Private Returning to the Fold

[Tuuli Miles]

Tuuli sat in the command throne of the Rai’os Suokav a Dramath-class Strike Frigate that served as the home of Tuuli Miles Pirate Prince and Adara Raxis the only person Tuuli trusted to command things when he was indisposed. They had spent the last few years wandering the galaxy after Australis was killed doing what they felt like which varied from random bouts of minor piracy to researching obscure force traditions or force powers. Tuuli had grown now standing almost as tall as his father with the same lean and athletic build that his father had his hair now hung down to his shoulders and was generally tied back in a pony tail. He looked over the bridge crew a rather diverse gathering of sentients ranging from those loyal to Clan Akaata and him to those who owed their almost fanatical loyalty to Adara. This brought a small almost savage grin to the young mans face as he leaned back his cheek resting in one hand as he stared out the viewport watching as stars streaked by in the familiar streaks of light that indicated hyperspace travel.

As he sat there he thought back to when Adara had insisted they set off to make a name for themselves frowning as he thought back to how she had been upset by the actions of those around her his fingers clenching into a fix on the command thrones arm before he relaxed. He finally surged to his feet and turned to make his way back to the quarters he shared with Adara glancing at the bridge officer. "I am going to check on Adara inform us when we are nearing the slavers den. I wish to be with the boarding party when they make their way onto the den." Tuuli strode off calmly making his way back to where he and Adara slept and spent most of their time the long black waist cloak he wore brushing against the ground as his leather boots echoed around him. He looked around before stepping into the room and looking around for Adara calmly.

 

[Adara Raxis]

Sequestered in their suite, the twenty year old Epicanthix leaned back against the crook of the sofa, one leather-clad knee up and her stocking foot on the seat. One arm cast over her knee and far from the propriety the Princess and Arch Duchess kept in the various Courts, Adara spun the throwing knife around her index finger. Watched the black beskar blade slice the recycled atmosphere of her and Tuuli Miles ‘ frigate. It spun and spun and spun, barely any friction from silken skin and well crafted weaponry. Hyperspace veered outside the viewport. Adara tried to match the spin of her blade to the thrum of the engines she’d known as her only permanent home for the past four years. Sometimes, the young woman closed her eyes, focused on the spin of her blade without letting it fly off her finger into an unfortunate wall or piece of art. Heck, her wardrobe. The idea brought a smirk to Adara’s unpainted lips, dresses and suits and leather trousers showered on Adara with luxurious aplomb by Tuuli’s parents.

His mother Livia, mostly. ‘No future daughter of mine... blah de blah blah...’ until Adara’s princess dresses and crinolines were vacuum packed away through the years for more aggressive grown-woman fare. Needed room to kick things, or such, if she was going to galavant around with Livia’s golden firstborn child on his pirate ship in the stars. Whether Adara and Tuuli wanted such things or not, Livia Miles had plenty of her own designs. “Time to grow the feth up, you wide-eyed innocent” being the term Adara remembered best.

Truth be, Livia Miles helped. Pulled Adara past the death and destruction of her mother by a firm grip on her earlobe and a pair of shears to slice the living end out of Adara’s once hip-long curls. ‘Perish the thought of the neck strain’ and all that, in her traditional Naboo accent. Once more, Tuuli’s ship offered freedom. A microcosm of the royalty awaiting her in more complicated pastures.

“After Wayland, I recognized how powerless I am at helping my father with his work. There I was, a child beside her Dad, watching him tear a city apart to stop her pain. To teach her how to repay anyone who’d said so much as an unfriendly word. And if I’m honest, without me there he’d do it anyway, because he hated the Mandalorians for what they’d done to Kaine. And I could barely do anything but be a battery. Stand there wide eyed.” She spoke to the dim illumination of the suite, glanced to the bed where a half hour before Adara’d still been sleeping. Her two black-as-night hellhounds stretched and one raised his head with a canid yawn as his forepaws clawed at the carpet. Soon, they would leave hyperspace their next target awaited. “Travelling around with you’s been… effortless in comparison. Even with your Mother teaching me how to throw knives by shoving me in bar fights on seedy moons... I... felt you coming.”

She smiled weakly up from her mahogany curls, her knife stopped in her hand. “Tuuli?”

 

[Tuuli Miles]

Tuuli chuckles as he moves over to perch on the back of the couch leaning down to kiss Adara's forehead as he grins at her teasingly taking a moment to acknowledge the presence of the Hellhounds locking eyes with both of them before his eyes were drawn back to Adara noticing the knife in her hand he raised an eyebrow teasingly as he grins down at her. "I would hope you felt me coming Dara I wasn't even trying to hide my presence." He chuckles at the truth of the statement much like his father Tuuli had a rather drastic flavor on the force sufficing it with a pure mixture of Dark and Light swirling together but not mixing or marring the other. Each separate but together within his presence.

He easily maneuvered to sit down lifting Adara's legs and setting them back down over his lap as he leaned back one arm thrown over the back of their couch as he grinned at her calmly. "We should be arriving in just under 2 hours give or take. Once we arrive the Rai’os Suokav will handle any defenses before the boarding parties depart. The members of Shrike Squadron will handle any fighter craft or above that are in system. This should be the last of those that are giving your Father issues with the slave trade." The youngest Miles lounged on the couch casually as if he wasn't capable of killing anyone just an average young man spending time with the woman dearest to his heart. Few would know but Tuuli carried on him no less than 5 weapons. He smiled at Adara soothingly as he relaxed half closing his eyes as he centered himself in the force. Adara Raxis

 

[Adara Raxis]

She pressed her forehead into his kiss, freer now to delight in the affections of her beloved Tuuli Miles than she was as a curious but daunted teenaged girl. The years between them brought another layer of comfort, five years since their childhood friendship ascended to the openly romantic sensations she teased out now. Eyes shut, Adara sighed and slid her hand along his cheek.


“Of course, if you were attempting to hide, I’d have nothing to go on but the swish of the air.” Thumbing the pendant of her ubiquitous necklace, a gift from her cousin Darth Carnifex, Adara wondered why as a child she hadn’t the chance to wear something so delicately balanced. A charm to hide her Force Signature, from the prying eyes and eternal dangers of Sith and Jetiise alike. As Tuuli swept over and propped her legs on his lap, Adara finally opened her eyes with a coy little smirk. “Two hours? Far too long, we’ll get into much too much trouble, my love.”


Shifting on the couch to sit a bit nearer, Adara leaned back, her hand barely able to brush against his leather and dark fabric clad chest. “I hope it pleases him that the competition is dying in squalls of their own blood. Maybe then, I...”


She refused to finish the thought. No, she couldn’t face home, the nebulous place bound not by a set of walls but her beloved father Darth Prazutis. Chin down, she leaned her head against the back of the couch by his outstretched arm. “... I’ll divert the slavers’ attention with the Militibus. Give... we’ll get them and then your Mom will have more former slaves to refuge amongst our Clan’s...”


Her voice died off again, a bit of a flush to her cheek as she shifted a few precious inches closer. Our... when...? When did she view Clan Akaata as home?

 

[Tuuli Miles]

Tuuli smiles at her as he listens to her plan nodding his head as he leaned back half closing his eyes a small smirk on his lips. "So the usual plan. You and Militibus draw their attention and I will lead a few of the Dark Jedi and Cragmaloids onto the station to take it." He hums as his hand moved to run through Adara's shorter hair calmly closing his eyes partially as he let himself immerse in the force for a moment feeling everything about him before he started draw the force within himself covering his presence with a blanket of pure force allowing it to seemingly cover himself finding himself at ease now that his presence was hidden fully. He winked at Adara as he raised a hand using the force to gather up the remains of his weaponary in their room onto the table before him humming as his hand continued to move through her hair as he looked at the weapons laid out before him. "Options options what to use today." Adara Raxis

 

[Adara Raxis]

“I will be your big bad glowing distraction.” The chuckle bubbling out of Adara’s lips was real as her knives, well tailored to the girl, grown by circumstances into the young woman lounging on Tuuli Miles . She mewled and cuddled into his arms, black and red eyes shifted shut. “Might even sprinkle in a little crackle of magic. Make for a good show.”

As Tuuli shut himself off from the greater galaxy, Adara felt a thrill of seeing him, knowing deep that he remained open to her. Her Tuuli. The weapons danced in the recycled atmo, Adara watched them dance and licked her lips. Lightsabers. Twin sabers crafted for another, for Sanya Val Lerium and given to the young thing by her Verd’goten. Sabers which fed the Dark Side into any individual who wielded them, a sort of drug.

No sabers today. Not… not today. Today would be a good day, and as she looked through Tuuli’s weapons, she nuzzled her head under his chin and pointed. “The Kama. Chain and blade, my beautiful. Chain and blade.”

 

[Tuuli Miles]

Tuuli chuckles as he tilts his head feeling her nuzzling into him as he nods his head waving his hand the weapons returning to their hiding places leaving the Kama resting on the table before them the darkened blade seeming to absorb the light around them as it rested awaiting for Tuuli to take it up and use it. He closed his eyes and rested against her one arm wound around her waist as he hums. He closes his eyes and just relaxes against her grinning as he finally senses the ship shudder and taps her side gently. "Alright Dara we have arrived." He gently helps her to stand as he moves to stand himself reaching for the mask on the table he exhales for a moment before slowly pulling the mask on hiding his features under it and assuming the mindset of Shadow. A mindset that allows him to unleash all of his strength and power against those he fights against showing no mercy to those who stand against him. Adara Raxis

 

[Adara Raxis]

She shut her eyes and willed the trip to take a few moments longer. Draped in Tuuli’s arms, the hideous grip of their pasts dissipated. She felt the grin on her hair, her fingers pressed along the necklace Glomkhoduil gave her to keep her force signature hidden from prying Light-bound eyes. This would do it, cleaning up the slaver ring would be a gift to her father. He wouldn’t denounce her for running off, learning as much as she could to be more than the glass flower with bits of thorns. Lips pressed against Tuuli’s neck for a brief second, and she sighed deep to clear the energies wafting around her musings of the past.

This was not about the past anymore.

Black and red eyes snapped open. Adara took Tuuli’s hand to rise and snapped her neck from side to side, rolled each shoulder. Fingers along the necklace, Adara slid it off her slender neck and set it on the table by their bed. Pure and vicious, Adara’s dark powers unfurled to the Force’s senses, her ability to power others held aside for the techniques and training she received since rushing from the executions those years ago.

“Be well, my Shadow.” She kissed the mask, and stepped back, storming out of their quarters through the decks of the Rai’os Suokav to their hangar bay. Outside, the jolts of their ship’s shields and weapons came to her ears and vibrations reverberant in the decks. The battle was starting, their pirates a coordinated crew (for nothing else would be tolerated where the Pirate Prince and his intended were involved. Pain of death and all that). There in the hangar bay, the Militibus ex Infernis, once bodyguards to a wide-lidded child stood. Armoured and prepared, warriors all awaited the bloodshed which would follow. The Militibus grew with her, fulfilling their initial role of protection against all harms by biting at those harms which could come to their charge. Her head rose, she nodded and the Militibus saluted with the butts of their spears against the ground.

“Shall we enjoy this little jaunt today? Kill the slavers, save the slaves. Any provisions worth taking are for the plunder. Well then, shall we?” Adara stepped first onto the skiff which would take her forces to dock kinetically with the station. She poured over the shimmering three-d map of the station, “There. The area there with a large pocket of space, an atrium I expect? We hit that. We’ll dock here, and cross through the corridor adjacent.”

“Yes, Ma’am.” Garen Kierkenraasz nodded and set to the work, as the Militibus settled in their webbing. A distant relation of the Fitz-Kierke’s, Garen was trusted enough as a pilot for Adara’s personal flights. She gave one last look as the hatch closed to her Tuuli, whispering of where they would meet when all went well on board the station.

Tuuli Miles