Phrexus Krale]

A rumbled laugh as he gave a sideways glance to her, only halfway supervising her actions of depositing the greens into the pot.

"They may smell like that now, but you just wait."

A swift step to the side, and he opened the door to the oven. A quick reach in with his hand protected by a dishrag, and Krale pulled out a cast beskar pan full of sizzling squares of shaak fat. They were like angry, spitting cube-demons swimming in equally angry spitting-juices. A leg immediately closed the oven door, and he set the pan on the countertop. A gesture to a drawer, and he further instructed his newfound sous chef.

"Go in that drawer there, and pull out a serving spoon. When you've got all the loccards into the pot, put in the salt-shaak."

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

The rising heat in the kitchen was rendering her wrapping obsolete, so Rai unwrapped the blankets from around her, setting them over the back of a chair, then following up again to wash her hands once more. The bulky winter greens were pressed into the pot, and she then followed that by scooping out the salt-shaak. That at least smelled appetizing, until she caught the overriding smell of salt that warned her off taking a sample of one of the piping-hot sputtering cubes.

"Fuck!" A sputtering stream of grease from one of the fatty cubes spit at her as she turned it, hitting the soft skin on the inside of her wrist, causing the spoon to clatter into the beskar skillet. Rai immediately withdrew her scalded hand, shaking it and sucking at the pink, raised circle of offended flesh to ease the sensation of grease burn.

With her first spoon half-sunk into the hot fat, the heiress begrudingly returned to the drawer to grab another one.

[Q. Samus Dage]

"Language, Rai'fa!"

Samus straightened up from his task of placing the silverware, his head craning to the side to look into the kitchen proper. Seeing Rai'faani grabbing another spoon from a drawer, he waggled a fork in her direction.

"We're respectable folk here, you know."

Words spoken with a wry smile, knowing she would more than likely scoff at him.

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

Rai blinked a few times, looking back with an expression that might have appeared blank were it not for a pointed ear flick.

"What betterr tjime for the F-worrd than a fjirrsst degrree burrn? Ssame letterr, ssame enerrgjy."

Retrieving a clean spoon, Rai returned briskly to the task at hand. The sooner she was away from this fire hazard, the better her chances at escaping dinner with her skin intact.

[Phrexus Krale]

Krale made sure to position himself between the two in order to return Rai'faani's attention to him and his instructions.

"Once you get all the shaak into the pot, take that big spoon over there and stir everything together."

His voice was gravely, but encouraging at the same time as he opened up a second oven. With a dishrag to protect his hand from the heat, he pulled out a low pan with more sizzling strips of shaak. This he set on the counter a bit further to the side, and immediately turned about to grab the small shaker of home-mixed spices that he'd set aside just for this moment. The clear jar held a blend of Anteevian salt, pepper, Ithorian green herbs, Kolo Claw Fish powder, and a few other secret ingredients that he would go to the grave with.

Delicately, in a series of movements that seemed strange from such a mountain of a being, he deftly sprinkled the shaak with his concoction.

And as an afterthought, one of his hands reached back to give a pat to Rai'faani's shoulder, and he offered a rare few words of encouragement.

"You're doing a fine job, Little Claw."