Chaos and Order

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

Staying silent, s'Il felt it best to let Arya pilot her ship without any distractions. She stared forward, taking in the blur of buildings as they swerved between structures; for a few moments she thought she'd be sick even. The other Lupine sent them higher into the atmosphere then, Cloud Cars still trailing close behind.

Her eye traveled over the console then, trying to decipher its' layout with little success. Frustrated with herself, the Lupine bit her lower lip, fingers gripping the armrests of her seat just a little tighter.

[Rev Solomon]

Solomon was in a similar state - all he could do was concentrate on keeping his seat despite a faulty harness. The clouds of Bespin streaked and twisted crazily in the viewports.

The Chevette freighter jolted again, and Solomon was fairly certain he'd heard something break off and tumble down the side of the fuselage.

[Arya Ravenwing]

Under normal circumstances she might have traded a few shots with the Cloud Cars, using the aft gun. Except that she no longer had an aft gun - whoever had been shooting at her from the landing pad had destroyed the gun placement. It fell off mid-flight to her chagrin, but then she hoped that it landed on the Imperial garrison commander's head.

A maniacal grin pasted onto her face as she concentrated on her flying, Arya whipped the complaining freighter around Cumulus, the huge topside casino. Proximity alarms started going off as she skimmed along the side of the structure, hoping to scare her pursuers into breaking off.

To her relief the Cloud Cars were forced to back off, and they stopped firing at her too, for fear of hitting the many tourists and paying customers that were walking the promenade of the upscale casino despite the late hour. The same tourists screamed and ducked to the ground as Wing of the Raven clipped a meters tall comm. antennae, sending it crashing to the ground. "Whoops," Arya muttered, pulling up and away from the City, hoping to make the break for upper atmosphere, space, and their jump point.

Celebrated too soon. More Cloud Cars were approaching from the opposite side of the City, the dual pod-shaped ships spreading out as though they were going to catch her. Yeah, right. Arya could only imagine what Whitey was going to do to her if he caught up with her. Or what Executor Sevon would do. Or what Ms. Esalis would allow that awful Colonel to do to her.

She was carrying the object of their obsession, and seemingly keeping it from them. Arya was at least twice dead should she be aprehended, at least, and the thought of that caused her to send Raven screeching up through the clouds. The smuggler piled on the accelleration while keeping their ascent as close to vertical as she dared.

They left clouds and Cloud Cars behind, G-forces pulling on their bodies as the inertial dampners struggled to compensate for her actions. Popping out into vaccum, finally, Arya didn't let up the speed, but the strain on their bodies was significantly less as the dampners stabilized. "Next stop, Sump," she ground out through gritted teeth.

"And no, we're not staying. Just stopping by to fuel up and turn around."

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

It took her a few more moments to mentally compose herself; she wasn't used to such flying, and if Sanis flew like this, he'd done it when she wasn't aboard Layla. Her thoughts went to her daughter, and s'Il stoically stared ahead as the dampeners worked to relieve the stress upon their bodies.

She nodded at Arya's words, not quite sure if it was safe to move about. Sending a questioning look back at Sol, the Lupine turned to Arya. "How long will it take to get there?"

[Rev Solomon]

Solomon winced and untied the rough knot he'd made of his safety harness, but, seeing Arya reach for the hyperdrive throttle, he stayed in his seat. Wing of the Raven gave one last shuddering protest as the stars ahead streaked with a hint of blue shift and melted into the brilliant fog of a hyperspace corridor.

"Long enough, I hope, for the three of us to have some words together." What had started out as an uncertain journey had just taken a sharp left toward insanity.

[Arya Ravenwing]

Arya didn't relax until the starlines swirled into the multicolored mush of hyperspace, and even then her shoulders remained hunched forward. The human equivalant of hackles raised. "Shouldn't be longer than a half hour. It isn't far."

With effort she sat up straight, and turned to look at her two passengers. "Yes, lets talk. But in the other room." The smuggler got stiffly to her feet, and stalked to the living area where she dug out the bottle of whiskey.

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

Her movements matched Arya's almost to a T - a stiff rise to her feet, hunched shoulders, a tense expression on her face - but as soon as her eye passed over Sol she paused. It was time he knew about her; and Arya for that matter, and at the least he deserved a dignified attitude from her. It was true, this sudden realization that there was a Loveloxx Lupine about had startled her to the point of acting short and almost angrily even, but the time for shock was long past.

Straightening up, the Lupine squared her shoulders and gave him a reassuring smile. She bowed her head, gesturing to the door with a widespread arm to indicate that he go first.

[Rev Solomon]

It was maddening after so long in isolation - Solomon wanted to pepper Loklorien with questions, ask about the last twenty years, find out if she was still among the Faithful, and if she'd found any others. Even how the Civil War was going - news was so distorted by the time it got out to Dantooine that he could never be sure of what he'd heard. But as long as Arya was an unknown quotient, he would have to exercise his patience.

He tipped his head toward Lok and followed the smuggler into the living room. He waited until both ladies had taken their seats, and he found a natural fulcrum between them and sat down. Then, realizing he still had his stunstick in hand, he looped it into his belt so it dangled at his hip.

"At the risk of sounding out of touch, I believe I'm the only person in this room who hadn't heard the word 'Lupine' until ten minutes ago. Though I might be able to hazard a guess at what it means."

[Arya Ravenwing]

The tumbler she'd been using earlier had fallen off the table and rolled to the far corner of the room, lodged between a cabinet and the floor. Arya was squatting down and picking it up with a whiskey bottle tucked under her arm when the other two walked into the living area.

She straightened, keeping Loklorien in her sights and not turning her back to her. Unconsciously she found herself not able to meet the other woman's eyes. A direct stare was a challenge to the beast inside, and while Arya usually was all about challenges and direct stares, it felt wrong.

Arya suddenly realized that her body language was shifting to submissive. No eye contact, head to the side. Approaching obliquely from an angle. Earlier she'd been too worked up to listen to the signals that her vornskr nature was giving her, but the beast seemed afraid of Loklorien. Wanted to submit, because the beast knew that Loklorien was stronger.

The smuggler slowly poured herself a generous tumbler of whiskey, and then plopped into the booth, still holding the bottle. The other two joined her, and Solomon spoke first.

"At the risk of sounding out of touch, I believe I'm the only person in this room who hadn't heard the word 'Lupine' until ten minutes ago. Though I might be able to hazard a guess at what it means."

Arya tipped up her drink, betraying no change in expression at the strong flavor of the alchohol. "Hazard being the operative word there." At the looks the other two gave her, she put down her cup. "What! We're dammed shapeshifting people-eaters. No offense, but I really don't know all that much about Lupines either. My mother told me stories but... I thought they were just crazy-person stories. I don't really remember anything about them."

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

"We do not eat people," s'Il corrected firmly. She leaned back a small ways in the booth and rested her hands palm down on the table's surface. Her expression turned thoughtful as she let her memories take her back, remembered the lessons her own father would give to her about their people. That Arya's mother succumbed to insanity was not a surprise; it had become increasingly rare for Lupines to remain sane even in their middle years. That her father had was a pleasant thing in retrospect. Now, whether s'Il herself did... her contemplation hardened into a grimace at the thought of Klavius.

What are you doing. You are being too quiet.

I have no desire to talk with you, Apex. Leave me alone.

Leave him alone? Now that was an odd thought. Brushing all that to the wayside, s'Il cleared her throat and looked to Arya."Your mother was not an oddity; toward the last years of our time many of us went mad. It was unavoidable; with sterility came inbreeding, and with that came madness... "

The Lupine paused, and bit her lip. "But I am getting ahead of myself." Her hands moved and she loosely intertwined her fingers together. Her eye locked with Arya's.

"We were first made to 'bell the cat', as it were."

And on she went, telling of the beginning of it all; of Townsend Loveloxx and Melkhiah Losstarot and their feud that reached its' devastating hand across eons of future generations.

[Rev Solomon]

Solomon listened carefully, interrupting only occasionally to ask for clarification. The story was extraordinary - not that he hadn't heard of entire races playing God with their genomes before, but never to this extent - and all for hatred of the Force.

So that explained why Arya changed so violently, and why Loklorien had been so docile. Solomon had plenty he still wanted to ask - where Lok had come from, how she ended up at the Jedi temple - but that would wait for later. Arya's questions were about her very nature. He would defer to them.

[Arya Ravenwing]

The whiskey was spreading its warmth through her body by the time Loklorien was done with her story. The smuggler offered the bottle to Solomon, but he declined.

"So. Genetic manipulations going back hundreds of years? And you're... we're the last two? And we can't reproduce."

Esalis wanted Loklorien. To make more, Arya imagined, or discover the secret behind the extraordinary genetic engineering. She frowned, "Do you know what happened to my family, then?"

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

"I do not, but I know where to find the best records of what happened to your family."

Which was true; s'Il had never concerned herself with the details of Loveloxx history; she knew much, but the details of each Loveloxx House had never been something she felt to be delved into. Of course now it seemed things had changed drastically.

She hesitated a few moments, thinking on how best to approach Arya's previous question.

"The last two adult Lupines, yes," she answered finally - almost haltingly even. It was the first time that she showed any sort of outward uncertainty.

"I have a daughter."

[Rev Solomon]

Solomon's eyes darted her way in surprise. If her species was enough to put her on the Empire's wanted list - and if it was even possible Arya had been hired to track her down because of it - why let a stranger so deeply into her confidence?

Of course, there were other questions that sprung to mind. Questions about the next generation of Force-adepts in a hostile galaxy.

"And you daughter, does she have your... abilities as well?" he asked cautiously, hoping Loklorien would apprehend both meanings.

[Arya Ravenwing]

A kid?!

Krasst.

"Thought you just got done telling me we are the last and we can't reproduce with non-Lupes." Her tone suggested that something must have been a lie. If not all of it.

The reversion warning beeped from the cockpit, and the smuggler pushed out of the booth and got to her feet. "Real space reversion in two minutes. Should be just another few for refueling and then we can be off again to wherever you wish." Arya walked up the passage to the cockpit to supervise the transition.

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

Her tone of voice became short, and her gaze like blue steel.

"It was not something I had foreseen. I don't even know why myself."

s'Il's hands gripped themselves a bit tighter, to the point that the skin over her knuckles began to whiten. "Everything I have; all the records and notes and journals have not helped me. I've looked through them all, and can find nothing."

There is another avenue to search, but she wished to exhaust her other resources first.

Her hands relaxed as she addressed Sol.

"She is a Lupine yes, but she isn't Force sensitive." The odd relief in her eye as she said this was easily seen, but the meaning behind it she would have to explain to him in private.

[Rev Solomon]

With Arya's departure, the two Jedi were, at least temporarily, alone.

Solomon rose from his fixed seat and sat down at the table opposite Loklorien so they could speak more comfortably. "I've got so many questions I'm not quite sure where to begin."

[Arya Ravenwing]

Arya sat down abruptly in the cockpit, propping her feet up on the console as the countdown timer ticked down. A minute to go.

This was too much, really. All of this. She should just dump Loklorien on the surface of Sump, call Esalis or Sevon or whoever it was she was calling when she activated the device she'd been given.

All the things she should do ran through her head as Wing of the Raven reverted to real space smoothly. Above them floated the putrid planet that was Sump. Surrounded by orbital junk, Arya quickly switched to manual steering, and thumbed the intercomm system. "We're here."

[Con't here]