Family Ku

[Kay-Larr]

Commenor needed more pilots. Even Kay needed a pilot. Captain Terrac had retired, one of her best Admirals was under the employment of a rogue Jedi, and General Santiago was busy with a few top secret projects that she had laid out for him. Given that this was a heavy trade world with pilots coming in and out of the system, you'd think that employing a new one would be easy. Yet it wasn't. All of the great pilots were already employed.

Kay sat at her desk and put out an advertisement on her datapad anyways. She needed to. It was better than trying word of mouth. That only tended to work with the underground. She could have inquired among her allies, but she didn't think that it would keep her in a strong position. Imagine that...a Queen unable to hire for something so simple. No. Her allies were more for economic and defence purposes. And it will remain that way.

As it was with acquiring candidates for other positions, Kay had them directed to one of the meeting halls where she could interview them personally. She had a habit of wanting to know who was at risk of betraying her and who liked to follow orders.

 

[B'enor Benjeel]

Haha, sorry, wrong character. Ignore. Too many characters.

 

[Bradshaw Ku]

You ever have one of those days?

Bradshaw Ku was about to have the queen of one of those days.

The young freelance pilot rolled over in his bed. He tugged the finely weaved floral print bedding over his eyes, shielding himself from the column of bright light escaping through the crack in the expensive purple curtains hanging on his windows.

Wait…

“Hey ace, you up,” a soft female voice whispered, breaking the silence.

Bradshaw squeezed his eyes shut, still fighting against the morning light as he slowly became aware of the headache now pounding on the other side of his eyelids.

Wait…

“C’mon Bradshaw, you know you gotta go, my dad’s going to wake up anytime now.”

A rush of realization. Adrenalin. Eye’s shot open.

Not my bed!

He rolled, taking most of the covering with him. Landing on the hardwood floor, he was now entangled in a snarled mass of blankets threatening to suffocate him. Or, at least that’s what it felt like in his panicked state.

“Karking hell!” he grunted louder than he meant as he worked to solve the blanket puzzle and free himself.

A quite giggle, “Shhhhh, my dad’s going to hear.”

He did.

Passing by Flora’s room, her father, Fayd Eneir, heard a distinctly unfeminine voice on the other side of her door.

“Flora,” he knocked, “who’s in there with you? I swear, if Bradshaw’s in their I’m going to kill that overpaid bantha fodder!”

“Overpaid?!” He exclaimed, now hopping comically on one leg as he tried to pull on his pants.

Flora shot him a look of disbelief and horror through the red hair partially obscuring her face.

He shrugged and mouthed, “Well I’m not!”

Fayd, of course, easily heard Bradshaw’s outburst, leaving little mystery about who was in his only daughter’s hotel room. That little… he tried to open the door. Locked. He slammed his fist against the barrier, not knocking anymore, “Flora, you open this door right now! Bradshaw and I have something important to… talk about!”

Bradshaw snorted, yeah, angry father wants to ‘talk’. He clipped the last blaster into place and was just about to open the window when said angry father wrecking balled his way through the locked door, expensive wood shards flying everywhere.

Flora screamed.

Not just any angry father. A retired field commander with the Imperial Remnant, Fayd wasn’t a tall, or young, man, but he more than made up for it with extensive military experience and about twenty-five pounds more muscle than Bradshaw. He stood, seething, and glared at Bradshaw from across the room.

“Hey, Fayd, glad you’re here. Sorry ‘bout the door. Funny story, I happened to be passing by outside, you know, on one of my famous morning walks, and thought I heard Flora screaming. So of course, I” he started cheerfully lying before Fayd rushed him. Just barely spinning out of reach, he put distance between them, “I’m guessing you don’t want to talk about this.”

“I gave you one stipulation when I hired you! Stay. Away. From. Flora.!”

“Yeah, you know, stupid me. Can you believe I forgot about that? Crazy, right? Won’t happen again, I swear,” he held up a hand as if swearing in court, “Pilot’s honor. Which is totally a thing.”

“You’re dead!”

A fist passed barely over Bradshaw’s ducking head, but another landed against his ribs, knocking the air out of him and, Bradshaw was certain, fractured a few ribs in the process. He collapsed into a gasping heap.

“Daddy, stop! Please! He didn’t do anything wrong!”

“Stay out of this Flora! It doesn’t concern you,” Fayd scolded. As Bradshaw writhed on the floor, trying to catch his breath, he felt himself being powerfully hoisted until he was face to face with Fayd.

“Guess. This. Means. There’s. No. Severance. Pay,” he said between pained gasps. Next thing he knew, he was flying. Fayd had thrown him. He crashed through the window and fell from the second floor, landing outside in an unconscious heap.

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Slowly regaining consciousness, he began feeling his numerous injuries. The cuts on his face from the window. Fractured ribs. All manner of deep bruising from falling a story. He still had his headache and to top it off, it was raining. Blood mixed with rain and mud as he lifted his face off the ground. This had to be a new low. Not only was he now jobless, and in pain, he was also almost completely broke. His little freelance pilot career had dried up, as of late. Probably because of those few ships he’d abandoned. The owners of which were likely spreading the word, giving him bad press, cutting off his clientele. He needed the Fayd job, and now even that was gone.

He slammed his fist into the lawn.

Beginning to lift himself up, one hand across his ribs, his eyes met the bright blue screen of a digital advertisement. Now wasn’t the time to be looking for a new brand of soft drink, of course, but this one caught his eye. A familiar face stared down at him. It was an advertisement sponsored by Lady Kay… Queeen of Commenor. Lady Kay, he thought. Kay-Larr! His mother! If he still called her that, was now the Queen of Commenor, while his father was dead and he lay in the middle of Coronet City broke and covered in mud and blood?! He shouldn’t have been surprise by the news, but he’d never paid any attention to galactic politics, and certainly never wanted to look up his mother.

Wait...

If she was Queen of Commenor, and he was her son… that should make him… Prince of Commenor? Frak, he thought! She was even looking for pilots, even a personal pilot. Having no other prospects, he decided he’d apply for her jobs. After scraping himself off the ground and cleaned off, of course. It’d be worth it if only to finally give her an overdue piece of his mind.

Fraking Queen of Commenor. Shaw-Ku had sacrificed himself so that she could literally live like royalty, while his son searched the galaxy for jobs.

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Not knowing how his ‘mother’ felt about him after all this time, Bradshaw had applied to her jobs under the alias Yui Calypso, taking the name of the smuggler who’d taken him off of Commenor as a child. Plus, he didn’t want to spoil the surprise and ruin his upper hand.

He entered Lady Kay’s office, about to see his mother in person for the first time in fifteen years.

[member="Lady Kay"]

 

[Kay-Larr]

Kay looked up from her datapad as [member="Bradshaw Ku"] stepped inside. She was given his name moments before as he had gone through security. A cup of tea was cradled in her other hand while she studied his appearance. He was young, dressed like a smuggler, though there was clearly more about him than that. She saw it in his eyes. There was something familiar about them, yet she couldn't quite place it.

She gestured for him to have a seat directly across from her. "Yui Calypso, is it? Have a seat and tell me a bit about yourself, please." Kay brought up her tea and had a sip. If he was a smuggler, then he could be prone to lying. Young men were always so cocky, but that in itself was a good trait for a pilot. They could think on their feet and improvise. She needed that for sticky situations.

 

[Bradshaw Ku]

Upon entering Kay’s office, she gestured for Bradshaw to have a seat directly across from her, “Yui Calypso, is it? Have a seat and tell me a bit about yourself, please.”

Bradshaw glanced at her, uncomfortable about looking at her for long. She looked well, though, if a little morbid. He hated that she looked well. He hated he was standing in an office worth more than he could ever expect to make in a lifetime. What a queen was doing interviewing for pilots he couldn’t guess, but there was something else, he was feeling something familiar from her through his normally quiet force sensitivity. He couldn’t put his finger on what it was, though, because it felt masked. Whatever it was, it reminded him of his father.

“I’ll stand, if it’s all the same,” he said as he casually walked across the room to examine the fireplace, then the bookshelf. He pulled out an expensively bound book and tossed it around. With his back to her, he gave up whatever pretense there was that he was here for a job, he couldn’t help it.

What kind of mother doesn’t recognize her son? Her only son, at least as far as he knew.

“So, your majesty, are there any little princes and princesses of Commenor? I’m a bit behind on galactic politics and history.”

[member="Lady Kay"]

 

[Kay-Larr]

Standing was fine. She watched [member="Bradshaw Ku"] as he moved over to her bookshelf and began snooping around. It wasn't until he tossed one of them that she got to her feet. "Hey! That's my property!"

Kay narrowed her eyes a little as he kept his back to her, yet asked questions all the same. The bite in his voice was easily noticed. She walked around her desk and strode up to him. "That's none of your business, Yui. If that's even your real name. Tell me what you're really here for or I'll have you thrown out all the quicker!"

 

[Bradshaw Ku]

Now he really got her attention. He carelessly slid the book back onto the shelf, being sure it landed out of place. He heard Kay approach him, “That’s none of your business, Yui. If that’s even your real name. Tell me what you’re really here for or I’ll have you thrown out all the quicker!”

“Hah,” he laughed contemptuously.

That was rich. His mother was questioning if Yui was his real name. The opportunity for a reveal was almost too good. Anger roiled inside. He unconsciously drew on the force as he often did when he was upset. It would be evident to any force user nearby. Unlike his mother, Bradshaw didn’t have the skill to control or mask his force sensitivity. Quite the opposite, the power he drew through the force was raw, external, and angry.

That anger wanted to come out with it already, to let sparks fly, but the joker in him said keep toying with her.

He kept his back turned, “I suppose there’s no King either? Maybe your majesty misplaced them?” He slid another book out and disinterestedly turned it over. “Nobody can bring Shaw-Ku back, of course, and I don’t know what you’ve done with Rae-Anna, but what if I could tell you where Bradshaw is, would you be interested?”

[member="Lady Kay"]

 

[Kay-Larr]

Kay raised a brow at his behaviour. It seemed as though [member="Bradshaw Ku"] had some beef with her, yet she didn't know who he was. Could it be that he was another friend that she had forgotten? And that he was angry at her for it?

Her eyes narrowed slightly as he mentioned there being no King. Who was he to judge her personal life? It wasn't his place, he had no right.

Then he spoke of Shaw and their adopted children. She grabbed his upper arm then, both for support and also in a bid to turn him around to face her. "Who are you? Are you trying to blackmail me?" Thraxis had told her of the various things he'd do if he found her children. It was the kind of situation that her old friends warned her about, which was why the location of her children was kept secret.

And why she wasn't allowed to look for them.

Trouble always came to her like a magnet.

 

[Bradshaw Ku]

That was a reaction he hadn’t expected.

Who am I?! Who am I?! The fear in her voice didn’t register with him, but the desperation of her question did. She really didn’t recognize him! She really had no idea!

He turned violently to face her, throwing the book across the room. It slammed harder than should have been possible against the opposite wall.

Bolstered by rage, he wasn’t afraid to look at her, now, all he wanted to do was stare at her face, and make her stare at his.

“Look at me! You already know who I am! Don’t I remind you of anyone! What Kind of mother doesn’t recognize her son!”

With little comprehension of what he was doing, he swung a hand, sending the chair he’d refused to sit in crashing into the wall. The force fed his fury, and his fury fed the force. The madder he got, the madder he wanted to get.

“I guess the same kind of mother who kills his father!!”

[member="Lady Kay"]

 

[Kay-Larr]

Kay didn't flinch when he turned and threw the book. Her eyes were on his, glaring at him while he yelled at her.

The revelation of who [member="Bradshaw Ku"] said he was put her in a state of shock. "Brad?" By that time he had thrown the chair. His next accusation caused her to slap him hard across his face. "Don't you DARE accuse me of his murder! I put that behind me. It's time you do the same!"

Still in shock, her emotions were everywhere. She grabbed Brad by his jacket and pulled him towards her. "Brad?...Is that really you?" Kay studied his eyes. It was then that she recognized him. Her legs soon buckled underneath her.

 

[Bradshaw Ku]

His head snapped to the side from the force of Kay's slap. Before he knew it, she was pulling him by his jacket, "Brad?... is that really you?"

He turned back to stare her in the eyes, too angry to be fazed by the assault.

She collapsed at his feet.

He looked down at her and growled, "How dare YOU of all people tell me to put my father's death behind me! And that's Bradshaw Ku to you!"

Of course she could get over Shaw-Ku's death, she'd let him die, let him sacrifice himself and was now rewarded for it with a kingdom.

Why didn't they keep fighting?

Why didn't she stop him...

Flashes of nightmarish memories, long ago repressed, emerged from the darkness. They consumed him. He relived his father's death...

"NOOOOOO!" He cried out in anguish and intense frustration over his powerlessness.

His fist crashed into the bookshelf behind him with every ounce of energy he could muster, channeling all his built up power. Multiple shelves shattered, sending books falling onto him as he collapsed into a pile, now emotionally and physically spent from the experience and from the release of force energy.

"You should've stopped him," he mumbled, "Why'd you let him do it..."

[member="Lady Kay"]

 

[Kay-Larr]

[member="Bradshaw Ku"] had always had a bit of a temper. It was why Shaw was so good for him. He helped him to control it through training and sparting. From the way things seemed, it was as though those days were the best of young Brad's life.

Kay just wrapped her arms around him, glancing around at the mess that was her office. Why was it that people from her past liked to come over and wreck her home?

The security feed was enough to keep her guards from entering despite the noise. She didn't give the signal.

It was deja vu. Kay had to console Brad nearly 15 years ago. And he uttered the exact same questions, putting the blame all on her. If she was him, she would probably do the same thing.

"Brad...he was too powerful. I was on death's door, just like your father. We all were, Daiq and Hawk too. The only reason that we're alive is because Masq wanted it this way...."

She cupped his face in her hands, looking into his eyes with her own that were on the verge of tears. "Not a day has gone by where I haven't thought of you and Rae-Anna, wondering if you were okay, if you were alive. They took you away from me and for your own protection, I wasn't told where."

Kay wanted to ask about his sister, but she couldn't put her in danger too. There were too many out there that would use them against her.

 

[Bradshaw Ku]

His mother wrapper her arms around him, he let her, too exhausted to resist. Then, she tried to explain what had happened, the same way she’d tried to console him so many years ago. Back then, he hadn’t listened, too young to understand what he’d witnessed. This time, “Masq wanted it this way…”

Of course! He’d been blaming the wrong person. He’d been acting like a child, all this time holding a childish grudge against his own mother when he should have been seeking vengeance against his father’s murderer.

Masq!

His father would be ashamed of him, he scolded himself. He’d made the ultimate sacrifice to keep him alive, and what had he done to honor that sacrifice!? Confront his wife? Meander around the galaxy, never getting closer to avenging him. At least his mother had made something of herself. Who was he? A twenty-four-year-old already washed-up pilot.

He clenched his fists, signifying the first spark igniting a new fire within. Looking into Kay’s eyes, which appeared on the verge of tears after explaining that she’d never forgotten about him and is sister, he said with more resolve than he’d ever had in his life, “Train me. Train me and I will hunt down Masq. I will avenge Shaw-Ku, I will avenge what he’s done to our family,” he pleaded, first softly, then growing loader, “Train me, and I promise I will destroy him to the last! It’s my destiny, I see that now!”

[member="Lady Kay"]

 

[Kay-Larr]

Kay studied his eyes. He was just as stubborn as she was, had always been so. [member="Bradshaw Ku"] , although he wasn't their child by blood, he still had some of his father's traits. Not all of them, but some of them, most especially his sense of honour. "I will do what I can and point you in the direction of others that could help you in other areas where I can't, but you must understand....A lot has happened since our separation. A lot. My Force Sensitivity is a secret, so training you out in the open, even talking about it cannot be done. And as you can imagine, I have a lot of enemies, but plenty of allies as well. So we must be careful with what we reveal to whom, okay? We need to take it slow. But, you are welcome to stay here either in the Palace or in your own home in Chasin City. The choice is yours."

Oh there was so much for them to catch up on. It was hard to know where to start.

 

[Bradshaw Ku]

A lot had changed since their separation. That was apparent. His mother was a queen, a pretty big change, to say the least. However, she stressed that fact in way that didn’t seem to be referring to her throne, or at least, not exclusively to it. He weakly probed the force, only knowing the little his father had taught him so many years ago, and he felt it again. A vague energy, a power that reminded him of his father, but further than that, he could not discern.

She spoke of keeping her force sensitivity a secret. He knew something about keeping others in the dark about the force. Not to the degree she did… as the dent in the wall, over turned chair, and the mess he’d made of her bookshelf attested, but he never overtly told anyone of his power, and rarely intentionally used it. The latter having a lot to do with his lack of control. If he could truly harness it, he’d be much less worried about what others knew.

He nodded, agreeing to her precautions. Despite patience not being his best quality.

She then spoke of having numerous enemies, but also many allies. There was a lot he had to ask her. But for now, the idea of living in a palace seemed almost too good to be true for a broke freelance pilot. Speaking of piloting, he thought.

“I am actually a pilot, that much was true. I hear you’re looking for one to shuttle your majesty around,” this time, when he said majesty, there was none of the vile with which he’d spit it out earlier. He smirked, “So, did I get the job?”

He stood slowly. “I think me and the palace will get along real good. Oh, and speaking of palaces, when’s my coming out party, you know, where you introduce me to the galaxy’s most eligible princesses?” He asked only half-jokingly. His characteristic mirth returning in full.

[member="Lady Kay"]

 

[Kay-Larr]

Kay smirked as [member="Bradshaw Ku"] asked if he got the pilot's job. "Yes, just so long as you help clean up the mess you made." She got to her feet and held out her hand to help him up. There wasn't a huge age difference between them, only about 15 years, the same amount of time that they've been apart. It was hard to believe that he held onto the few short years that they had together as a family. Yet was it any different than what she did? Not really.

She laughed when she poured herself more tea, nearly spilling it over as he joked about a party for himself. "The day that you have one of those parties is the day that I have one." Not to see princesses, mind you, but some had questioned her on settling down. There was one that she had in mind, but with her current situation and his, it was too dangerous.

 

[Bradshaw Ku]

“Woohoo,” he exclaimed enthusiastically when Kay told him he’d gotten the job, pumping his fist into the air and quickly feeling a sharp pain in his hand, wrist, and lower arm. He pulled his hand back down, flinching.

Apparently, he had to clean up his minor destruction first, if he wanted the job. Moms will be moms, he thought, always making you pick up your toys before you could have dessert, no matter how old you were.

“Alright, I get it, my training has begun. First lesson -- he tried to look stern, like a wisent teacher, then affected a voice to match, “With great power, comes great responsibility,” He said while he set the chair upright with his good hand.

“Well, I’ll give you the list of what I like in a pretty princess, in case you change your mind. I heard back in the old days kingdoms used to marry people off to forge alliances, or something like that, maybe we could work something out if you know any hot kingdoms -err- I mean good alliances,” he joked, again, only partially, as he stacked the fallen books.

When he turned around and saw Kay sipping at her tea, he gave her a – tea? Really? – look. “Two questions, do you have anything stronger than tea, really strong tea doesn’t count, and,” he rubbed at his hand, “How good is the royal health insurance, because mine’s always been poodoo and I’m pretty sure I broke my hand when your bookshelf assaulted me.”

[member="Lady Kay"]

 

[Kay-Larr]

Kay smirked at Brad's antics. And then she laughed. Oh how she had missed tousling his hair when he was little and embarrassing him in front of the others. There was a lot that she had missed. And a lot that Shaw had missed as well.

"I can't say that I know any Princesses, nor do I know of any worlds that are looking for alliances to be made in that way. I've forged many alliances without marriage or anything else to be involved. You're being too old fashioned. No one has tried to pressure me, thankfully and I doubt that anyone ever would."

She took a sipt of her tea, nearly having it come out of her nose when [member="Bradshaw Ku"] gave her that look. She opened up a drawer in her desk and took out a bottle of Commenori brandy, holding it out to him. "Here. Try not to drink it all at once. And everyone is covered for health here. There is no need for insurance. And don't you remember? I'm a healer. I looked after Shaw plenty of times after his many battles. Bu maybe I'll let that pain remind you of how you shouldn't lose your temper."

 

[Bradshaw Ku]

Bradshaw took the brandy from Kay, who suggested he also not drink it all at once. He turned the bottle over in his hand, more curious about it than he’d ever been about the books he’d pulled off her shelf. He sat in the chair across from her desk, irreverently propped a leg on it, gripped down on the cork with his teeth and pulled. It opened with a pop.

About to take his first ever sip of Commenor brandy, Kay suggested she let him suffer as a lesson about his temper, “Ahh, frak!” He grumbled. “I was afraid you were going to say something like that. I liked the first lesson so much better.” Obviously unhappy with the idea that he might have a broken, or fractured, hand for a while, he nevertheless accepted the punishment, no stranger to injuries. “If that’s how we're going to play it, I can’t make any promises concerning the brandy,” he lifted it in a toast and took his first swig. Mmm, tasty, he thought, Commenor sure knew how to make brandy.

“Fair warning, I don’t think this is going to work. I left in much worse shape after getting caught with Eidana Pellian and I still snuck into her room the next night. Man, her boyfriend really wasn’t happy the second time.” He laughed.

He took another sip, “And of course I remember you healing Dad. You fixed him up when I thought for sure he was a goner some of those times. That’s why I was hoping to see it in action again,” he said, trying to flatter her into fixing his hand.

Another sip. He looked around her office, and said in passing, “Speaking of Dad, you sound just like him with the whole using suffering as a tool, thing.” You know, it really was a hell of an office, he thought. “Heh, what are you, a Sith now?” He joked.

There was, of course, no judgment or disdain in the question. He had none for Sith in general. In fact, with his father having been a Sith Lord, he was rather predisposed to that path through the force. But, the last he knew of his mother, she wasn’t a Sith, and there was no way he could imagine the woman he knew so long ago ever becoming one.


[member="Lady Kay"]

 

[Kay-Larr]

Kay's mouth dropped slightly as [member="Bradshaw Ku"] spoke of his nightly exploits. So he grew into one of those types, did he? He kept little of his father's honour and loyalty. But...could she really blame him? No. Fate seperated them, cruel fate. At least those memories weren't stolen from her.

A smirk was given as he tried to flatter her into healing him. "I'll let our resident Doctor look into your hand. Though his methods are rougher than mine."

Brad's last comment was answered after a slight hesitation. "Perhaps I am...My Master would have me flaunt it, but I can't. That's not what would make Commenor and myself rise to the top. I have to use....other methods. But the trauma that I was made to suffer has done worse damage than expected." There was a good chance that she could go insane, but she was getting help.