Beyond the Sea

[Corvus Dravere]

Atlas Station​

This was a day he'd waited almost a decade for. It filled him with anticipation, dread, no small amount of anxiety and a thousand other emotions besides. He stood in one of the viewing rooms aboard their main station, located where the continental shelf ended abruptly like an unfinished sentence. The viewing blister allowed him a look upward, into the sea where the creatures of this planet floated and swam, the natural bioluminesence of the plant life adding to the gentle illumination the station provided itself.

In a way, it was a natural light, and that often put them at ease as they went about their lives.

A submersible darkened the sea above them, and he turned, leaving the blister behind so that he could head to the docking bay. The station was huge - a city in it's own right - and crawled like coral over the shelf it was built onto. Already, the sub would be lowering below the lip of the station, maneuvering into one of their wet/dry docks so that they could disembark. Normally, he'd go topside himself to greet such an important arrival, but..... anticipation had stolen that from him.

Anticipation, and the fear that if he went up, they'd ask why she came down here with him afterwards. So, instead, he'd made himself busy and sent others to collect her. His frown never left, but like all members of the Dravere clan, he wore his armor at all times except when alone, in his room, and so his helmet obscured any such displays of displeasure. With a soft sigh, he stepped out into the docking area, the submersible breaking the surface of the water as it floated into the dock.

Standing there, hands clasped together in the small of his back, he found that his throat was constricted by the anxiety in his heart.

His daughter was home, but... would she stay?

[member="Brynna Dravere"]

 

[Brynna Dravere]

She had known for quite some time that she would return to this station, a place that she had left as a small child, and yet there she was feeling a hint of nervousness in her core. It was an unfamiliar feeling, but she didn't let on outwardly that anything could be wrong. With her lekku draped over her shoulders and one wrapped faintly around her neck she watched as the station suddenly came into view, smaller than she had remembered it being and yet still absolutely huge. Questions moved through her mind as she studied the station, watching their path cleave through the water until they reached the dock, forcing the thoughts of how she may be received from her mind.

After what seemed an irritatingly long amount of time the door finally slid out of the way, a crew member escorting her off of the sub and onto the actual station itself. There, outside the dry/wet dock she was greeted by a familiar sight; her clan armor, covering the men that had been sent to gather her by her father. At least, she had assumed as much. For now she followed them, black cloak obscuring her still short frame from sight while ice blue eyes stared straight ahead. She held herself higher than she ever had, nearly unrecognizable in her confident stride through the station. Eventually he would hear her approaching behind him, her head tilting to the side slowly as she studied the large, armor-clad man in front of her that could only be her father.

"It is good to be home, Father." Her voice was soft, yet carried across the space as they were left alone with a quiet strength he'd never heard before, her eyes taking in her surroundings before looking back to him and approaching him carefully. She had still left, with or without his permission, and it wasn't exactly a situation she expected to be completely welcoming aside from his thankfully large influence over the clan.

 

[Corvus Dravere]

While waiting for her to disembark, he was distracted when a woman came up behind him. It took a moment to process the serial number on her breastplate but he smiled softly as he recognized Dockmaster Lynn. She was a compact woman, with square shoulders and short arms, and she held in one hand a datapad with a list of repairs being performed in the dry dock next to the one [member="Brynna Dravere"] had just docked at.

He studied the list, exhausted by how much damage the scalefins had done to the vessel, and handed it back. “Get her seaworthy as quick as you can.” She nodded, then crossed both arms over her chest, fists clenched in salute. With a hal-bow, she left, leaving him to hear a voice from the past at his shoulder, as though a spirit from yesteryear had returned to haunt him.

Steeling himself, he turned, appraising his daughter. She wasn’t much taller, but the years had filled her out, made her a woman. She wore her confidence in the lift of her chin and the hard fling of her eyes, and he realized that, perhaps, they had all been wrong. This was a woman who had journeyed far just to discover herself the last place she had expected to look - within.

“Hello, honey.” He whispers, holding his hands out, palms up, for her to take.

 

[Brynna Dravere]

"Did you miss me, Father?" She knew that he had, they hadn't exactly been completely out of touch despite the distance of the galaxy between them, but still she would ask the question while studying his helmet even as his hands reached out. Black gloves covered her own hands as they became visible from beneath her cloak, a hint of a smirk touching her lips. Her hands slid into his and gripped, still much smaller than his own, her head even tilted back to keep her gaze on the face of his helmet.

"I missed you, quite a bit. I am glad to be home, in the least. Are you free now, or do you have more duties that will take you away for the day?" There was unpacking to do, sure, but she really wasn't that worried about it and instead would much more rather catch up with him and the going ons of the clan. Still, he was a leader and she knew what that meant, and if he had to go off and take care of their people she would patiently wait for him. Her lekku would move quite subtly where they were draped around her shoulders even as her head tilted to the side just barely while still tilted back, her small hands squeezing at his as best they can as if to reassure him there is no wrong answer to her question.

 

[Corvus Dravere]

He was both surprised and pleased to find her taking his hands, her pale palms slipping over the scuffed Kevlar encasing his hands. Gripping hers in return, he nodded once, momentarily overcome with emotion. He opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came out, and after a moment he released her hands and pulled her into a tight hug.

“I’m free.” He says, somehow managing to convey a whisper through his helmet’s speaker. “I’ve missed you so much, my heart.” Her things weren’t even on his mind, as he was still floored by her transformation from a frail child to a self-assured young woman. He took a step back, hands on her shoulders, finding yet more of her mother in her face.

His heart ached.

Her lekku shifted, and he closed his eyes, swallowing back the tears threatening to leave his eyes. “Welcome home, Ryn. We have a good deal of catching up to do.” A smile appeared on his voice, and he took a step before turning, clearly figuring she would follow him.

 

[Brynna Dravere]

While she had expected that he had missed her, the hug was a bit of a surprise and he would know it by the way she gave a startled grunt as his large arms enveloped her. Slowly her hands moved to his back, arms returning the hug as she let out a soft sigh.

"I'm glad to hear that you're free. You're not too much in shock, I hope? I have come home to you all with the title of Master, and the ability to fight when I must for those around me." She had always hoped to make him proud, not that she really could have disappointed him. Really the only way to do that would be to give up, and despite her frail appearance that had filled out, she was far from a coward and could never give up. Certainly not on him, or something so important to him. He was able to study her quietly as she stood there and watched his helmet in return, as if that were the most normal way to look at anyone instead of at their actual face.

"Thank you, Father. It is good to be home." She was very much the spitting image of her mother, complete with bits of her spirit though a majority of that was attributed to her father now. When he took a step and turned, she would fall in with him to walk along towards their actual home, cloak flowing as if with a life of its own in a rather ominous fashion that added to the air of confidence and strength that her petite frame now held.

"I could kill for something to eat, shall I make something once we're home?" Even as she spoke her eyes were constantly moving, taking in the changes that had occurred over the past near decade that she had been gone from her home. There was a hint of emotion, emotion that he could feel, but her features remained carefully schooled into neutrality.

 

[Corvus Dravere]

He didn’t ask who had given her that title, or even what it meant. Was it a title of Force mastery? Or the mastery of some discipline? He couldn’t shake the feeling she had dabbled with the Force and come back with something most wouldn’t be able to stomach. The thought turned his stomach with anxiety.

Their home hadn’t changed, though, besides growing. Exposed ductwork was still the norm, and the heavy industrial appearance of the corridors was the same as it had been when she left. As much as things changed, so too did they stay the same, and he walked the familiar path to his - no, their - home.

Pausing outside the door, he pressed a button on his gauntlet and unlocked the door, stepping through with her at his back. “I’m already having fresh fish brought up.” He admits, pulling his helmet off. He was visibly older.

The bags under his eyes were more pronounced, same with the frown lines and the lines of his brow. “Your room is as you left it.” He says, brushing some long, grey-lined hair from his eyes. He was worn down and tired, just as she was grown and strengthened. But his own inner strength still burned bright. That hadn’t changed, even if his body was beginning to complain.

“Have a seat.” He says simply.

 

[Brynna Dravere]

Nothing really had changed that much, aside from the way that she was looked at. She still had yet to prove herself to those around them, and more importantly to her father, but there was something about her new appearance and the way she carried herself that set others on edge. Much as it did her own father, the feeling of it causing her head to tilt to glance up towards him before looking back to where they were going.

"Mm, fresh fish, I haven't had anything like that in some time. I'm rather looking forward to it, thank you." Stepping inside their small home once he had unlocked it, she reached up to unclasp her cloak, pulling it with an easy grace from her shoulders before he'd see it float from her hands to drape on the hook made for it. It almost faltered as she saw his face for the first time, a faint frown touching her features as her gloves were removed, set aside to leave her in the travel clothes she'd decided on, looking every bit a Sith in black pants and matching jacket, left open to reveal the red and gold of her... Shirt? It was more a strip of cloth she'd had made into a shirt, her clan crest embroidered onto it carefully. It revealed her stomach and likely much more without the jacket on, but she didn't seem concerned as her tattooed adult self was revealed to him. Instead, she was concerned for how much he had aged, her bare hand lifting to gently trail fingers along the lines across his face.

"Thank you, Father." Nodding gently, her hand fell to squeeze his arm quite briefly before she turned and moved to the table, sitting and crossing her legs to look back over at him. "It really has been so long, I almost hadn't realized that you may age so much. Perhaps I will be able to help you around here now that I have come back..." It was an almost idle thought, nails tracing a seam on her pants and she pondered the entire situation now that it was ever-present.

 

[Corvus Dravere]

The moment her jacket came off, his eyes dropped, disapproval evident. In the manner of all father’s since the beginning of time, her reclaiming of the power of her sexuality didn’t mesh with the little girl she still was in his memories. He frowned, eyes lifting to hers, helmet tucked beneath his right arm while he studied her face.

“Are you always going around with so few clothes on?” He asks, managing to keep his voice mostly neutral. He had to remind himself that she was an adult now, and not the girl she had once been. She had left, and that spoke as poorly of him as it did of her.

His broad shoulders slumped somewhat at her observation, and his lips thinned with the downsweep of his eyes. “I haven’t aged any more than you have.” He remarks. “I just bear more responsibility. That’s all. Ever since that day, all those years ago, I’ve had to rule this clan, and the war has not gone well in your absence.

Losses mount. Families mourn. We’ve already been pushed out of Fathom’s Deep entirely.” That meant they had lost more than half their former holdings. Dire times indeed, and the cause of his apparent stress.

 

[Brynna Dravere]

If nothing else, his look and ensuing question amused her, as she had anticipated them both, even if she saw herself as rather formally clothed. Looking down at herself, she takes a moment before looking up at him again.

“These are my traveling clothes, yes. I brought all of my clothes in a trunk, should I lay them out for you when it arrives?” It was difficult to tell if she was serious or not, the room almost seeming slightly warmer before she suddenly flicks a lekku, a flick he’d recognize as some for, of laughter. “I have clothes that are more conservative if you are truly bothered, Father. It’s not as if anyone here would have me, I left.” And gone she had been, during all of the struggles he had faced and the leading he had done. When he finished she was silent for a moment, eyes dropping to stare at the ground for a breath before looking up at him again.

“You’re right, of course. Our people are lucky to have had you to lead them, and it could never have been easy for you that your only heir left.” Quiet again for a few breaths, she pushed to her feet, shoulders set and head held high. “But I have returned, and am at your disposal, if you’ll have me. I have much that I can offer you now, aid worthy of a leader. We cannot lose more footing, not now. Will you have me, or have I lost that right?” She would understand, obviously, if he chose to turn her out, it would be the logical move, but they had always had sentiment for each other, above most since she lost her mother.

 

[Corvus Dravere]

He didn’t feel lucky. In fact, he wasn’t sure his people felt lucky either. They had thrown open the ancient vaults, pulling from them weapons most civilized people would look down upon. Radiation. Chemical. Fire. All were used as the bulwark against which the Scalefin would break. They were still being pushed back. They didn’t have the numbers they used to.

They had yet, he regretted, to find anything that could tip the war in their favor. He was beginning to think no such miracle existed.

But his daughter was home, and perhaps there was a reason for such an auspicious arrival. Manda help him, but he would shake hands with this devil. He did not worry about the price he would have to pay. That debt would come to collect later.

“We need your help.” He says finally, knowing that the Sith and Mandalorian people were ancient allies. That didn’t make accepting her help any easier. “But if you wish to truly be of the clan, you will need to live by our rules. Im sure you remember them.” That would mean finding her a suitably sized set of armor.

 

[Brynna Dravere]

He hadn’t thought on the offer of help nearly as long as she would have thought, but she nodded and was glad for it. There was no need for more of her people to die if she had the power and the will to help save them. She had been gone long enough, now it was time to stand and fight with those that had always thought her odd and weak.

“Then you have it. Whatever you need, though I have much to show you before too many decisions are made. I will need access to several things, including a work space that includes a laboratory. If you have the space somewhere still, of course.” Another nod and a pause, she almost doesn’t hear him as he continues, as her mind is already wandering over the possible futures. After a brief pause, however, she looked back up to him.

“Hm? Yes, well that will need to be thought on and we shouldn’t delay new plans and alliances just for a decision like that. Clan or not I am Sith, and bring with me all of the resources at my disposal. Oh, I would like access to the dead of both sides as well. Please.”

 

[Corvus Dravere]

His eyes closed, and his head lowered faintly, the mantle of command hanging heavy on his shoulders. Perhaps she could help right this losing slide, or perhaps he was giving in to the sin of nepotism. Frowning deeply, he lifted his helmet to his lips and spoke into the communicator.

After a moment, his eyes looked to her. “The morgue is open for you. And I’ve had one of the Med-bays closest to it designated as your workspace.” Inhaling deep, he seemed to brace himself against the coming words. “You May do with them what you will.

You will, however, be staying here. In our home.” So he could keep an eye on her.

And though he didn’t say it, his eyes said what he could not - do not alienate their people.

 

[Brynna Dravere]

She merely studied him as he slumped faintly, still towering over her but suddenly seeming as if his uniform was too heavy to bear, much like the mantle of leadership. With all the patience in the world she let him think and send out communication, smoothing out her shirt carefully before he spoke to her again and the corner of her lips tilted upwards just barely.

“Excellent.” With his forthcoming permission to do what she would, a dangerous glint moved through her icy eyes. “Thank you, Father. You will see, this will all be turned about and our people saved.” She would bring him the glory and ho or she never could as a child, an eyebrow rising st his insistence on where she would be staying.

“As you wish it, Father. You know I...” pausing, she seemed to hesitate before shaking her head and meeting his eyes boldly. “I don’t need to be looked after anymore. I’m not the sickly child, I will prove it to you. To all of them.” Frail in body only now, she wasn’t even all that frail, merely petite, but an entire five feet of coiled predator ready to strike when needed. The look in her eyes caused her to dip her head, bowing it with lowered eyes and a softer tone.

“I will not let you down, I swear it.” Shifting where she stood, she lowered herself back into her seat, fingers moving over the familiar top of the table. “Please, be at ease, rest. I will make the fish when it arrived while you change.”

 

[Corvus Dravere]

The fact she met his eyes said all he needed to know, but hadn’t thought to ask. She was his daughter, but only in ways he had never anticipated her being. Taking a deep breath, he nodded again, not doubting she would find some way to turn this around for them. Or, at least, try everything she could until the failure was absolute.

“Perhaps you should go inspect your new lab.” He says, setting his helmet on the table carefully. “I could use that time to process all this, I think. I can handle the cooking.” Lowering himself into a seat across from her, he set a palm on the table and brushed a gloved thumb over the scratched metal surface of the table.

He had gotten what he wished for. But as they always said, perhaps he should have been more careful with that wish.