The Adventures of a Healer and a Viking: Pirates, Part II

[Taheera Sollo]

[member="Valkyrien Aurelios"]

She didn't look up. If anything, she sunk further to the ground. Cheek pressed against the warming deck-plating. Eyes stared straight ahead at Val's feet. She could see the base of the staff power-off. She couldn't stop staring into nothing.

A more vibrant nothing thanks to the mirialan species.

Shoulders stopped shaking from sobs. "No."

She didn't move an inch.

"Just leave me. I can't...do this."

Whatever this was.

 

[Valkyrien Aurelios]

[member="Taheera Sollo"]

"Can't." He said scooping her up and off the ground.

She might have been a little bit bigger, she might have been green, but she was still smaller than him. It was an advantage that he would likely always have over her, at least until she decided to turn herself into a Hutt or something.

"Just need to go." Val said as he tossed her over his shoulder. "We'll figure this out later."

He wasn't sure if he believed her. He wasn't sure if what she said was even possible, but at this point...at this point he wasn't sure what to believe. His world had fallen in on itself, collapsed in a way that he hadn't ever thought possible. Was this woman Taheera? He simply had no way of knowing, no way of truly telling. All he wanted now was the truth, all he wanted now was to know what was going on, to know where they were going to go from here.

And in order for that to happen, they needed to leave.

 

[Taheera Sollo]

[member="Valkyrien Aurelios"]

She was like a dead weight in his arms, like a petulant child throwing a tantrum. It took her a moment to realize what was happening. A beat longer to respond as she bobbed up and down on his shoulder as they ran down the corridor. The fire blazed behind them. She could see the markings on the corridors and saw the first of a few empty escape pods.

Some pirates had already come and gone.

Dull, defeated eyes finally sparked some sort of response and the mirialan found her voice, "h-hey! I told you to leave me!" Hip bumped against the side of his head as she wiggled. One green hand pulled on the back of his shirt. The other tugged on his manbun.

 

[Valkyrien Aurelios]

[member="Taheera Sollo"]

He didn't let it bother him.

Leaving her wasn't really an option after what she had said, and even though she tugged and pulled at him it wasn't exactly at full strength. He moved along the corridors of the Star Destroyer without much issue. Flames jutted out as the starship rock, but he either managed to sidestep them or avoid them all together. He frowned slightly as he traced his path towards the escape pods, wandering until he finally found the right hall. Three of the pods were already missing.

"Quiet now." He said as he turned and tossed her into one of the pods.

She went bouncing on the cushioned side seats, Val slamming his fist into the activation button.

There was a loud buzz, and then the door began to close. Before Taheera...or whomever the Miriralin was could object Val stepped into the shuttle and seated himself on one of the benches opposite her. The door sealed shut with a loud hiss, and then two seconds later they were launched from the destroyer.

 

[Taheera Sollo]

[member="Valkyrien Aurelios"]

"HEY!" She yelped, as she landed in a tangle of limbs and clothes. By the time she looked up and pushed herself to her elbow, Val was already in and they were off. Blue began to fill the pod's spinning window of the ocean planet below.

Blue-black-exploding-gray.

Spin, spin, spin, out of control. She pushed to a seated position and couldn't stop staring at the backs of her green palms. There was so much energy built up and pretty soon, she was going to explode.

"You should've left me."

Accusatory gaze finally ripped away from the foreign flesh and settled on manbun.

"I died back there." Hands trembled. "She...killed me." A shudder went through her body. Arms wrapped around herself in a tight hug. "I should've stayed dead." Fingers continued to tighten around her own arms, probably leaving bruises.

She didn't care.

Green form began to rock back and forth.

 

[Valkyrien Aurelios]

[member="Taheera Sollo"]

Val had no idea if he should believe her or not.

A part of him wanted to, a part of him already did, but a greater half of him said that she was lying. That she was trying to break him, get him comfortable before he could strike. It made sense, how else was she going to kill him? He was much...much larger than her in every respect, and the truth was that she couldn't have killed him in any other method but surprise. He frowned slightly. There wasn't any other answer for it, not any that made sense.

Yet she had known his name.

That...that was something.

"How do I know it's actually you?" He asked quietly.

It was clear that she was in trauma, that she was feeling fear, regret, guilt, perhaps a host of other emotions, but...well for all he knew this Mirilan was just a phenomenal actor.

 

[Taheera Sollo]

[member="Valkyrien Aurelios"]

She didn't seem to hear him at first. Too much shivering and rocking. Too much arm clutching.

Blink. Blink, blink.

Gaze snapped to Val's. It was a simple question and it was a fair question. It only made her shudder more, though. She knew who she was. But who was she now? The blue planet was getting larger and larger. She could just make out speckles of land few and far between. Maybe after all this they would drown and none of this would matter anyway.

The thought made her snort and sob at the same time.

"Ask me anything that only I - Taheera - could tell you."

 

[Valkyrien Aurelios]

[member="Taheera Sollo"]

He considered for a moment.

They hadn't spent too much time together all things considered. They had only met recently and in truth that time had been filled with pirates, chaos, and death. He considered for a few seconds more, trying to think of something that only Taheera would know.

"On the floor of the ship." He asked quietly. "What did you say to me?"

He doubted any pirate would know, or guess.

It wasn't exactly a detail that someone could pull out of nowhere, nor was it something that could be easily guessed. Sure they could guess sex, but that hadn't actually happened. He knew well enough that most pirates would jump to it though.

 

[Taheera Sollo]

[member="Valkyrien Aurelios"]

Brow crinkled.

On the floor of the ship?!

She really just remembered the chocolates. And that kiss...

Myrtle-ellipses blinked. Yup, still myrtle. "There were chocolates. And we talked about just being friends. I mean I can't remember exactly Valkyrien Aurelios!" Lips pursed.

"But I definitely won all the chocolates. Obviously." A smile tried to twitch onto her lips but it didn't quite make it. She still hugged herself tightly and the trembling didn't stop. The pod began to shake as they broke through the outer atmosphere.

 

[Valkyrien Aurelios]

[member="Taheera Sollo"]

He frowned for a moment. It was enough. She couldn't have known that had she not been there. Chocolate, all of that silliness. They hadn't really ever mentioned it back on the Star Destroyer, and that was enough to be telling.

"Okay." Val said quietly.

Where would they go from here though? How had this happened? What was she? Val had absolutely no idea what he should do. It was obvious that she was traumatized, but what did you say to a person that you saw die? There were no words of comfort, there was...well there was absolutely nothing he could do. His lips twitched down into a frown, his head shook slightly. There wasn't a way out of this, wasn't a way to change any of this at all.

"I." He began quietly. "How?"

Maybe she knew.

 

[Taheera Sollo]

[member="Valkyrien Aurelios"]

"How?" She asked quietly. Chestnut brows rose, crinkling her green brow. There was a voice. That dark voice. And all that pain and...anger.

"There was a voice...I was a cl-," she paused. Did she went Val to know she was a clone? No. she didn't want him to look at her any differently. But what had happened. Maybe it had something to do with her original.

"I don't know!" Voice echoed off the walls of the small space from her yell. "Would I be acting like this if I did?"

 

[Valkyrien Aurelios]

[member="Taheera Sollo"]

He was so confused.

"Probably not." Val admitted quietly. This was all...well a really big fucking mystery. What was he supposed to say? What was he supposed to do? The force was a pretty big blank in his knowledge base, there was no doubt about that. Even after a hundred and twenty years of roaming about he...well he knew nothing at all about the force or how it worked or even how to properly use it. As far as he knew he couldn't even touch it or influence, and thus it had never been an issue for him.

"The force?" It had to be. "Your healing?"

Maybe the two were connected.

His hand reached out and rested on her knee, a small measure of comfort that he could offer her in his confusion. It was clear that she was half panicking, probably about to...well scream. He frowned slightly, his ears ringing as her yell echoed through the ship.

 

[Taheera Sollo]

[member="Valkyrien Aurelios"]

"Perhaps," she said quietly, heart still racing. Eyes drifted down to his hand. The death grip she had around herself relaxed an inch but she didn't move to touch him back. She remained still and rigid.

"Whatever it was, it was dark."

And that's all the could explain. Yes, it was the force. But which side? Why? How?

She didn't have the answers but she intended to find out. With a sudden jerk, the pod's chute released and they began to free-float. Face turned to the window. "There's just a lot of water, below," she spoke quietly, eyes glued outside.

 

[Valkyrien Aurelios]

[member="Taheera Sollo"]

Dark? What did that mean?

The force was so new to him that he had absolutely no idea what she was even talking about. How can something invisible be dark? It made absolutely no sense

”We’ll be alright.” He told her.

”These capsules are designed to survive pretty much any conditions found on a planet.” Water, storms, for a short time even lava. ”If we land in water we’ll float.”[/color

The escape pod would also have a few other things they would likely need. Rations, heater, probably even a set of clothes for Taheera. These things had been made as survival tools after all, it would make sense to include these things.

 

[Taheera Sollo]

[member="Valkyrien Aurelios"]

"I hope you're right," she said quietly. Eyes finally tracked back to manbun. With a gentle splash-kerplunk, their pod landed in the salty water. Arms slowly uncrossed.

She needed fresh air. Something familiar. Something natural and beyond the staleness of recycled oxygen.

Standing and reaching over manbun, she pushed open the latch to the door on top of the pod. Feet braced herself on the bench and she peeked out at the seemingly endless sea. A salty-breeze hit her face and wove through her hair.

Face turned toward the warm sun and she closed her eyes, feeling the rays hit her new face. Who knows how long they'd be floating in this thing? Stranded.

At least it wasn't cold.

 

[Valkyrien Aurelios]

[member="Taheera Sollo"]

The largest concern when you were drifting around in an escape pod was of course, oxygen. Each escape pod was fitted with only a limited amount of power, about two days worth. A majority of that power was taken by the life-support system, oxygen recyclers that had to constantly run while in space.

Without that need, they would have significantly more energy for such things as heat.

It was a good thing that they had actually managed to pull the Star Destroyer out near a planet rather than in the middle of nowhere. He frowned for a moment and looked around the pod, knowing that he couldn’t squeeze himself through the hatch to look alongside Taheera. Sometimes being big was too much of a disadvantage.

”What do you see? He asked as he carefully moved around the pod.

These things were designed to be buoyant, and of course could seal themselves back up during storms, but he was still a bit weary.

Val moved around the pod carefully, taking away wall panels and revealing hatches filled with supplies. There was water, military rations, even a small lamp alongside a rack of flashlights. One had to hand it to the Imperials, they didn’t skimp on supplies.

 

[Taheera Sollo]

[member="Valkyrien Aurelios"]

Eyes stirred beneath closed lids as Val's voice filtered up to her ears, above the steady rocking of the waves. Myrtle-ellipses opened and squinted into the distance.

"Lots of water. Maybe a storm on the horizon. No land or cities, yet."

Taking another gulp of fresh air, she sunk down, brushing against Val in the small space. "Want to take a look?"

Eyes looked at the inventory he'd managed to gather so far. Lips thinned. They had some rations but who knew what they'd run into out here.

Or worse, what they wouldn't run into.

 

[Valkyrien Aurelios]

[member="Taheera Sollo"]

They had about a week of supplies, two if they rationed.

The military rations all seemed to contain some form of protein, meaning that he could actually eat them without getting sick, and the water...well it was water. If they ran out of that they could in theory jury rig some sort of desalination machine using the heater to simply boil the salt out of the water and as for food...well every oceans had fish.

”Sure.” He said as Taheera climbed down. He quickly slipped into where she had been standing a few moments ago, his entire torso popping out as he began to peer around. She had been right when she’d said there was nothing around them. In every direction there was seemingly nothing but blue. ”Well.”

Val said quietly. ”Eventually the currents will take us somewhere.”

They just had to last long enough to get there.

It would be difficult, but hopefully they could ration out the food and water long enough to see them to an island or some sort of landmass, from there...well from there they would have to see about getting off whatever world they had landed on.

 

[Taheera Sollo]

[member="Valkyrien Aurelios"]

"Yeah. Eventually." Green-form sunk back down onto one of the benches. Brow crinkled. Being exposed to the wind, she had felt something. Same for that storm on the horizon.

There was something in the force that called to her. Something she hadn't felt before. Finger tapped against her knee in thought.

It was like the energy...

No. Impossible. Right?

Eyes tracked to the burned shirt where her own lightsaber had effectively killed the mirialan. She frowned, fingers traveling to the hem. Suddenly, she wanted it off. She wanted on something that was new. Something that was hers. The new her.

Not something that had been this other woman's.

"Did you find any clothes?"

She asked quietly, as she began to pull the fabric of the shirt up. Yes, there was obvs a bra on beneath. Duh.

 

[Valkyrien Aurelios]

[member="Taheera Sollo"]

”There’s a flight suit.” They were all too small for Val, but they would fit her just fine. She was slightly taller than her...old body, but that wouldn’t be much of an issue since he still towered over her.

He sat down opposite her.

”In that panel there.” He pointed to the left most corner. ”Don’t think we’ll need the helmets.”

The suits were meant to go into vacuum, and thus would be thermal regulated for both cold and warmth. They would likely also be very comfortable, though somewhat tight. Val had only ever worn such a suit once, and it had to be custom made for his size. Sometimes being big was more of a curse than a blessing.

He frowned and watched Taheera.

A part of him was still unsure of all of this, confused, but...well he trusted her, and that was something at least.