Needles on Kamino

[Scherezade deWinter]

[member="Vulkar"]​

The Giggledust lazily broke through Kamino's atmosphere, the vast dark oceans beneath the clouds rolling lazily as though they would exist for an eternity. And perhaps they would. Some people who how many million years it took for such a huge and vast ball of water to form, what it meant for evolution, and how its end would be long after the bones of those who lived here were turned to fine dust that was no longer even a memory.

Scherzade wasn't one of those people. She, was just a Sithling, peering out through the window, eying the water with distrust. She did not like water, not at all - mostly though, because she could not swim. Of all the gifts and all the memories and all the knowledge that had been burned into her brain a moment before she broke out of that pebble that had been her prison for seven hundred years, had not included how to actually swim, and she'd never gotten around to learn on her own. As such, Kamino always posed a threat to her; she was never really sure that the building or island or city she was in were not going to sink beneath her.

And yet, when duty called, she did not balk. She'd gotten on her ship when they contacted her, and flew there right away. A Gen'Dai. Dude. It had been so long since one had been sighted in Confederate space; Scherezade had wanted to stumble into one for a forever, to get a whiff of its blood, to see what it was like to stand in front of one. And of course, to see why the heck Kamino scientists would catch one. Gen'Dais were sentient. They could speak and think like a lot of other species. Why not just talk to it?

She shook her head as she descended the ramp from her ship, headed in straight away. The sooner she was inside and seeing what it was they wanted, the better.

"Pathfinder deWinter, here for the special cargo," she sighed as she walked by the receptionist, and continued walking. She already knew this specific laboratory. There was only one place that had the equipment to hold something as huge as a Gen'Dai. And of course, there was the matter of the little lie. Scherezade was not quite a Pathfinder anymore; yet those without the high enough clearance would never know that. It was her cover, and- her second job, in more ways than one.

Entering the lab, the Kaminoans quickly shuffled to greet her, pointing their giraffe necks at the subject.

"Pathfinder deWinter, we-"

Scherezade held her hand up, her glowing green eyes looking at him. They'd… They'd actually strapped him down. Glowing green eyes looked at the creature. His formless body was punched into shapes by his armor, metal with leather. A fighter? Or perhaps someone who knew he needed to have more protection? She wasn't sure.

Coming close, Scherezade triedto give him a comforting smile. "Hey dude," she said. Wait. Was it even a male? "Or Dudette," she added, "are you okay?"

 

[Vulkar]

No matter how much you try to run away from chaos, it always catches up to you. One day you can be meditating on your home planet while on another, you can face unforeseen calamities, which can change the course of your life in the blink of an eye ... Or in the zap of an electrostaff. Nothing would have prepared Vulkar for what he faced. In his short life, the Gen'Dai believed that his planet was safe. Away from hostile races that might want to test their combat skills with a goliath like himself. How wrong he was. It was a sunny morning on his planet and Vulkar, as usual, went to the small grove with the lake a few kilometers from his cabin. By his own decision, the Gen'Dai had gone to live far from the great settlements, because he did not like the noise and company of others too much, and, in addition, he did not want to worry his brothers with his illness. His thing was meditation; It helped him stay calm at the worst moments, even when the pain was unbearable.

What he liked most about meditation were "the whispers of nature," or so he called them. The whispers consisted of natural sounds like the creaking of the leaves, the howls of distant predators and the dewdrops dripping in the lake, which together made a beautiful symphony that seemed to caress your soul in the warmest of ways. But that day, such a melodic tone was violent and sporadic, something that generated a feeling of deep discomfort in the Gen'Dai. It was then that he heard them, the galactic tongue. Vulkar was so immersed in his thoughts and in that macabre symphony that he had not heard the beating hearts of outsiders approaching his resting place.

He tried to run away, but his huge figure betrayed him. With his yellow eyes, Vulkar saw gray little men with metal canes that buzzed endlessly. Once or twice he tried to scare them with guttural roars, but that only unleashed even more the determination of men.One of the rods connected with his body and Vulkar fell on his knees. Frightened, the Gen'Dai lashed out at his attackers, tearing with his claws the flesh of one man's torso before he grabbed another by the neck, breaking it in the process. This violent act did not last long, since the men managed to prod the monster with their electrostaffs, causing him to fain; and the symphony became silent.

When he opened his eyes again, he was blinded by the white light that surrounded him, the walls, floors and everything else was mostly white. Soon, he noticed that he was tied to a metal bed with especially tough restraints. Clearly, he was no longer in the grove. Despite being a peaceful Gen'Dai, Vulkar was furious. The echo of their growls and roars could be heard through the halls of the facility.Humanoids with long necks were around his bed, watching their behavior while documenting everything while talking curiously among themselves. The bickering halted when another humanoid wearing a green suit entered the room and approached the red creature. This demonstration of authority was enough to make the Gen'Dai speak up.

"You..Release..I .." He grunted in a botched common tongue. From the look of desperation on the alien's face, it was clear he meant what he said, botched or not.

 

[Scherezade deWinter]

[member="Vulkar"]​

As the Gen'Dai on the table spoke, a clattery of furry spread among the scientists, who began to move back and forth, writing and mumbling, and doing whatever it was that the giraffe necks usually did when something they wanted to study showed to have functioning brain cells. Scherezade sent them all a glare, which provided to be enough only for some of them to shut up. Raising her left hand, she grabbed one of the noisy ones by the Force, and slammed him against the wall.

"Shut up," she ordered them, though her voice did not bark; it was soft, if anything – calm.

She loathed working with these type of scientists. The ones on Geonosis were easier to work with; they were mostly quiet, very efficient, but they also understood how to communicate with other humans. With her. When there was a problem, they knew how to tell her. When they were excited, they kept it contained until she was gone. And above all, they knew how to treat strange specimen better than this.

She supposed, that the Gen'Dai was the first they had seen in a good long while. But these were not people that cared what was behind the eyes; they were more likely to ask him if he knew what a banana plus a banana were, rather than check if he was actually comfortable.

Which left Scherezade to make a decision; to release him, or to let him continue be probed like a cucumber?

Looking back at him, she just nodded. A knife slid into her hands and she cut him loose before making the knife vanish beneath her armor again, and she held a free hand out, should he wish for help in sitting up.

"You buttholes probably already know what he eats," she said without looking at the scientist, "you got two minutes to make sure there's a meal ready for him." Looking at the giant beast, she tried a friendly smile. "What else do you need to be comfortable?"

 

[Vulkar]

[member="Scherezade deWinter"]​

​

Vulkar’s cautious eyes were locked on the woman. Beneath his frown and threatening gaze, the Gen’Dai was worried and very much so. The squabbling scientists didn’t help his mood either, as it just stressed him further. Suddenly, one of the long necked men was thrown across the room meeting the cold wall at the end of the room. This phenomenon seemed to be caused by the green lady, as it occured at the same moment she raised her hand, but doubt lingered in the Gen’Dai’s mind. How was it that she was able to toss someone she wasn’t touching?
According to older Gen’Dai, outsiders were known to cause pain amongst his people, and such an indiscriminate display of force just proved the statement correct, which made Vulkar even more concerned. The beast’s muscles tensed up as soon as the woman pulled out a knife, expecting the worst to come, but instead of getting the pain he was expecting to receive, he was faced with relief as the restraints around his wrists were cut.

On his own, the Gen’Dai wearily stood up, not wanting to take her hand and, as soon as he got on his feet, he pushed through the crowd of Kaminoans as he made his way to one of the windows. His previously neutral face was now filled with regret and the slits in his yellow eyes widened near-instantaneously as he gazed upon the oceanic landscape, covered in a thick mantle of darkness.

To the woman, whose question he had previously disregarded, the Gen’Dai replied “Comfort..? I...-Want home..” He muttered in between tightly gritted fangs.

The fear in him soon became frustration and anger was becoming apparent on his face. “Where..We?! Growled the beast in a booming tone, throwing a table aside and violently smashing his fists into the thick glass, cracking it slightly. “Where..Trees?! Vulkar roared angrily in his misconstructed dialect.

 

[Scherezade deWinter]

[member="Vulkar"]​

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​

Scherezade gazed at the Gen'Dai as he rose from the table he'd been laid on, noting the weariness in his gaze. She wished there was an easier way to go through this, but short of darting into his mind and altering the bits that were concerned, there was nothing she could think of doing. Besides, she was not a mentalist – the odds of managing to pull that trick off without making her even more paranoid or having it further worsen were too great.

And only then he said it. I want home. Scherezade felt a lump grow in her throat. She knew the sentiment all too well. It had been about a year and a half since she had been released from the pebble that had been her prison for seven hundred years. Almost a millennia since she had last seen her home with her own eyes and not through the memories that others branded into her brain. Almost a thousand years since she could bask in the warm Endelaan sun and dance among the groves that decorated the entire area behind its Forbidden Temple.

His anger, his table throwing, it caused the native scientist to scatter and run, but she held her place.

"We are on Kamino," she explained, doing her best to sound gentle, though with how her voice was more on the deep side of things and her height wasn't that much shorter than his, people rarely tended to understand that she was more than fat and muscle, "it's a planet full of water. There are no trees here, no grass, no nothing, except water and laboratories and a bunch of useless people with necks that are too krakking long for their own good and by the Force do I feel like snapping a few of them right now."

Taking a step towards him, Scherezade's hands quickly moved, shoo'ing away all the bits and pieces of the table neatly into the corner.

"I want to go home too," she said quietly, "but my home is very far away and I have not seen it in a long, long time. I don't even know if there's a home for me to go back to." Not a full truth, but close enough to it to taste as such. It was, as almost everything else in her life, more complicated than that. "What's your home like?"