Private So You Found Another Way (Peyton Steele)

[Shath Kharole]

RAFA V

Not long had passed since Shath and his comrades dismissed an assortment of inconsequential intruders in the forest outside. Now Shath was back in the aqueduct of the Sharu pyramid revitalization process, testing water samples and listening for chaos. Too many unknowns were scrabbling around out there.

The work demanded focus, but he kept coming back to the human. Not because of her evasiveness and impressive attack shuttle, but because the more Shath thought about her, the more he realized she might not have been human at all. There'd been an impression of scales, a touch of the water in her movements. He might have misjudged her and acted unfairly as a result.

He sent out his mind's eye in the Mist as he worked. Where was she, and more important, what?

Peyton Steele

 

[Peyton Steele]

The agent/scoundrel was nothing if not curious and tenacious. At the outside of the Pyramid she was sent away, sure, but with the tech open to her, from the old Alliance, from the OPA, and the Scar Worlds, not to mention a wealthy and curious benefactor in the way of a Jedi, she had tools and methods of her own to get damned near anywhere. The way was closed? Not really, her droids, small spy camera droids mad their way around the pyramid to find herself a way in. What she found was an aqueduct.

That would suit her just fine. She didn't even need to change. The droid came back and found its roost at the square of her bac, center chest and she dove in and deep. Her armor was very light, allowed her movements, and that was good, as a student of Matukai, it was all about how her body moved, having that control, that was her connection to the Force.

That was when she felt it… Was someone looking for her? Did they know she could use the Force. Please no. They already had an issue with her, it seemed… Was this a mistake?

No. She had to know what was in here, what these… supposed ancients needed. She pressed on up the aqueduct.


Shath Kharole

 

[Shath Kharole]

The water control, analysis, and nutrient injection took place in a prefab module nestled up under the aqueduct. At thus exact moment, Shath Kharole was in that pod under that aqueduct. In his mind's eye he caught a glimpse of dark rushing water and close confines, and a sense of Peyton Steele drawing near.

The apparatus had a water lock. Low on time, he shrugged off his jacket and kicked off his shoes, then climbed inside. Water rushed around him.

The inner lock opened, depositing him in the dark aqueduct. He held onto a utility handle against the current that wanted to drag him into the temple.

Was she ahead of him, or coming up on him?

 

[Peyton Steele]

There was a lot of water here. She didn't really know what was in it, and to be honest? She had decided she didn't want to know. Fact finding. That was the mission. Making her way up, she tapped her wrist datapad to access the recording camera of her droid, to send that to Cuan in the get-away-ship. The dark wasn't bothering her, it was one of those things Blubreens could do, see in darker water, deal with colder temperatures.

Her droids were set up for some scanning in similar circumstances but it wasn't always the best without any ambient light. Though when she was diving deep and there was bio-luminescence? Those shots always made the teams analyzing happy. Maybe she needed a vacation.

From what her droid had found, she shouldn't be far from an antechamber…

And was that air? Stumbling in her swim, the blonde cussed under the water as she entered what could only the area her droid had found, and where she clearly wasn't alone. Damn her blonde hair, that'd probably stick out more than the darker navy of her gear.

Shath Kharole

 

[Shath Kharole]

The current tugged urgently against Shath's grip on the utility handle. He waited there, underwater in the dark, trying for a sense of whether Peyton Steele was getting closer or farther away. On balance he opted for the latter.

The aqueduct opened into an antechamber where it fed a dozen subsidiary pipes that led to a variety of reclamation projects. This whole site was under the leadership of a handful of Sharu survivors and Sharu Forerunners, supported by other Awakeners like Shath and his teams. All told, perhaps thirty people worked in the large, recently rebuilt pyramid. An infiltrator might get far without putting anyone in immediate danger. With that in mind, Shath followed slowly, in case the water shoved him into a trap or a waiting blade. He wove the Mist into a pale sash, one end knotted around the utility handle and the other around his wrist. The stretchy, tough weaving controlled his progress. He was moving with the current, but slower than the current would like.

 

[Peyton Steele]

The woman needed to get somewhere that this mission was going to be worth it. At least I'm getting a tour of the pipes. If we needed to take this thing down… But no, that wasn't the mission. But the amount of water going into the pyramid, on such a desert world, that was part of the mission. She'd have to make sure to log that information on her return to the surface.

The agent was trying to not use the Force at the moment, but she was damned far from any control with it, and though she could sense it, an awakening occurring due to her Matukai training, she was at least visualizing being small. Not that it was doing her a damned bit of good. She had no weapons out, was more focused on moving up the stream.

Another 100 meters, the blonde called on a bit of the Force, to give her control of her body, and greater strength as she shot forward, her own biology mixed with the Force. And that was when she… was that the being from outside? Kriff. She thought as she reached for the series of handholds.

So much for covert.

Shath Kharole

 

[Shath Kharole]

A blur of movement, sensed more than seen, too fast for Shath to track—

COME OUT, he sent into the Mist, a voice that anyone might hear. LET'S TALK, HUMAN. It would alarm fellow workers in the pyramid, but that was an acceptable price.

He was getting nowhere in terms of catching Peyton Steele; he was used to working underwater, but she had a significant edge that he couldn't pin down. Perhaps a telepathic 'show of force,' so to speak, might inspire her to engage. Whether he could trust anything she said was beside the point.

 

[Peyton Steele]

She was moving with the Force through the water. It was her home. Sort of. Her father taught her a lot, and well, she was half Blubreen, so it was good enough for her. When she felt it in the Force, she shook her head. The blonde made her way to the surface at that, and the hybrid looked around. Kriff he's strong she thought to herself.

Grabbing a hand hold as she steadied herself, she looked. "I'm here." She called back, here it came, any kind of call from this being that she was human and less. She could swim down current, and maybe escape whatever he had planned for her.

Contingencies were important and now she was having to make them up on the fly.

Shath Kharole

 

[Shath Kharole]

Shath came up in the same chamber where Peyton Steele had surfaced. He kept his distance and a hold on a utility handle.

"Hello again," he said. "I misjudged you: you clearly aren't human any more than you're a delivery driver or a surveyor. So tell me. What brings you to our water projects today? And incidentally, which of the humans' client species are you?"

 

[Peyton Steele]

Droids and weapons, she had access to them all, a quick verbal command, but unfortunately she only had camera droids and her stun batons. But she wasn't sure just the complete make up of this water, if she grabbed her stun baton would it fry her too? Would it even affect an elder race like this? The way he made that call…

That was the Force, she may have trained with the Matukai but aside from a random surge? She was not a Force user.

But his tone when he spoke was not something that made her ready to fight. He sounded almost calm. "No. not a driver or surveyor. I'm a researcher, finder of facts." And she would bring that data to the people she trusted. "As for species? I'm what is called a Blubreen…" Well, half, but call it intuition, she didn't think this one was going to be happy to know she was half human. "We're an aquatic… evolution?"

Shath Kharole

 

[Shath Kharole]

Shath relaxed as she outlined her species and got a little more forthcoming as to her trade.

"Spy, then. You know, you're allowed to say 'spy' and nothing will spontaneously combust."

Treading water was slowly getting old, not unlike himself. If Shath had to guess, Peyton Steele was maybe fifteen years younger, a professional but still able to reach levels of youthful fitness that Shath couldn't. If she bolted deeper into the pyramid via pipes or service hatches, he didn't like his odds of catching her.

"And you're researching us? What did they send you to find out?"

 

[Peyton Steele]

The Blubreen was about to commit to concept that she was a former spy, but that really wasn't the case. The OPA may be defunct, but she still had patches that only those within the Underground would recognize on the jacket that could count as her uniform. They weren't here, they weren't on her ship, but if Cuan was asked, he had been known to tell stories in the past tense, as a member of the Underground. He was still her wheelman.

Well, stick jockey?

Whatever. Didn't matter right now. "Fine, spy. With my lack of state lately, its more similar to information gatherer. It's the one resource that there is always a market for." He wasn't trying to kill her, so she didn't need to be so defensive towards him. Not yet anyway.

"Whats the first thing anyone wants to know? Motives." The Underground and Resistance had to know what threats were out there in order to keep some semblance of Order out here.

Well, motives and all of the technology these beings opened up.

Shath Kharole

 

[Shath Kharole]

"That's fair. A question for a question, an answer for an answer — I assume you still do that in this millennium?"

Shath drew closer to Peyton Steele in the water, not fast and nowhere near arm's length.

"I'm part of a group of survivors, messengers in a way. I'm a Thrella, from Mimban. Like the Sharu we're extinct except for our descendants and, again, survivors. Stasis pods of a sort, to preempt your next question.

"Here's mine: who are the organizations you're most likely to approach with what you learn from me?"

 

[Peyton Steele]

"We still do, of course. Part of how anyone learns anything in this galaxy." What, with spacers and other vagrants. "Thrella I don't recognize. Mimban I do. Swampy world. Lots of water." Nothing as clear and warm as she preferred but still… Water. These were… ancient races. She'd heard of Sharu, thought they were a myth. Xenobiology and species were not her strong suit, despite the whole hybrid. Wasn't her fault her father had a taste for fish. But statis pods? Interesting.

That was the root of the question, wasn't it? Who did she work for. Somedays she felt that she could easily slip to fighting for profit. But that wasn't really how Peyton felt. She was Underground through and through. It meant she followed what that mission was. Freedom for those that she could help, the ability to make their own choices. She was from the Rim, or at least declared it home. But with the GA standing tough, that was still a bastion of home, and the Concord.

But she was out here, she wanted to make her difference where she stood.

"All depends what I find." That was the most truthful answer she could really come to. "I am a gatherer of information. Some is valuable, some isn't. All depends what your mission itself is."

Shath Kharole

 

[Shath Kharole]

"Hmm."

Shath moved over to a utility ladder and unlatched a hatch. He climbed up out of the water conduit into a maintenance space, population zero trending toward one.

"We have homes to reclaim," he called back down the hatch. "Purchase, theft, manipulation, conquest, goodwill, as necessary. Descendants who deserve their home planets back. Rafa Five, Mimban, Rakata, Dathomir, and all the rest. If you want a genuine cause, I can pay in functional Gree technology. Your thoughts?"

Peyton Steele

 

[Peyton Steele]

Watching the Thrella, Peyton tipped her head to the side. Was it safe to get out of her element? She really hoped so, but there was honestly, only one way to find that out. But as he turned to look down at her, the blubreen looked up, a bit awkwardly.

Homes to reclaim. She could understand that. She'd always been on the move, but working in the OPA and the Scar Worlds? That was what she was doing now. "I am helping a group called Scar Worlds. We are working to repair worlds that were devastated by the Sith and the Bryn'adul." Her world hadn't been lost, her people remained. She was a wanderer, someone more worried about the mission than anything else.

"What would you expect of me?" And for her, more importantly, would it put her at ends with her friends?

Shath Kharole

 

[Shath Kharole]

He backed off from the hatch to give Peyton Steele some space to ascend.

"I'm loosely familiar with the Scar Worlds. Similar motives, different worlds. Except for this one: the Sharu homeworld Rafa Five was devastated by the Draelvasier, and our goals overlap here, I think. Revitalize and rebuild as the Sharu desire. Bring this planet back to life. The Sharu Forerunners have some living descendants who can and should play a role: survivors, and also an offshoot called the Sharuka who control a portion of Wild Space at the edge of the galaxy.

"All that to say, working with us to arrange for the revitalization of Rafa would be consistent with your connection to the Scar Worlds, and the other planets that concern the Forerunners are far away, limiting potential for conflict of interest."

 

[Peyton Steele]

The other being moved, that was curious, but his next statement made it less so. Familiar with her own group, and similar motives. That was less terrifying than she expected it to be. As he was speaking, Peyton moved her way to the ladder, climbing slowly, in order to still pay attention.

"The Draelvasier were born of the Bryn'adul." She stated as she surfaced to the same level as Shath. Looking at the … man? Was that how they called themselves? Looking at the Thrella, she nodded. "Rebuilding is what we seek to do. That and try our best to keep the law." That as it was in the Rim.

"The Rim and Wild Space have recently seen a… shall we call it a lapse? In enforcement and law as portrayed by the Alliance or the Core Worlds in general. But out here, we're used to that. Taking it into our own hands is something we do."

Considering his next statement. "It is. But so long as borders are respected, I doubt you'll even run afoul of the Scar teams."

Shath Kharole

 

[Shath Kharole]

Peyton Steele

Shath laughed under his breath. "Like the borders you respected by sneaking in here?" he said without much sting in his voice. "Pass the word, if you would: we've had too many investigators trespassing at our worksites already. So far they've met people like me. They could have stumbled on, say, a Rakata high priest or a Gree extechutor. That wouldn't end well for anyone."

 

[Peyton Steele]

There was no way she was going to take that one in stride, her skin flushed, and for her, with the Blubreen blood, it meant turning a light shade of purple, even more evidence that she wasn't fully human. "That's fair. Word came around of the Awakening…" Her people calling it that, she had no idea what the Forerunners were calling it. "And hearing rumors."

Mostly of the bad variety. The Scar Worlds were the ones who were keeping some semblance of law on the Rim, after all.

"The concerns were weapons, and if technology would be brought to bear against our organization." She gave a wave of her hand. "The Rim watches itself."

"But say I agree to assist your cause, as it sounds... not against what I stand for. How is the best way to contact you and yours?"

Shath Kharole