A Bottle of Wine, A Sith Armarda and an Old Friend Walk into a Bar

[GhostOfProtocol]

What could go wrong?

That was almost the story of his life. What could go wrong? Especially with current plans involving the half empty bottle of wine on the table, the sith armarda floating overhead and an old torturer turned ally. A bar almost go amiss right now, but Kei knew he had to wait for Asajj to turn up at his door with news. News of his crew, of his factories and of the men that Kei had sent her to.

It had gone way past midnight, he had started drinking at roughly 17:00 hours. He was on his... he struggled to remember. Forth, maybe fifth bottle of wine. He wasn't sure he truly wanted to die for the Queen. If preferable, he didn't want to die at all. He'd been there, he had done that and he wasn't okay with it. It had been a rather unplesant experience and something he wanted to forget.

He looked at the cold food on the side. He wasn't as young as he used to be, the nights drinking mentally drained him. Physically he was fine, mentally he just wanted a bed. He couldn't though, Asajj was due to arrive at some point. Kei didn't know when, he just knew somepoint. He assumed she'd gotten lost, he'd laugh if she had. He lived in a penthouse in one of the few surviving tall buildings, it was difficult to get lost.

Then he heard the bell.

 

[Asajj Novar]

It had taken some time. More than the Dathomir wanted. But she was, finally, able to contact [member="Kei Raxis"] 's crew and pass along that Kei was alive and well, and what his plan was to help Commenor. As soon as she did though Asajj had went right to the penthouse. Thankfully she had enough sense with directions to not get lost searching for such a large building and found her way just outside his door.

She was brimming with excitement, both to see her old friend and to give him the good news she had learned. She rang the doorbell once, waited, then pressed it again, idly tapping her foot as she waited.

 

[GhostOfProtocol]

Kei answered the door, tiredness masking his features.

Asajj looked like someone had given her alcohol, lots of it. She was clearly hyper, clearly the opposite of Kei. Kei just wanted to sleep, he had a headache and couldn't hang with the Correlians anymore. Asajj on the other hand was a youthful Dathomir who looked hardly readly to pass out. Kei almost wanted, almost wished he could trade places with her and share the energy and excitement she had clearly been brewing.

Kei walked into the kitchen, turning on the caf machine before he lead Asajj through into the main sitting area. The floor to celing windows gave amazing views of the city normally, however they only gave views of the darkness and depression that had washed over Commenor since the arrival of the Sith forces. Kei used the force to activate the self tinting, masking the city and blocking out the depressing views of the outside.

Kei sat down as a protocol droid walked through with two cups. Kei had spent some time repairing the protocol droid that [member="Rex Taff"] had built for him back in the Mandolorian days. He also had the astromech aboard his cruiser, however he hadn't seen the small droid in a while. Not since the battle of Commenor when the Dutchman had chosen to flee the system for safety. Kei ran his hand through his hair, sighing.

"I trust you've had a productive day?"

[member="Asajj Novar"]

 

[Asajj Novar]

"You could say that. I found them. All of them. They made it off world and regrouped in the outerrim while they waited for word. Now that they got it they're planning on regrouping with my father like you suggested." Asajj was a flurry of words as soon as [member="Kei Raxis"] let her through the door and she closed it behind her. Yeah, she had a lot of energy. For the first time in a while there was good news on this scarred world She did, however, take her seat and did her best to not be too hyper and annoying to Kei. While it seemed like they were friends, she really didn't want to push any boundaries or annoy him.

"They should be moving soon. All of them. Hopefully the Sith won't be here for much longer."

 

[GhostOfProtocol]

He breathed a sigh of relief.

He was glad in many ways that his crew were't dead. They had become a family to him over the years and he knew that they would be useful in the coming fight. They had been trained to survive in a battle, keep the ship floating. They would fight until they couldn't fight, until the ship went down and then they'd fight using bits of the ship. They were soldiers at heart, especially those that Kei trained personally.

Kei missed the men but he couldn't go and catch up just yet. He would be much more useful on the planet. Maybe when the battle kicked off he could get back to his crew and command like he did best, but until then he needed to do whatever he could to set up the Commenori people. He would train them to fight against the Sith while Asajj inspired hope. They would rebel against the Sith if it killed them, when it killed them.

"That is indeed good news. However, I must ask. Now what do you do?"

[member="Asajj Novar"]

 

[Asajj Novar]

"The same as I have been. The streets are already restless, wanting to be free of the Sith's occupation. While no one can truly show opposition yet without getting shot the indirect means of resistance are still showing. Commenor stands united against their oppressors under the Queen. Now, all I can do is wait and pray their King arrives soon to liberate the world." There was little communication between her and the rebel armies offworld. She couldn't risk getting caught and having the information forcibly ripped out of her. As strong as she wanted to believe she was, deep down the Dathomir knew if she got captured there would be no way for her to resist their torture. She fell silent, her whole body tensing up at the thought of capture again.

But she quickly shook her head clear of such thoughts, forcing a smile back to [member="Kei Raxis"] . "What of you? What do you plan to do?"

 

[GhostOfProtocol]

What did he plan to do?

In all honesty, he wasn't sure. He knew that he was going to help liberate Commenor but he wasn't sure how. He wanted to free Commenor from her oppressors but he didn't know if he could. He didn't know if he was scared or excited to be getting back into it, getting back into what he tried to run away from previously. He didn't know if he was scared to fight or very very excited to be fighting once again.

"What do I plan to do? I'll try and rally together any civilians who want to free Commenor from their liberation. Whenever the fighting starts I'll set them up and then hope that my ship is above the planet. When the fighting starts I'll take up my former role of the Commenori Naval Minister and I'll go and command, go and do what I do best. It's been a while since I last had to command a fleet, it'll take some getting used to"

[member="Asajj Novar"]