Luminosity

[Relina Zhan]

[member="Joshua DragonsFlame"]

Relina laughed, throwing her head back. Fortunately, she swallowed first. "What do you think I do on base, Joshua? If I don't need to fly later or otherwise am not involved with anything, I'm often in the base's nightclub." she said. "Try not to faint. Even military installations have fun places to go."

Aless was trying not to laugh as well, more at Relina's retort. "Do you know what I think, dear sister?" she asked.

Relina looked her in the eye a moment and replied, "Dont' think. Drink!" The last word was spoken by both women at the same time. They raised their caff cups and took a sip together. "She learned that from the Angels and I." she said to Josh with a grin.

 

[Josh Dragovalor]

Josh would laugh right back, moving a bit of hair from his eyes with his elbow. "On my downtime, I'm usually in bars, looking for information... And people to partake in drinking contests with, dear Relina. I don't think you know what you're getting yourself into" He would tease, shooting her a playful little wink in return. "But perhaps sometime I'll join you should you be around there... We can try out these drinking contests on a regular basis if this works out" The Jedi would tease. Was that an offer to drink with him more often? Sounds like it. An odd thing to offer to the equivalent of a Duchess... But at least it showed a bit of trust.

"Don't think, drink, huh?" He responded with a small smile. "Guess we'll see who can drink more before long. You're free to join us as well, Aless. Though with how much we'll be drinking... We're going to need a private room, locked from the inside. Don't want any of us loose in the palace, no?"

[member="Relina Zhan"]

 

[Relina Zhan]

[member="Joshua DragonsFlame"]

Aless smirked. "Is there something wrong with the pool? There's a wet bar there, you know." She replied before finishing her plate.

Relina nodded. "She's right. I'd rather be there or on Base, frankly.... Although the downtown area has a few nice establishments, if we care to book the V.I.P lounge, but such a thing wouldn't be as fun with just the three of us, would it?." she said with a shrug, having finished as well. She'd then finish her caff and slowly stood.

"We should perhaps prepare for the day, Joshua. The impromtu festivities can wait." she advised, eager to get the towel off of her head.

 

[Josh Dragovalor]

The Jedi would smirk right back. "I just wasn't sure your preference. But did you want to go to the pool because there's a wet bar, or because you wanted me to show up shirtless again?" He would snark quickly, not missing a single heartbeat and shooting her a playful wink. Oh, there he goes again. It seemed he was in good spirits, at the very least.

Josh would shrug. "I'm game for whatever you guys want to do" He spoke between swallows of his food, getting words in before eating again each time. "Doesn't really matter to me. You're the almighty Hapans, genetic geniuses, royalty, nobility, etc, etc, you guys make the decisions" He joked, tongue in cheek. "I'm just along for the ride"

[member="Relina Zhan"]

 

[Relina Zhan]

[member="Joshua DragonsFlame"]

Relina stopped and glanced to her twin, who glanced back at the same time. It was probably kind of creepy how the two women were practically on the same wavelength. Then then both looked at Josh and replied in unison, "Both." and then laughed. The superlatives were waved off.

Relina then parted, calling up her live-in stylist. The man was lean, but toned and quite handsome and visibly effeminate. He styled Relina's hair in a neat, but simple bun with a bit of her hair trailing in a loose tail. Cyan hairclips finished the look. There was no need for anything fancy today, but she still tipped him as if he had given her the complex updo of a stately Noblewoman headed to a dinner party. The process only took about 25 minutes or so. Incidentally, it would have taken much longer if she were to have something fancy done.

Relina then emerged from her quarters with sunglasses that looked like fashionable, expensive goggles.... the bug-eyed look many fashionable ladies wore, complete with the logo of a prestige brand on the frames. She had her personal airspeeder's security remote in her hand as she waited for her companion.

 

[Josh Dragovalor]

Josh would laugh right back. "Of course you do" He would tease. "Shirtless in front of two beautiful women. What a day this will be" He cracked. It was... Odd, that they were on the wavelength they were, but they were twins. And probably spent quite a bit of time together. Perhaps it wasn't so hard to believe, after all?

He didn't really take any special processes to prepare to go out. He was already dressed up more then he usually was, and didn't need his hair styled like the girls did. He had already showered, washed, dressed, and eaten, and his hair was for one reason or another naturally straight. To get the style he wanted, all it really took was a bit of a quick comb over that took him about twenty or thirty seconds to do from front to sides to back. Nice and easy.

So, when Relina would arrive, she'd find the Jedi Master on a bench, waiting for her and Aless if she was coming.... Apparently sleeping. He'd arrived so early, that he'd ended up catching a few winks while waiting for the girl, or girls, to get their hair done.

[member="Relina Zhan"]

 

[Relina Zhan]

[member="Joshua DragonsFlame"]

Aless had not followed. She had gone to her office, incidentally. Relina would approach on light footsteps and ahemed. "Joshua. are yyou ready, dear?" she asked.

She'd still be dressed the same as she was at breakfast, but with her hair done and large-lensed sunglasses over her eyes. She'd twirl the remote on her right index finger by its keyring. "Come along, please.' she said, catching it suddenly and pressing a button on it. The sound of the security system on a speeder in the adjacent room, probably a hangar of some sort, could be heard when she did.

 

[Josh Dragovalor]

It seemed that the two would be alone in this juncture then. At the "Ahem" His half-asleep trance would break and his head jolted up to meet her eyes with his own. "Aye, I'm ready, Ducha" Josh would respond quickly as he would get to his feet, rubbing his eyes. He hadn't completely fallen asleep, luckily. Just rested his eyes and zoned out.

As he got to his feet, he watched as the noises would begin to be made once she hit the remote, walking over to her. He'd noted she'd gotten her hair done, and was dressed the same as before. Was that what had taken her so bloody long? Doing up her hair? He tried so hard not to facepalm. Sadly, it didn't work. He looked away, and promptly facepalmed without giving explanation as to why before looking from her, to the speeder, and back to her.

"So... Your hair looks nice" He would remark as he waited for the go ahead to get in whatever their vehicle of choice was.

[member="Relina Zhan"]

 

[Relina Zhan]

[member="Joshua DragonsFlame"]

"Why, thank you." she said. "or, Te'ta'xida, in my language." she added, as a tease of her own, acknowledging Josh's interest in learning Hapan. She'd then lead him into the room from where the sound had come.

The room was, indeed, a hangar. There were a few airspeeders parked inside and a couple of larger ships. One of them looked like some kind of high-tech starfighter with... was it an opaque canopy? Indeed, there was no transparent viewport on it. It also bore an interesting angular, but sleek design and was silver with military markings on it. One of them, on the forward-swept wings, resembled Relina's tattoo. There was a rack with a pair of cylinders under it and what looked like concussion missiles on a separate rack near the revolver-like cylinders.

The fighter was not the craft Relina approached, however. A smaller, unarmed airspeeder with an iridescent paintjob in royal blue was the craft of choice. It had four seats and a convertible cockpit as well. It looked pricey. Relina lifted up a side panel that served as a door and sat in the pilot's seat. "It is open." she said, even though the roof was retracted and Josh could just literally hop in.

 

[Josh Dragovalor]

"I'll keep that in mind" Josh would remark playfully in response to the continued language lessons. Wait, what was the greeting word again? Ugggh, this was going to be a pain in the arse to work with. Speaking of arse, he couldn't help but let his eyes glance to her below the belt from behind her as she led him to the next room, out of habits caused from their encounter at the pool earlier. Oh boy, this wasn't going to end well. Of course, he'd make sure to let this only be a brief glance, not wanting to cause any trouble.

Nice hanger, he thought as they stepped in. He hadn't seen much of large hanger bays since his Republic days had come to an end. The most he'd seen as of late were public ones, or just the small one he had at home to house the ships that he had amassed during his Republic career. They really had a lot of credits to spare when it came to presenting ships to people who participated in their wars, he could say that...

Huh, one looked like her tattoo. Why did she have something like that branded on her body? Perhaps it was tradition? He wasn't entirely sure, really. Perhaps he would ask later. But they'd find themselves in front of a 4 person speeder, pricey by the looks of it too. Too rich for his blood, for sure. He nodded to her offer and hopped in, sitting beside her.

"Alright, I'm all set" He said. Was it just him, or were the pilots and front passengers seats a little closer together then the usual speeders? He could feel his side against hers, not that he minded all that much.

[member="Relina Zhan"]

 

[Relina Zhan]

[member="Joshua DragonsFlame"]

Relina started the speeder and grinned. "Splendid." she said evenly and backed out... fast. Once they cleared the hanger, Relina turned the speeder around and took to the sky at a modest speed. The way she handled it was surprisingly professional... she certainly didn't look like a professional pilot. "Relax. I fly for a living... well, technically a living."

She'd bring the speeder around and into a lane of air traffic as the sprawl of Dimitor overtook the landscape below. Relina slowed down to match speed with the other speeders, as if they were in the middle of ground traffic. Even in the air, this city was busy. The spires of Dimitor lay ahead, large skyscrapers and the occasional tether line for skyhooks in low orbit. "This is Dimitor, the capital City of Gallinore. I was born and raised here and I still haven't seen all of it." she said.

 

[Josh Dragovalor]

Annnd he hadn't gotten caught. Or he had and she was just going to kill him later. Great. Anyway, he wasn't really prepared for the speeder to back out fast, and he had almost wrapped an arm around her waist to steady himself before realizing the possible consequences of that and instead just wrapped his fist around whatever surface he could find on the speeder to keep himself steady. Onc that was done... Well, at least the rest of the ride seemed to be going alright. "Technically... Right" He said. "And here I thought you just played the game of politics and flirted with nobles until you found the right one to marry for a living" He would joke, flashing another cheeky little grin toward her. "Or in your case, probably them flirting with you" He added with a smirk.

His gaze moved down to the city below. "Huh, I thought Gallinore was a city on Hapes? Or am I getting my geography horrifically wrong?" He would inquire.

[member="Relina Zhan"]

 

[Relina Zhan]

[member="Joshua DragonsFlame"]

Relina grinned at the humour. But she detected no sarcasm in what Josh said next. "What planet did you think you were on?" she asked. "Hapes is at least two parsecs from here... but only 4 hours in hyperspace or so." she said. "But, we ARE in the Interior region, bordering on the Rifle Worlds." she explained.

"If you care to see Hapes at some point, a trip can be arranged, I'm sure." she added a she made a gentle turn around one of the taller spires. "That building there is House Zhan Centre where they host the local news. Each morning, Good Morning Gallinore is televised live from studio 1-A and the surrounding Plaza." she said, a bit of trivia.

As Relina flew, another speeder seemed to going the same route, but kept its distance a bit... as if playing it safe. Perhaps it was a young , inexperienced pilot. Relina initially paid the non-descript and rather mundane looking speeder little mind, so long as they were riding her tail.

 

[Josh Dragovalor]

"I guess I got sort of mixed up, I'm not all that familiar with much in terms of Hapes" He would admit. "I figured that Hapes was the planet, Gallinore was the capital city or something like that. I guess I just wasn't aware that it was a multi planet empire, that's all" He added sheepishly. Great, his knowledge on it was off. But you learned something new everyday he supposed. "Guess I'll just have to study up when I get the chance"

To her offer, he smiled a little. "I'd like that" He said. Seeing Hapes for real would be interesting, he supposed. He wasn't sure if he'd been on the actual Hapes now. He'd only come into the area to see Relina like.... Ever, so... Yeah. Probably not.

He felt a presence nearby.... He got this ominous feeling. He couldn't explain why, but it just felt... Wrong.

[member="Relina Zhan"]

 

[Relina Zhan]

[member="Joshua DragonsFlame"]

Relina laughed. "No no, the capital city of hapes is Ta'a Chume'Dan" she said. "it's a small city, really. Dimitor is at least three times its size... in radius." she added. "Most of Hapes is unspoiled wilderness and Her Majesty's conservation authorities prefer to keep it that way. The plant is quite lovely, too. Nighttime there is almost as bright as twilight is here, or what would pass for it to you."

The speeder kept following them at a restrained distance. Relina glanced at her rear-view screen again. "... Damn. What is with this shu'vla?' She asked, her tone expressing a degree of frustration. She'd make another turn, banking a bit sharply around another spire. A second later the speeder was there again. "... Please tell me that isn't a media representative. I don't care for the... how do you say in Basic? Paparazzi?" she asked, her accent making the foreign word sound strange.

She'd keep glancing at the rear-view every so often.

 

[Josh Dragovalor]

"Sweetheart, I'm not really a Hapes historian, I just go and beat up evil space wizards and liberate slave camps, I don't know this stuff" The Jedi would tease, nudging the Ducha playfully. "Geez though... How the hell do you Hapan people operate at night off planet?" He would ask. "You would be blinder then bats in the dark"

His attention would go once again to the guy behind them... Yeah, he was definitely following them. "I knew it. I knew there was something odd about him" He remarked flatly. "Slow down a little, if he has a blaster in his hand, I'm going to make sure he doesn't have a chance to fire" He remarked toward her.

Things just got serious. Seriously, another bit of trouble? They just dealt with an assassin last night!

[member="Relina Zhan"]

 

[Relina Zhan]

[member="Joshua DragonsFlame"]

Relina answered, "Well, Nightvision technology is a thing, Joshua. I rarely leave the Consortium's space, however, but I recognise the concern." she said, shrugging a bit. "I'm nightblind, I know. I'm used to the luminous conditions of the Consortium and I have twenty-twenty vision according to my last physical. But, alas, it is true... in what you call nighttime, I am blind as a shriek-bat." She didn't seem terribly ashamed of this... rather her tone suggested resignation to the fact.

Relina would gently cut in the airbrake to slow her speeder down a bit. She'd then nod to the glove box. "Look in there. I should have a gun in there." she said. Relina was one to be armed almost all the time. She slept with a gun under her pillow, had two sizable wall-mounted cases in her bedroom filled with different kinds of guns, had a repeater pistol in her Terminus, and kept one concealed in her hot-rod airspeeder. Paranoia? maybe... It wasn't like she didn't have a good reason to be paranoid.

The speeder that followed them broke off when Relina slowed down. She noticed the sudden movement and read it as fear. "... That figures, doesn't it?' she asked.

 

[Josh Dragovalor]

"Yeah. But it's better to be adjusted to it and be able to see better in the case you don't have it, no?" He would inquire. "See, I can survive without my lightsaber. I can survive without night vision goggles. I can survive without a blaster. Hell, I could still survive if you nullified my use of the Force. I don't leave anything to chance" The Jedi would explain. "Relying on material things in missions all the time can be dangerous. You need to be ready in case these things are removed" Josh would lecture. "A man who only relies on one thing is useless the moment it's gone, no?" He added as he would hand her the blaster from her glove box.

But just like that, they veered off, and he chuckled a bit. "Maybe he saw me and got scared" He would joke before turning and making a silly face at her. "Look how intimidating I am! Rawr!"

[member="Relina Zhan"]

 

[Relina Zhan]

[member="Joshua DragonsFlame"]

"I'm flying, Joshua. This isn't a fighter. I can't shoot and fly at the same time in this." she said evenly. "I'm authorising you to use it when-" a red bolt flashed right in front of her. "Leba'e'frak?!" she swore. "Swax'if! get down." she said, closing the roof of the airspeeder to provide some, albeit minor, measure of protection and so that she didn't lose Josh when she started evading.

The speeder was fairly clean with nothing loose on the floor. Not only did the thing look like it was brand new and pretty, the cleanliness was for another reason... one Josh would be thankful for in a moment. "Open the window or the sunroof if you fire back.... this airspeeder is unarmed, but i can still outmanoeuvre him. Make sure your restraining harness is secure." she added evenly.

It wouldn't be long before she saw the other speeder again and promptly made a sharp, downward dive while pushing the throttle forward. This situation was NOT helping her mental state right now. She was sliding right into fighter pilot mode. Part of Josh's little lecture was being applied, it seemed, as she was without her high tech military hardware, which would have blasted the assailant out of the sky in the blink of an eye. Indeed, she was in an unarmed, civilian-grade airspeeder that, while fast and nimble, was not designed for combat manoeuvring, yet had to make do. She'd hit a button on her dash that had been hidden beneath a cover. it was a panic beacon that should soon alert local Security forces.

 

[Josh Dragovalor]

Annnnd just like that, their resident coward had started shooting. "Of course. Why fire when someone knows you're there, right? Kark, your men on Hapen aren't men at all!" The Jedi would crack as he got on his harness, and would take cover as she started her evasive maneuvers. Cripes, they weren't even in space but they might as well be with everything going everywhere.

Once she had hit the panic button and had stopped spinning everywhere, the Jedi would hit the button to open the sunroof. "I don't really have a blaster on me, so... I guess I'll just have to make do" He said. And just like that, he'd take off his safety harness and leap out of the speeder, landing on what was left of the roof and activating his lightsaber, the blue blade humming as it moved through the air. Quickly, he'd raised it and begin deflecting the blasts that went in his direction.

"Hey! Could you slow this thing down for a moment? I've got an idea!" Josh would call out to Relina. "And please for the love of kark, don't make any sudden movements and knock me off the damn thing! I can't help you if I'm skydiving!"

His plan was risky, but on an unarmed vessal and the only blaster shooter was piloting.... Well, it was a risk he'd have to take. Civilian vessals couldn't take that much punishment. The security would never arrive in time.

[member="Relina Zhan"]