Private From The Void

[Elise Ahana-Gwyneira]

The vast emptiness of space. It spanned forever onwards. Between planets, between stars, between the astroids and space clutter, there was only the black. The stars were only distant twinkles in the sky as a rogue escape pod floundered aimlessly. How long had this escape pod been out here? Frost completely crusted over the windows as it floated ever onward, to meet the emptiness that stretched eternally before it... until... a bright light crashed into it. A scrapper ship was bringing in another haul of scraps from a distance skirmish and had happened to stumble across this little blip of metal. Inside the ship, the scrapper was curiously tapping away at her screen, baffled.

"This thing says there's a lifeform in there? Is it broken?"

She continued to run scans, and indeed they kept saying the same thing. Somebody was in there. The scrap hunter sighed, "Karking morons fire their escape pods in any which direction these days. Idiots." And yet, her tone was concerned as she used a tractor beam on the pod. As the pod landed in the hanger, the scrapper left her astromech in charge and darted for the hanger. She entered the hanger, clearing some scrap heaps out of the way before finally getting to the pool. It was sealed shut. She was soon taking power tools to it, breaking the door down with the loudest clang before stepping in and gasping at what she saw...

"... By Ashla and Bogan, they're actually alive in there!"

A mobile bacta tank was centered in the heart of the escape pod. It had run out of so many nutrients, medicines, and supplies, yet had enough essentials to keep the body of a person alive inside. The woman stepped over some hastily stripped clothes with dried blood on them. Some weapons were cast aside as well. The woman picked a blaster up, turning it around and trying to identify it to no avail. She tossed it aside and walked up to the glass tank. She reached and rubbed the cold mist from the glass, peering inside to see a comatose young woman.

The scrapper sighed "Okay... what should I do now?"

She looked around at the mess. More blood, clothes, and equipment laid around... and, a holodisk.

She hoped this worked.

The scrapper tapped on her holodisk. The holodisk's message was clear. The contact it gave her would help her. She typed into the system and cleared her throat. Of course she was met with a bombardment of questions and interrogations, but she was not calling these people because she wanted to. She called, and she spoke.

"I have found an Elise Ahana-Gwyneira, alive and in less than ideal conditions. I can only keep her alive in my bacta tank for so long. I don't know who's kid this is, but you need to pick them up."

 

[Darth Malum of House Marr]

It had only taken minutes for the message to reach him, there had been no attempt to hide the widening of his eyes, nor was there concern for decorum as he rushed out of his office, no silent apologies offered for all those that he surprised in the urgency of his mad sprint, nor attempt to give warning to those guards that were hypothetically meant to act as his protectors.

No instead, there was only the heaving of his chest, and the burning of his throat, as all custom and dignity was thrown aside in favour of a hope that still as bare cinders burned now with the full flame of a wildfire. Of all hope that he had thought tarnished, of which day by day the hope had reduced away to barely anything at all, of that which had been impossibility...

...All until now.

Precious platewear crashed into the ground, as tables were turned over, turning corners that had him near slamming his nostrils against walls, hints of pain were felt all across his form.

They all mattered little and little else.

She was alive.

His Elsie was alive.

Even as so much had changed, so much indeed, as pressure and peril had broken down his skull, as feelings and relationships changed and twisted, as revelations and discoveries filled his heart with as much emotion as they did blood.

There was a simplicity now, a clarity that had drawn him to her all that time ago, far away, far gone Archais, where he had fallen by accident, at the precipice of decisions and choices which felt just as ranceerous as his current place.

...He had thought he had lost her.

...He had thought she had left him.

After the Kaggath, after telling her of all which would come, he had found new hope, and new despondency in equal measure. All of which ironically enough, centred upon those which shared eyes of the same shade as his. He had thrown himself into his work, new responsibility, that went far beyond him. Even as his heart so grew forlong...

...They had drifted part, that much had been true, he had... failed her, in so many different ways.

...But to leave without a word, caused him a turmoil, that did not fade away even as the hope did.

He skidded to a halt, as the doors to his communication centre opened, operatives of the Tsis'Kaar gazed upon their Lord in his dishevelled manner with barely hidden bewilderment, their vaunted discipline and subtletly no doubt assisting in what was a truly... perplexing scene.

Malum cared little, rushing through individuals performing their various tasks for him, until he reached it.

...A whole taskforce had been established to search across the galaxy for, and then... week by week, month by month, it had been gutted, manpower reassigned, the fool errand recognised for what it was, but even as time passed, even as the hope flickered and faded, he had not given up his effort.

As the lone solitary figure that manned his post, turned to him, with knowing gaze.

A foreign voice speaking through the comms.

Malum stilled, as... all which had just happened, finally struck him with the full force of a typhoon. In the end, with the pressure of standing alone threatening to suffocate him, the words that would leave his mouth were hardly commiserate to the effort.

"...Who are you?"

Elise Ahana-Gwyneira

 

[Elise Ahana-Gwyneira]

Well, obviously this guy had been worried sick about this rescue.

Despite her mom snide nature, she could not help but frown in sympathy. As the exhausted, relieved voice asked for her identity, she almost retorted that his secretary should have already told him, but her worry over threw her snark.

"Edna Wen-Eloni, a scrapper. But you're probably more concerned about our location."

She gave him the coordinates to her ship, both verbally and through typed code. Then, she moved on to how the girl was doing.

"That bacta tank has not been maintained for months. I put her in my own with fresh life support, but she's in a coma. I think. She's been completely unresponsive even if her vitals are strong. It looked like some kind of battle happened, her old tank showed that she had been healed from all sorts of injuries. But she's alive, the new life support and nutrients are doing their job. By the time you're here she may be ready to head home."

She paused for a moment, tapping her chin. She had saved her out of kindness and decency, but she also was a businesswoman.

"Y'know, I didn't have to investigate this random escape pod. If you just want to come and get her, that's fine. But I'm a tad bit tight on credits since the wars in Sith space died down. Karking Dark Siders ain't doing their job. So... it's optional, but a little donation to the hero who saved your friend or whatever would be well received."

Darth Malum of House Marr

 

[Darth Malum of House Marr]

She spoke far too much, but considering she was the only avenue to discovering that which held his heart in such a vice grip, he hardly complained, as the pants that were born of his mad dash finally made itself manifest on breath, and his ears were active in their listening of her words. Most of which she said mattered little, but...

Edna Wen-Eloni, not a name that he recognised, that was not indicative of anything, it was not as if he held an encyclopedic knowledge within his skull, but, at the same time, it could be indicative of everything. It was not a name that was common in Sith or Mo- Mandalorian circles... what did that mean?

...That indeed beyond all paranoia, she was exactly what she said she was? A scrapper trying to daringly make her fortune within Sith Space? That likely was a crime all in itself, and there was few professions less dishonourable than that of the scavenger or the carrion. Alas, even in his role as Lord Inquisitor... for all which this promised the end of at least some of his turmoil, he could grant her some small reprieve from her crimes.

Just this once.

Still, that was not only what he took from her words, she was safe, that was the most critical piece of information, but, she had not always been... she had been involved in some battle... a battle she survived. He breathed a ragged breath out from his lips, that was the point which was most important, above all else. She was safe, she was healing...

...She would be fine.

"...You have done a great deed for a man of vast means... I shall dispatch an escort to your location, and they will bring you to Alvaria, once there, you shall be rewarded handsomely for all you have done." Along with a pardon, and the boon of an Emperor, though of course here there would be only the title of King that was said outright. His voice returned to their composure, yet... one could not ever truly remove the feelings which bubbled to the surface.

Elise Ahana-Gwyneira

 

[Elise Ahana-Gwyneira]

Edna was disappointed that she could not be rewarded from the comfort of her ship, but she knew she could not be picky when dealing with the sort of sorts the Sith were. And so, she followed his instructions. She welcomed the escort, which immediately flocked about the girl in the bacta tank, and soon they were bound for Alvaria. Alvaria was one of the better off worlds in Sith space - only because they had a rare just ruler. The spacer was still visibly uncomfortable on outside the safety of her ship as her bacta tank was being wheeled inside.

"Uh, I'm getting that back right? Yes? No?"

Soon enough, everything was good arranged. The girl was safely in a proper medical bed, hooked up to several machines. The original bacta tank's records had been taken, and were being overlooked by the staff. As the scrap collector nervously leaned against the wall watching, she heard the door open. And in stepped a raven haired man with red eyes and dark robes. She recognized who it was, she had seen him on the holonet. And by some freak event, she had spoken to him over the comlinks earlier.

Darth Malum of House Marr .

On her ship, she had been comfortable and confident. Now? A little less so. She ducked her head in respects, feeling out of place as a rougher looking commoner. But, at the very least, she could stand her ground.

"Lord Marr, I can assure you that she is going to live."

From the medical bay, a doctor approached holding a holopad.

"Lord Marr, medical analysis complete." When given the order, he went through the list, "Prior to being in the first bacta tank, she had a laundry list of injuries. Cuts, blaster shots, a gash on the head. It was so bad that she was put into a medically induced coma by whoever put her there. And she hasn't been given anything to wake up. The bacta somehow worked slower against her, likely something biological in her system, but she's fully healed. The only thing she needs is for us to manually jump her out of the coma."

Hearing this news, Edna could not help but sigh in relief, "That old tank was months old! I'm surprised she didn't get infected by anyt-" She once more remembered that the King, who seemed to care for this girl a great deal, was standing right there. She shrunk back again.

The doctor shrugged, "The escape pod was so cold, it essentially made the tank steral. But the tank wouldn't have lasted forever, it was lucky it was found floating around."

Edna huffed, crossing her arms, "A sloppy escape, likely made in error after taking so much time setting the bacta tank up. The bloody clothes and weapons definitely showed that it was a hasty last ditch effort to save the injured soul, even if they were only sending her to her slow demise." She's lucky I found her. I hope this Sith recognizes that. Because nice or not, he's still a Sith...

 

[Darth Malum of House Marr]

It had been an agonising wait. Preparations had been swiftly made for a pair of corvettes and cruisers to be sent to escort the scrapper's ship, and every part of him had been wanting to be on board those vessels as they departed, but as the coordinates indicated a location close enough to Alvaria, he had waited.

If he did not have the means to teleport immediately to the scrappers ship without risking appearing outside the confines of the durasteel hull, left to the mercy of the cold emptiness of space, he could wait the few hours for their arrival.

...It did not make the wait any easier.

He was clearly not going to achieve any more success in the office, with his foot tapping away, his fingers playing the piano open the wooden consecration of his desk, such, that he made a compromise, gazing out into the emptiness of space, from one of the many stations which orbitted Alvaria. A relatively new construct, to a world that was still in many regards modernising from what it had once been.

One always thought that the wait for something was the worst experience one could have.

It would always soon be eclipsed by the next moments of waiting. The crew walked around, scurrying away to their various tasks, they had initially been far too... excited, at having their Emperor on board, yet, with mask long since abandoned, leaned against the viewscreen, nodding off...

...They too had lost interest, as much as they could anyway.

His eyes snapped open, as the sounds of vessels escaping hyperspace resounded across the non-existent air.

His mask had long since been abandoned, as his legs swung forward, watching as the much smaller ship, escorted by the larger vessels were hooked to the airlock of the station. It was only by the composure brought upon by stressed and emotional exhaustion which had him walk at a much more reasonable space, even as every bone in his body rung out to run.

Only to see her...

...She was so pale.

Voices were speaking to him, but he hardly paid them mind, as he brought himself to her side. What... what had happened to her? Who... who had done this?

His eyes flicked away as the voices stopped, gazing upon one of his doctors, and a stranger.

There was but a single word he could afford them at this moment...

"...What?"

Elise Ahana-Gwyneira