Star Wars Roleplay: Chaos

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A Matter of Family

Darius had been away for too long.

He had spent the majority of his time lately helping the alliance expand and settling [member="Mediha"] into the ebb and flow of galactic life. He had not forgotten about Kinsey in that time. She was always at the edge of his thoughts, their bond a constant source of comfort for him in times of chaos. No one knew why he returned to Endor so often between battles, save for Master Seraphina, who knew exactly how he felt about the Starchaser girl.

He'd left the ship they had stolen for for her should she need it, as well as the keys to the homestead he had bought so many years ago. The compound was walled off and quite safe from predators, and more importantly, the One Sith. It was her home here until she chose what path she would walk.

Fortunately, it seemed she had chosen. Kinsey had expressed a desire to reunite with her uncle, and Darius had been more than eager to set up the meeting. The moment he arrived on Endor, he sent the message out to [member="Coren Starchaser"]. Unfortunately, that message was not as well encrypted as he would have liked. There was a strong possibility the One Sith would have picked it up. Though it would normally be ignored by the OS brass, it was possible that [member="Sage Bane"] might have picked it up in transit. The location of Darius and Kinsey would be revealed, and the duo would have no idea.

Darius wandered the compound aimlessly as they awaited Coren's arrival. He was anxious enough to see how it would go - he could only imagine how bad it must be for Kinsey. He made his way toward the main room in the small home and sat down near the door. His eyes drifted shut as he tried to send some form of comfort to Kinsey via their bond. The elder Starchaser would be arriving soon, and Kins would need his support, of that much he was sure.

Meanwhile, Mediha awaited him in the old jumper he had flown here in. She'd been assured the stay would not be long, and that they would be returning to Sullust soon. Darius informed her of his relationship with Kinsey; it was likely she would be flying with them after this, so the Nightsister needed to know.

Part of him felt he'd brought Mediha along to get her to know Kinsey as a friend. The realistic part of him understood the real reason: he didn't want the Nightsister to kill anyone while he was off world.

[member="Kinsey Starchaser"]
 
Coren was pacing the main chamber of the Tachyon Rising, with the map of the explored galaxy out on display. The map filled the room as the Starchaser paced between the Outer Rim and the Mid Rim. He stepped up to the display and pressed a few buttons. The One Sith lands were colored in red while the territory owned by the Republic, Silver Coalition and Galactic Alliance were displayed in a brilliant, and righteous, blue color. Primeval and Techno Union space was colored in a yellow. Undecided, and there wasn’t much coming out of those two regions on the galactic front. He ran a hand through his hair.

“I dunno, ‘Porter. We need to find a forward base away from Fondor. I just don’t know…”

That was when the droid beeped. Coren looked to his astromech partner. “Well…?”

There was a lot that Coren liked in this galaxy. Oceans, piloting, figuring out problems, but there were other things he was impatient with, and that included the dark side, and things not automatically assuming what he wanted. Granted, if they assumed the wrong way?

Binary beeping provided Coren with the answers. [member="Darius"] had [member="Kinsey Starchaser"] on Endor? Well, that was something else. Coren hurried up to the cockpit to adjust course. It meant pulling the freighter out of light speed in some realm between worlds and jumping again towards the jungle moon. He wanted to get on the horn to Audrey, or Dax, and Kaia, but he held back that message for the short term.
 
[member="Darius"] [member="Coren Starchaser"] [member="Mediha"] [member="Sage Bane"]

White-knuckles gripped the shuttle's control. She was practicing a new flying method: how low can you go? The teen told herself it would be important to learn to avoid radar detection in the future. Plus it was fun.

One of the many trees on Endor scraped against the port wing of the shuttle. A red-light flashed. Stomach twisted. Keeping her knee on the yoke, she popped open a panel with her hands, over-riding the safety protocols.

"Ship. Just. Chill."

Feeling Daruis' comfort nearby, she finally pulled up. A silly grin plastered across her full lips. But it didn't last. She knew why Darius was back. She knew Coren would be on his way. She hadn't seen her uncle since absconding with Sage Bane. Or when Sage took her? Details were a little fuzzy and it gave her a headache to really think about them.

Sighing, the teen maneuvered the shuttle back toward the homestead. She was only a few minutes out. Reaching for the bond, she sent Darius a feeling of I'm coming. No doubt he would feel the edge of nerves just beneath the surface of her confidence.
 
Coren had received the message, or so the console told Darius. He cracked a thin smile, certain in the fact that the elder Starchaser was on his way. Once he reunited with Kinsey, she could be inducted into the alliance and things could start changing for the better. Darius truly cared for Kinsey beyond a base physical relationship. Having her close to home would be...well, better. He wouldn't have to miss her so much.

The message she sent came through the bond clearly enough. Darius had dealt with their connection long enough to discern most thing, be they simple emotional shifts or actual desires of one another. He pushed up to his feet upon receiving it and stepped outside.

With arms folded over his chest, he watched as Kinsey's ship lowered itself into the courtyard. Coren would be arriving shortly; fortunately there was little to prepare for. The commander just needed to arrive without any trouble.

There was, however, the fact that Darius wanted Kinsey to himself for the moment.

As the gangplank descended, he would march forward and throw his arms around her, pulling into a deep, albeit short kiss. "Coren is on his way. How are you feeling?"

[member="Kinsey Starchaser"], [member="Coren Starchaser"], [member="Mediha"], [member="Sage Bane"]
 
[member="Darius"] [member="Sage Bane"] [member="Coren Starchaser"]

"Oh, hi there," she teased a little breathless. "I guess you missed me, huh?" She flashed her brilliant smile. "You know how I'm feeling." She pushed past him, tightening a tool belt around her waist. She wanted to keep busy. It would help distract her for what was coming. She crawled under the shuttle's coolant system.

Darius would only be able to see her feet as she worked beneath the belly of the ship, hydrospanner out.

"Y'know, it's a good thing we actually like each other with this bond. Otherwise it'd be a real pain in a gundark's butt, constantly sharing emotions. No privacy," she grinned even though she knew he wouldn't be able to see it. Feet shifted as she twisted to pry open a hydroponic panel. A bright green coolant fluid dripped down on her cheek.

The teen didn't care.
 
He would never understand why Endor was claimed for a forward base by Darius and his posse. It was you in the middle of galactic no where, and had the plague of a thousand bears. It didn’t really matter to him, as he was working to find a new forward base removed from Alliance space anyhow. Still, the freighter was making good time, as it should.

If a Starchaser was behind the controls, a ship did a lot better than if most other people were. Still, the reversion to real space was coming up, and Coren did so fairly close to the system’s gravity well. He wasn’t worried about being detected, what, was [member="Sage Bane"] going to be around?

Actually, he hadn’t considered that. He knew [member="Darius"] well enough, but if [member="Kinsey Starchaser"] was around, could it be that Sage was near by? It wasn’t that Coren knew his nemesis was with his niece, but…

Nemesis.

The vessel was sending out a ping as he was going to need to find where to land. For a Moon, Endor had a lot of terrain Coren didn’t want to travel.
 
This trip was not meant for her and she wasn’t entirely certain why she had agreed with Darius’s wheedling demands that she come with him. Why did he need her? Emotional support? Highly unlikely. Was he predicting trouble? Probably, though whether it was from her or an outside source Mediha couldn’t be sure.

Whatever his reason, she was less than interested in the proceedings. She understood Darius’s anxious excitement; he was nauseatingly emotional at times-- most of the time-- but romantic partners held little interest for her so she didn’t understand the appeal. Nightsisters got what they needed from males and led productive lives without them afterward. It was difficult to lead a monogamous and long-term relationship when one killed one’s sexual partners after consummation, after all. The concept of monogamy and life-bonding was still fairly foreign to her, even with the exposure she had already gotten by being out in the galaxy.

For her, this was just another follower for Darius to pick up and bring back to the Alliance. It was no wonder to her why she voluntarily stayed in the jumper while Darius went out to wait for Kinsey. Other than her personal opinions, Darius was beside himself: he couldn’t sit still. Better he handle that on his own. When the ship’s sensors finally alerted her to an incoming ship-- unknown signature-- Mediha got up only long enough to make sure it wasn’t trouble.

Through the window, she saw a young woman exit the ship as Darius quickly crossed over to her. Mediha turned away with a roll of her eyes, dark skirts swishing around her legs and bell sleeves brushing against the backs of her hands. She was sinking deeper into ennui with every passing moment. There was nothing to do now but wait for the diplomat to arrive to clear Darius’s beloved for a pardon and transport to Alliance space-- if she chose to come with them.

The Nightsister resettled into the co-pilot's chair, staring idly out the window until the alert of another incoming starship drew her attention. She leaned forward to check the signature. Coren’s ship. Good. Then they could get out of here sooner rather than later. Mediha rose and exited the jumper, passing down the ramp toward where Darius stood alone.

Mediha surveyed the lower half of the girl under the starship as she approached. This was her? [member="Darius"] must have been disappointed. Separated for so long, and she chose her ship over reuniting with him. Well, clearly, she had her priorities firmly set, though her actions led Mediha to question if she knew Darius’s worth. He had spoken of her periodically but always with the underlying tone that implied deep and abiding affection. Mediha had assumed Kinsey would match Darius in affection and temperament; clearly, she has assumed incorrectly.

"He's coming," she announced as she came up beside Darius. "He's broken the atmosphere."
 
"Maybe a little," he snickered, hands shoving into his pockets. Some of the elder Jedi might have said the young man had attachment issues, but what did they know? Darius was happy given his current situation. Sure, there was a war on, and he would be expected to fight - and quite possibly die - in it, but he had something substantial here. A girlfriend? Maybe. Their whole situation was difficult to explain.

He never really had the technical mindset the Starchasers all seemed to share. Sure, he could turn over flooded speeder, but ship maintenance? Forget it. He leaned back against the compound walls and watched Kinsey work, lips pressed into an amused little grin. "Who said I liked you?" He teased with a laugh, blue eyes shifting to [member="Mediha"] when she came up alongside him.

Kinsey hadn't met the Nightsister yet, though he might have mentioned her in passing here and there. What had initially been a temporary set up had evolved into something more permanent. The two would need to get acquainted eventually.

"Thanks Mediha," he said with a smile, "This is Kinsey. Don't think you guys have met."

A signal would be pinged back to Coren leading directly to their little hideaway. He could arrive at any moment now.

[member="Kinsey Starchaser"], [member="Coren Starchaser"]
 
[member="Darius"] [member="Mediha"]

Unfortunately for them all, Coren arrived right at that moment. Kinsey wasn't good at sending others in the force but she knew her uncle. Hearing Darius and some other chick, the teen wiggled free from the transport.

Brilliant-blue eyes looked at Mediha. "Hi. Darius mentioned you." The Statchaser was clearly distracted as she looked at Coren...waiting where his ship just landed. But she wasn't unfriendly. Kinsey was typically bubbly and loved people. Usually.

But her trepidation at the upcoming conversation with Coren edged off the warmth in her words and introduction. "I'll be right back...," wiping greasy palms on her pants, she edged around them both. "I hope."

Darius would understand her need for privacy. And Mediha, well, she imagined it would take a lot more to get that chick's approval.
 
Mediha briefly glanced over her shoulder at the feeling of Coren coming up behind them, but one look at his face inspired her to return her eyes to Kinsey. Like her uncle, she seemed distracted, and Mediha said and did nothing as she went to take care of the most pressing matter before her. It made perfect sense to Mediha; they were strangers, she and Kinsey. There would be no insult taken over a reasonable action-- no matter how much it emphasized Kinsey's distance from them.

Is she actually here for Darius? I think the other factors may be more compelling.

Mediha's eyes swept over Darius's face briefly; and, of course, he would be un-offended, too. He often gave as much leeway to others as he could, even when he was unhappy with their decisions. Mediha had learned that from personal experience. Kinsey's actions would drum up worry more than confusion or irritation in him. Distant, she might be, but she was easier to work with than Mediha, or that was the impression she had gotten from his stories about her, so she imagined his tolerance for Kinsey would be even more extensive than it was for her. She flicked her gaze back to the pair of Starchasers.

"So this is your chosen... individual." It took Mediha a moment to fish for an appropriate word as 'mate', the only real 'partnership' on Dathomir between women and men, didn't quite fit the relationship. Her voice was dispassionate and even. "She's certainly nothing like you described."

[member="Coren Starchaser"]
 
"Of course."

Darius gave Kinsey a brief nod and turned toward [member="Mediha"] as she went off to speak with her uncle. The padawan did not know Coren very well. The man was of some import within the alliance, and they had fought together once, but were otherwise strangers. He wasn't going to try and barge in on a conversation between him and Kinsey, even if he was a little bit curious.

Mediha gave him a moment's pause. A brow lofted as the Nightsister opined. Clearly, she was unimpressed, though he hadn't expected her to be. The shorter woman had some rather high standards after all. He certainly didn't meet them, or so her thought. His lips pressed into an amused little smile.

"Yes, she is. She helped me escape the Sith some time ago," he paused for a moment, "We worked together, rather. I think she's changed her tune lately too. She was a Sith. I...wouldn't call her that now."

In any part due to me? Maybe.

He shrugged, "What exactly were you expecting, Mediha?"

[member="Kinsey Starchaser"]
 
[member="Mediha"] [member="Darius"]

The conversation with her uncle was brief. And emotional - for the teen. Darius may have felt the ebb and flow of her emotions through their bond: grief, relief, confusion. A trail of now-dried tears carved through the speeder-oil smudge on her face from earlier. Tilting her head, she wiped her nose on the shoulder of her shirt.

Fingers fidgeted with the hydrospanner at her side.

"Good news," she of course, waited for the pair to finish whatever point of the conversation they were in. She wasn't sure, or her writer, how much time had passed during the conversation with Coren. "He's not going to chain me up in some cell."

But how did she tell Darius the next part? And not knowing Mediha well made everything....awkward.

She hesitated.
 
Mediha raised her eyebrows slightly at Darius's question, allowing for a lengthy pause. What had she expected?

Someone more... interested?

"I think you're overestimating my interest in this situation. I was just commenting that your descriptions are unreliable." The distant redhead possibly didn't realize how much attention she was receiving from the pair she left behind, as neither [member="Darius"] nor Mediha let their gaze drift from her for long. Mediha had no personal stake in the Jedi-Sith debate; her only interest and opinions on that front came from those she had experienced. The distaste for the Sith outweighed her distaste for the Jedi only because they so often came across as so exceedingly shallow and unnecessarily lofty in their language. The Jedi she met had been irritatingly optimistic and/or unnecessarily compassionate, but those were flaws Mediha could work around. Stupidity and superiority she could not solve or stomach. Superiority complexes in particular so often let the individual down.

"I shouldn't be surprised at your compassion for a--"

Mediha cut herself off as Kinsey hesitantly wandered her way back over to them, smearing her snot across her shoulder once she had reached them. A faint twitch of Mediha's expression was all the emotion that escaped her iron control at the unpleasant action, and she watched Kinsey dispassionately as the Starchaser girl related the positive outcome of her conversation with her uncle. Jail, not jail. Whatever. At least Darius would be happy. Mediha's eyes narrowed slightly at Kinsey as the girl paused instead of carrying on the conversation. Why did the girl not seem happy about her message? She seemed uncertain at the very least and emotionally unstable at the most.

There was more. Was it bad news? What did she have to say to them? To Darius alone, perhaps? Was Kinsey waiting for her to leave? Mediha couldn't tell. Whatever it was, she didn't want to say it for one reason or another. Is she afraid of Darius's response to whatever else her uncle had said? Has she made some sort of decision she thinks he won't like?

Well. This would certainly be more work for Darius.

[member="Kinsey Starchaser"]
 

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