Private Poisonous Parties

[Kiff Brayde]

Confederacy Defense Force Medical Facility
Golbah City, Geonosis

​

High Marshal Kiff Brayde had experienced quite the plethora of near-death encounters, both in his youth growing up and his career within the Confederacy Defense Force. From alleyway brawls to full-fledged naval engagement, death had always been a prevalent thing in Kiff's life. Yet, the attempt on Kiff's life - a poison slipped innocuously into the High Marshal's drink while he was taking a well-deserved break to relax with a new friend - had shaken him more than he could've anticipated. For days he'd been confined to a bright-white operating room as droids worked around the clock to maintain his vital signs and pump the toxins out of his body, and even though that ordeal was over he was still limited to the sparse personal quarters that the Confederacy Medical Force on Geonosis had to offer. It was quiet, much too quiet for Kiff's taste. He would rather have the adrenaline of battle coursing through his veins or the calculations of gambling play out in his mind than be forced to face his own thoughts in a peaceful room.

Yet, here he was anyways, and it looked pretty much like there was no escape other than a quick return to health, but even that seemed to be a chore. The infirmary was quite boring, and there were few people to drop in and pay him a visit. Lieutenant Commander -- now simply Commander Jol had stopped by to deliver an old-fashioned box of assorted candies on a brief stopover from Fondor, and had apologized that he couldn't stay and visit longer thanks to additional duties in the absence of his commanding High Marshal. Jol had smiled and assured that all was well in the Bassadro Sector, and Kiff wouldn't have to worry about any future mutinies, which Kiff in part was thankful for. But to be honest, even a rebellion in the command hierarchy would be more exciting than being confined to his square, bare room. Even Jol's gifts had been confiscated by the medical droids until further notice, while they kept him on a strict diet of basic nutrient supplements until his internal systems recovered from the damage the poison had done to his body.

Now, he was watching some old holodrama about some ancient rebellion and a superweapon to pass the time, doing his best to ignore the patchy quality that the display offered. Shifting in his hospital sheets to a more comfortable position, Kiff sighed as he flicked the vid off, leaving the room in silence as the blue glow winked out. A window to his left provided an good view of the Golbah City skyline, and as Geonosis's sun began to set Kiff had to admit that the twilight backdrop of the Confederacy's capital was impressive to behold. The oranges and pinks cast shadows over the towering buildings of the Crown district, and Kiff even had a clear view of the Citadel from his window. Yet still, even the beautiful backdrop of Geonosis did not improve Kiff's mood of boredom or anxiety as he merely sat there, helpless in his hospital bed.

Kathryn Foster ​

 

[Kathryn Foster]

''I think your's ready, miss...''

----------​

In another setting, Kathryn's serious and closed stance would probably have looked out of place. With arms crossed and ruminatively biting on a nail while staring at and seemingly right through the display of the caf machine, anyone would see that her thoughts were completely somewhere else than at the caf she just had got dispensed in front of her. No wonder, though. She were at a medcenter and everywhere one looked, there were people around concerned about friends, family and loved ones that were more or less fighting with illness and injuries.

What had caused the sudden collapse of Brayde?

That it was an attempt to poison the high marshal was of little doubt, but who was the assassin?

And... Would Brayde be okay?

It was just silly realy. Not that she were here. After all, she had been the one to invite him out to that fateful night and she had witnessed the whole collapse. The agents from the Ministry of Secrets had left just a moment ago, after questioning her on the matter. What was silly were the chaos of thoughts that had ran through her mind from the moment she boarded the medical airspeeder and continued to do so right now. She had her emotional moments and were very considerate to her close ones, but this was the first relaxed off-duty meeting between the two.

----------​

With a slight wince of surprise, she were snapped out of her thoughts and gave the man a quick look of excuse and a faint smile before she took the caf and walked down the clean hallway of the CDF medical facility in Golbah City. She rounded a corner and met commander Jol on his way out, tending to the business while their high marshal recovered. He told her on the fly that Brayde was awake, which made a larger smile grow on the colonels lips.

She spent an extra second in the hallway before knocking and entering, taking a deep sigh and making sure that she was not all teary and emotional in the face. Having been able to change clothes while he underwent treatment, she now wore blue denim trousers along with a simple black sweatshirt. Thanks to the braid, her hair did not look all too messy while waiting through the night for his wake up.

''Sir? Thank god you're awake! May I come in...?'' she uttered and asked politely while feeling the happiness of seeing him awake and well again.

Kiff Brayde

 

[Kiff Brayde]

Kiff was snapped out of his stupor by the sudden words from a familiar sounding voice. . . turning his head, he saw the Colonel Kathryn Foster from the eventful night that had landed him in this position. A sudden emotion of gratitude swelled within Kiff; he was grateful for the interruption, even if it had been the person who may have indirectly landed him in this mess in the first place. Besides, he liked the Colonel's eager attitude and spirit, and was beginning to consider her to be a good friend. "Don't worry about it, Foster. These medical droids are an absolute bore," he said with a smile to put her at ease. He could imagine that she'd gone under a heavy amount of stress, and he couldn't blame her -- if he'd gone out drinking with one of his superiors and they'd suddenly collapsed, he'd be worried to.

"Oh, and don't feel bad if you didn't bring me anything. Those droids are feeding me out of a tube right now, and won't let anything else in," he said gesturing to the now empty gift basket that Jol had left. He was glad that someone else had taken the time to come visit him, and was very much open to the prospect of a conversation with another human being instead of more medical diagnostics.

 

[Kathryn Foster]

Brayde's frank words helped with the feelings of self-blame that had haunted her since the ride in the ambulance. How could any of them know that was going to happen? Right now, it was just wonderful seeing the charismatic high marshal be himself again. The words together with the gesture towards commander Jol's empty gift basket got her smile to widen slightly. A slight feeling of pity rushed past her. Kathryn didn't know if he was particulary fond of sweets, but considering his statement he seemed a tiny bit downhearted to the fact that he had been ''robbed'' on it by the droids.

''Thank you, sir... The droids told me...'' she begun and walked in after carefully shutting the door behind her. ''I wasn't sure when you would wake up... And... I met commander Jol in the corridor and he said you were awake...'' she punt and searched for something sensible to say, putting her hands in the pockets as she walked over to the bed. ''If I'd knew I'd bring flowers, or... Yeah, somethin' the droids wouldn't confiscate...'' she bit her lips a bit and nodded, trying her best to convince herself that it was pretty smooth. From what they had gone through, she couldn't realy come up with something else. Inside, she was just indescribably happy to the fact that he was alive.

''So! Have they said somethin' about your recovery?'' she added after a second or so of silence, changing the subject.

Kiff Brayde

 

[Kiff Brayde]

Kiff shrugged at Kathryn Foster 's last question. Whatever model that the CIS used for their medical droids, they weren't exactly the most conversational bunch. "I should be out of here in a week or two, and then it's back to Fondor with a case of pills for me," he said matter-of-factly. "And seriously, don't worry about not bringing anything. I shouldn't have mentioned it," he said with an attempt at an easy smile, although for some reason it felt more difficult to keep up with his easy going personality as of late.

If Kiff were to be honest with himself, the fact that he had nearly lost his life was slowly begin to dawn on the High Marshal's brain, a reality that had seemed to be nothing more than fantasy for the man who'd fought through countless engagements and battles, who'd survived on the streets of Arkanis, who'd faced down a Battlecruiser with only his sole Star Destroyer. And yet, this comparatively feeble and cowardly attempt on Kiff's had seemed to internally shake him to the core. Just like that, Kiff had been so close to losing his life, and he hadn't even known it. Poison, an assassin; these were not things that you could meet eye-to-eye, and something about that had gotten Kiff on edge.

Yet if there had been one thing that Naval Academy had taught him, it was how to control his outward display of emotions. It'd been drilled into Kiff's head that when the commander gave up, everyone gave up. And so Kiff did not let his emotions seep into his tone, his facial expression, the way he kept his easygoing smile curved on his face. "By the way, with all the thinking time I've had in here, I want to extend to you an offer. I know a person on Fondor who is experimenting with a new type of starfighter-droid brain, but he needs an exceptional organic pilot to do testing and the stuff. If you're interested, I can get you transferred to the Bassadro Sector Armada and you could begin work with him," he said as a means of turning the conversation away from his mini-existential crisis.

 

[Kathryn Foster]

Nonsense! Bringing something was the least that she could have done to the humble High Marshal of the Bassardo Armada. It was just something you did, especially if a friend had been balancing between life and death. Like, in this situation? If she had known that he was awake. Maybe, just maybe she could rectify it in the near future. Somehow.

Raising her eyebrows slightly, Brayde's offer came as a surprise for her, but a pleasant surprise that was. It instantly etched itself on the colonels mind as she thought about it. The short presentation sounded very interesting, and as curious as she was and with a burning love for flying, it felt like it wasn't even on the map for her to back down from the offer.

In the recent months she had grew quite fond of the marshal, having fought alongside him and occacionally bumping into eachother in uniform. So, it was not to mention that they would be able to stay in touch more easily. If the high marshal wished so, that was. Either way, she felt honored with the offer to be a part of the development of this starfighter-droid brain.

Along with a short snort, Kathy cracked a smile in the corner of her mouth and threw a quick glance meeting the clean light floor of the hospital room. Of course, she felt that the marshal was not by far satisfied with being confined this room. If he could, she guessed he would not let it go more than a week before he just walked out of the door to his duties and future battles.

''I'd be glad to accept the offer sir, but... You sure you want me to stay in the same system as you then, sir? Considering last time...'' she said humorously, and met Brayde's gaze once again when she looked up. It was an all too rare occurrence to see him break out in that broad charismatic smile of his, so maybe putting a little joke to it would do it.

Kiff Brayde

 

[Kiff Brayde]

"My hope is that there isn't a whole lineup of assassins waiting for me," Kiff said in playful manner with an eyebrow raised, the corners of his lips turned upwards slightly in a smile. "Otherwise, I may need a larger security detail the next time we go drinking. And besides, I know some great hole-in-the-wall places on Fondor, the kind that serve great drinks that usually aren't poisoned."

Just talking about the planet made Kiff eager to get out of this hospital and off of Geonosis. He'd only spent a few months on Fondor as Bassadro Sector Command had just been established there, but the industrial ecumenpolis had made a great impression on the young man. He loved watching the ships in construction, the hustle and bustle of the factories and skyscrapers around him. Fondor held an air of importance and business, and that almost made Kiff's desk job-portion of being a High Marshal exciting.

"Anyways, I don't know how much longer those infernal Med Droids are going to let you stay in here, but thanks for the visit. Hopefully we'll be able to catch up in a couple of weeks on Fondor, over a non-toxic mug of beer," Kiff said with a wink, outstretching his hand to give Kathryn a goodbye handshake, the most he could really do from his confined position. He was genuinely glad for Kathryn Foster 's visit; aside from the incident that had landed himself in the hospital in the first place, of which he didn't assign any blame to her, he was beginning to consider the Colonel to be a good friend. And that was something hard to come by.

 

[Kathryn Foster]

''Well... That would be pretty worthless!'' Kathryn stated in all honesy with a chuckle, to the picture that came to her mind of Brayde being surrounded by boring security droids during another social night out. That would be hard to just ignore when trying to enjoy each others friendly company away from musts and duties.

With both commander Jol and herself visiting him so soon after his wake up, Brayde would probably need to rest, she thought. Hospital droids were also strict with visiting times and routines, so as much as she wanted to continue the conversation with the charming high marshal, she needed to leave for them to be able to do their work.

''Yeah, I better leave you to rest. You're needed out there with us, sir.'' she said, and shook his hand with a warm smile.

''And, I'm... Looking forward to continue where we left off, sir.'' she continued, and put the hands in the back pockets. ''If you need anything... something done at the base, or... something from outside... Heh, I'd probably have to smuggle that inside... You got my work holo' number.'' she finished and flashed him another soft smile before leaving with a wish to recover soon and a friendly wave. It would be a slight, well, distraction, to walk around the base knowing he were here, but at least he was awake and the prognose were looking great.

Kiff Brayde