The Librarian

[Jorus Merrill]

[member="Kaili Talith"]

For his first two decades of life, Jorus Merrill had been even more of a loner. When he became a family man, though, he instantly realized he couldn’t live without holocomm. He’d lived any number of lifestyles -- resistance fighter, smuggler, general officer, extragalactic navigator, Master of First Knowledge to the whole far-flung splintered Jedi mess. Every one of those lives required a good comm suite, because he had a wife he didn’t see enough, and a daughter he didn’t see enough, and best friends he called once a year to ask for a favor.

The D’Lessio, a vicious little Underground raider, was as close to a home as he could claim. He’d named it for his wife, and she’d cracked more than a few jokes about that. Privacy was hard to find on a ship this compact, but he’d made sure to put in a dedicated comms room, soundproof and comfortable. Settling into the well-worn chair, he toggled the HoloNet relay locator and found a secure node. Some places, you had to piggyback through a subspace network, and anyone could throw up a subspace node, so that wasn’t the most secure option. Subspace signals didn’t travel as quickly as hypercomm signals. But he’d been lucky: from where the D’Lessio was cruising, he could connect straight to hypercomm.

He sat up a little straighter in his chair and focused on the camera. “Hi, this message is for Kaili Talith, from Jorus Merrill. I contacted you about putting together a custom droid for me, and I wanted to send in some details.” Kaili Talith had been his daughter Mara’s best friend for going on a decade now, even if Mara had something of her old man’s wanderlust and unreliability. Jorus’ whole life boiled down to a seesaw tension between acquiring influence and shoving it away, and Mara might well take that tack herself.

“Here’s the deal. I’m putting together a Jedi archive ship, sort of a mobile academy-slash-library. Far as I’m concerned-” He held off on the sermon brewing. “I need a droid that can handle delicate crystal matrices, interface with datacrons, keep a library and a vault up to date, link straight to the Jedi Order Library Card network, and tell an object’s Force alignment by touch with Mimbanite thaissen crystals in its hands. Bit of a tall order, I know, but I’ve got a little money saved away. Anyways, call me when you get this. I’ll stay close to the comm node. Merrill out.”

 

[Kaili Talith]

It wasn’t the life she had thought she wanted or would get, but it was the life she had been given. The bed felt empty and somehow even bigger than Kaili could remember it ever being as she tossed and turned between the sheets trying to find a more comfortable position to sleep in. It had only been a day since Allyson had left on another job with Ember. Everything was fine, but the young woman would be lying if she said she didn’t miss the warmth of having someone next to her in the evening and morning. Kaili always had been a quick adapter but this felt insane.

The home on Borleias had been decorated by the other woman’s items as well. Nothing too major, but it would be noticeable. The occasional accessory spread a bit all over the place, additional few pieces of tech brought over from Allyson’s apartment in between jobs and clothes. It was still taking some getting used to, but Kaili wouldn’t change it for the world.

It was still deep in the night, but Kaili couldn’t sleep. The sound of the comms going off forced her into a groggy state of surrender as she opened the hatch to her sleep capsule. She slid out of the wall, put on whatever was at hand and made way over to the console to check who it was. Whoever it was would be granted a once in a lifetime chance to see Kaili sport a backwards shirt complete with a tag popping out of the collar.

In front of her blinked a red text. Incoming call from Jorus Merrill.

Lazy hand swept against the controls to accept it. At first she thought little of it, her mind didn’t register exactly who it was, but once it did…

Eyes wide open, hands running through her hair to turn it into something proper. There were still bags under her eyes that spoke of how tired she was, but she could manage. She cleared her throat, hit the button and…

“Evening, Mister Merrill.” Kaili waved at the screen. “I’m-” The woman yawned and covered her mouth. “Sorry.” She excused herself. “I skimmed over the details and it all looks…” She stifled another yawn. “Datacrons, crystal matrices and the sorting of such, and more.” Kaili made notes of it on her pad, she was bound to forget it otherwise. “I will admit that it’s uncharted territory for me, but nothing that should prove impossible.”

“But I would want to know more about this ship you talk of. What kind of frame or size are we talking about? Do you want a mainframe? An individual droid unit? Droid units? How many of these do you want?”

[member="Jorus Merrill"]

 

[Freyia Whitelight-Carrick]

In her own way she herself was very nervous of the fact what brought her this way, to this man. Even then as she looked down in her hand that carried her own personal item she brought today. Beside herself, finding it more and more to the fact that knew that with her bit of shyness about her.

Wondering if she could go through with this, as she let her own thoughts play with her mine. Coming to the stop it at the point that she wanted nothing more then to turn around to go back to her little Voss, back into her library to hide. That for some reason wasn't going to happen, she came this far to be unable to stop now. Today she only wore a thin silver robe wore that went with who she was in the Order. It wasn't the order that she came seeking him today. This was her own personal quest that was for knowledge.

In one of the many nights spend in the library researching, he came across this one name as if some how he was the one she needed or was it the force at work blowing his name upon her own lips now. Reaching the room that could feel the great presents in but he wasn't alone.

Walking in as straight forward as she could standing as tall as she could offer. Finding herself more then anything wanting to do nothing try and back out but she kept her wits about her.

Greetings all, I come in request of Knowledge seeking...

[member="Jorus Merrill"] [member="Kaili Talith"]

 

[Jorus Merrill]

[member="Kaili Talith"] was his daughter’s best friend, and serious people recommended her genius for droid design. That, and it never hurt to be on friendly terms with a Talith. Rave’s files -- going back to the Moross/Fringe alliance -- were proof enough of that even if Jorus hadn’t spent six years as Master of First Knowledge.

The young woman who picked up the holocall didn’t look like a demigod princess. She did, however, look like a genius: shirt on backward, trying desperately to fix her hair. “Sorry about the time difference,” Jorus said belatedly. “I was trying to leave a message; didn’t think it would put me right through at this hour. Thanks for taking the call.”

She got her hair under control while Jorus mulled over her clarifying questions. “A caretaker droid integrated with an archive mainframe could be interesting,” he said. “I’m tempted to ask for a holographic disguise matrix, to take on the image of old Jedi Masters and so forth, but I think that level of uncanny valley would be a bit much for younglings. My concept right now is a single standalone droid for processing and maintaining holocrons and Force artifacts. Archaeological and HAZMAT protocols. And it would serve as a gatekeeper and facilitator for visitors to the library, like any librarian droid. More facilitator than gatekeeper, if you catch my drift. We’ve all known those librarians.” He shrugged. “And those Jedi. A good portion of the holocrons I recovered made their way into private custodianship and were never seen again.”

His comm went off -- one of his crewers informing him that [member="Freyia Whitelight-Carrick"] had come aboard the D'Lessio.

"Miss Talith, I've got somewhat unexpected company on the way, but we have a couple of minutes. What else do you have in mind?"

 

[Kaili Talith]

That’s okay, I couldn’t sleep anyway.” Kaili let on a drowsy lopsided smile as she propped herself up on her elbow in front of the camera. Jorus described his idea, Kaili listened as her fingers gently tapped against the surface of her screen, the entire layout mapped to muscle memory. She maintained the small modicum of eye contact that one could have between two screens. The thought that Kaili was speaking to her girlfriend’s greatest idol suddenly seemed to be an all the more interesting idea. A longing sigh burst through her nostrils.

As the man wrapped it up she raised the tablet in front of her to look it over once more.

“I assure you, the hologram is a cool idea. We are keeping it.” Even when tired Kaili managed to find a way to bash her own opinion in there. “So what it sounds like you need is a sophisticated network of holograms, droids and a mainframe for them to sync to.” The lazy hand waved in front of her. “I can take care of that. It’s reading data off of sophisticated devices that might be a bit tricky. If you could by any chance forward me either a datacron and a crystal matrix, or any sort of… Schematics, that would be greatly appreciated.”

“Also, considering the size of my shop and the resources necessary for all of this, I might need some help constructing all of this. A small shop on Borleias can only do so much, and considering the rather… Unstable nature of the Republic, I’d much rather build what’s necessary in someplace a bit more secure. Call me paranoid.”

“You wouldn’t happen to know of any place like that, would you?”

 

[Jorus Merrill]

[member="Kaili Talith"]
The project was ballooning, but he could make the budget work without asking his daughter for help. Probably. “I’ll forward you half a dozen sets of schematics for datacrons. Holocrons are trickier. I’ve only heard of a couple of ancient machines that can read holocrons directly; most times, the only way to copy them is with a straight-up video camera. Datacron access will do fine for our purposes.

“As for location, yeah, screw the Pubs. I’ll set you up at Rebellion Actual, the Underground starbase. It’s mobile, stealthy, and all kinds of secret, so I’m sure Mara’s taken you there. I’m iffy on the security of this link -- ninety-five percent perfect is still five percent short -- so I’ll send you the coordinates another way. Someone’ll be in touch about that.” He grinned. “Paranoia is good. My company's here, Miss Talith. Thanks for taking care of this for me. Merrill out.”

He rose and left the comm suite, heading to meet [member="Freyia Whitelight-Carrick"].

 

[Freyia Whitelight-Carrick]

Finding herself paused for the moment even so that was all that she needed to the fact that she was on board another ship. This time at less she didn't find herself a stowed away on it. Even those days of hiding and wanting to learn behind her mother back, about her father culture was gone. As it was with her father back there came something more the chance to learn. That is what her brothers was doing learning the warrior ways of her father. Even so knowing that she came from both her mother and her father. She had those traits that would make her a great healer but also she been giving the gift of learning.

It was when those brothers of herself was outside sword fighting she was in her own little place away from them, reading always reading seeing the knowledge. Just like she was now even those she knew she could be turn down there was that possibilities. She how every had to take that chance didn't she. Finding herself know waiting as she let her eyes shift to each of this ones crew members that stood before. In a way they puzzled over her own appearance but that would be for a later time and place she would think to herself.

Having being told that she would have a wait a few minutes, it was after that she thought what was a few more minutes she had waited this long. Coming to the fact that she know knew that this one had to understand that one like her could only be here to seek knowledge that was indeed her reason of coming here.

Very good, I will wait

[member="Jorus Merrill"]

 

[Jorus Merrill]

[member="Freyia Whitelight-Carrick"]

"Sorry about that, Miss Carrick," said Jorus, straightening his brown-and-bronze uniform. He wore the clothes of a Levantine Frontier Corps captain. A defunct organization, to be sure, but one he still believed in. "I was on a long-distance call about the same thing that brought you here, if I'm guessing right. You got my name and access clearance through the librarians on Voss, right?" As he closed the last distance between them, he extended his hand to shake. He didn't know a thing about her, but he knew of a Whitelight and he knew a Carrick. Maya Whitelight had been waging a lone humanitarian crusade with the Silver Cross organization for years; Jorus respected that intensely. And if Xander Carrick was her father, well, he and Jorus had fought alongside each other once or twice in the early years of the Underground. If memory served, Carrick had even been aboard Rebellion Actual, the mobile, secret space station.

 

[Freyia Whitelight-Carrick]

Giving him the look down as he apologized to the fact of keeping her waiting. "Oh no not at all, if you want me to come back, when its better for you, I"m happy with that." as she stop to listen once again. As giving him a smile as she couldn't help but think there was more to this one then first had thought.

Yes that is right I had been researching on a matter had hit a brick wall, that is when an old Libarian Master, told me to seek out you Master Jorus, my mother told me that this was much safer then going to Lorrd, again to seek things out." Wondering now as she knew that nothing was but seek out to help to better understand the galaxy and the force itself learning this knowledge to pass it long to others that seek it out.

[member="Jorus Merrill"]

 

[Jorus Merrill]

"Don't worry about it, kid, I don't mind serving as a resource." Kid was his default appellation for just about everyone. He'd driven the last Grandmaster mildly nuts by calling her that habitually.

Jorus led [member="Freyia Whitelight-Carrick"] to what passed for a leisure area: a little nook that boasted a dejarik table. Sometimes he ate ribenes here, right out of the package. He surreptitiously dabbed at a spot of dried tomo-spice Karkan ribene sauce, then took a seat and gestured for her to do the same. He saw no point in fussing about the details.

"So what can I do for you today, Miss Carrick? What's brought you out to the D'Lessio?" This was the retired Master of First Knowledge talking, not the career insurgent or even the space explorer. He felt the change subtly but profoundly. "Doctrine, technique, history...?"

 

[Freyia Whitelight-Carrick]

Starting to call her kid got her to take a breath. Only to follow him into what would be a better place then what she had known as a great place of an office. After taking a seat as she did so she listen. As one had to say that this one didn't beat around the bush or even did small talk. "Well, Master Jorus you have hit all, what I'm seeking. I guess one like me so young I want to see what is out there, after being keep on Voss away and protected." as she let her eyes slip away from him for just a few second.

Knowing as she was getting older she would need to find her own path to be on if it took her to seeking knowledge and learning from all that would teach her what she so wanted to learn. In the galaxy knowing there was darkness and there was light, to bring hope one must first learn all that one could to make sure that one had the sword to fight threw to justice then so be it. As knowledge could be just a powerful as carrying a sword.

[member="Jorus Merrill"]

 

[Kaili Talith]

Rebellion Actual, it was a name Kaili had heard of. Mara told her of it, but for all Kaili could remember she herself hadn’t set foot on it. The call ended and the two of them said their goodbyes. Or rather, Jorus did while Kaili merely nodded in agreement that the conversation was over. She let her weight slide on over into the hand she had used to prop herself up with. Her eyes closed. Her tiredness caught up with her. She felt her elbow give way, her hair flare up behind her before-

“Ow!” She exclaimed as her head knocked itself against the rough metal counter. “Feth.”

If there was a good bad way to wake up, pain was it. The fatigue set itself aside as the girl continued to mutter a long chain of profanity. Her fingers rubbed at the zone of impact and she got out of her chair to shuffle back towards her bed. Both arms lowered to grasp at the lower hems of her shirt for a mid-walk pull-off. It went about as good as anyone would have expected. The woman lost her footing mid-pull. Blind and confused she fell to the floor with a thud.

A loud groan called out in the dark. She should have seen it coming. Allyson would have.

She sighed.

The floor was an alright spot to sleep on, wasn’t it? No, it wasn’t. The girl groaned once more as she rose from the floor and pulled the rest of the shirt off and crawled back into her bed. The envoy was bound to arrive in the morning anyway.

[member="Freyia Whitelight-Carrick"] // [member="Jorus Merrill"]

 

[Jorus Merrill]

[member="Freyia Whitelight-Carrick"] [member="Kaili Talith"]

"

"Well, Master Jorus you have hit all, what I'm seeking. I guess one like me so young I want to see what is out there, after being keep on Voss away and protected."

"Oh. OK, I see." Jorus sucked on his teeth in consideration. "Yeah, growing up in Silver Jedi central's not much of a way to see the universe, I'll grant that. Fact of the matter is, I made sure my own kid spent probably too much time locked up away from everything, and I regretted it. I fixed it, taught her what she needed to know, let her make her own path -- but the regret's still there. So sure, I can help. You should probably understand some things about me, though. I've only ever had one real Padawan. My skillset might not be what you're out to learn. I do instinctive astrogation; I can manipulate hyperspace. That's essentially it. I can't teach you the standard Jedi skills because I don't know them and can't learn them myself. The best I could do for that side of your education would be to let you use as many holocrons as I come across. The good ones, anyway, which is what I'm out to find, see."

As they spoke, the D'Lessio lurched into hyperspace, bound for Rebellion Actual and a rendezvous with Kaili Talith. It would probably take a couple of weeks, during which he could figure out Freyia's skills and inclinations.

 

[Freyia Whitelight-Carrick]

Listening to him and the way he said that he made the same way with his child. Could it be the both her mother, and now Jorus had seen so much out in the galaxy that they wanted nothing more then to keep this part from their children lives. Either way she listen wanting nothing more then to ask a lot more question. For now she would just smile.

"My mother, Maya being the healer wanted nothing more then to heal everyone that she could physical, or mental to show them the light no matter what they was seeking. My father on the other hand Xander he was always going off to battle the darkness, until he disappeared, sense he came back like old father time. I made be a jedi raised but I want to know whats out there to seek knowledge to know why others thinking the way they do with the force, to find a way to really know better or not who is right who isn't, who bad or not, are we all at the end bad." as she let herself look down to her hands.

Feeling the jump knowing that she had to breath in deeply. Taking this step with her own path her choice is that how he put it that let one travel their own path. That what she was doing, but learning seeking knowledge.

[member="Kaili Talith"] [member="Jorus Merrill"]

 

[Jorus Merrill]

[member="Freyia Whitelight-Carrick"]

"Well, you're far from the first to struggle with this stuff. It's a tough road, not going to lie. Most Jedi come face to face with cognitive dissonance at some point on that path. And even though the path is about making the choices that'll take you past that feeling, they turn away. Far as I'm concerned, the most important struggles of being a Jedi don't have a lot to do with controlling anger or dealing with loss. They're not about avoiding the trappings and obvious indicators of the Dark Side. They're about not going so far in the other direction that you wind up approaching evil from the other side. I'm talking about justification, righteousness, self-righteousness, a sense of superiority and infallibility. I've literally heard Jedi refer to non-Jedi as lesser beings who need to be led.

"So yeah, you could say I've thought about this a little a time or two. I don't have firm answers for you. Best I can do is equip you to find them on your own." He leaned forward and rested his elbows on the grimy table. "Here's what I propose. I've gotta go meet someone named [member="Kaili Talith"] at a secret Underground base. The trip'll take about two weeks. Now during that time, if you stick around, I can gauge your skills and teach you a bit of what I do -- instinctive astrogation. Plus give you some quality time with a couple holocrons. Sound like a plan?"

 

[Freyia Whitelight-Carrick]

It was in her eyes what he told her would only be the truth of the matter at hand. This listening to being true struggles in the mind and heart of all force users. This in turn puzzled her in a way like no others jedi thinking less of others. This didn't sounds like my mother or how she raised her, but maybe she was a different kind of flower that bloomed there on Voss.

"I would like to learn this instinctive astorgation, along with what every else that I can learn from holocrons that you many have. I do know one thing is there is true evil out there but I want to be able to judge for myself, even try and understand why one would pick such a path as that. I can't say I understand one haven't a sour or said up bring, being on Voss, protected from those kind of path to lay foot upon."

Stopping herself before speaking once again, "Will I need to learn how to fly, like a ship." as her mind wonder about what was spoke about this other Lady called Kaili Talith was she as good as he was in the force or person wise. What about this secret base did one or both of he parents know about it.

[member="Kaili Talith"] [member="Jorus Merrill"]

 

[Kaili Talith]

Sleep was something she indulged in only when it fitted her in situations like these. A job had been accepted and with it there was so much more she had to focus on than the loneliness associated with having dedicated herself to the one single person. Her hand reached out towards the alarm clock in the ceiling of her bed to phone in the hours she would spend asleep. Four and a half hours, no more and no less. It wasn’t the six hours minimum, but it was close enough. Really, the other two hours were just fluff for your dreams. Four hours could carry her at least until the ship had taken off after which she would have little over a week to get to work.

Just as soon as she had fallen asleep she seemed to be awake again. She stepped out of the bed, tossed the clothes from last night in the hamper and jumped into the shower. She liked them cold much like a wampa liked them warm. She let in a deep breath to take in the delight of water running down her skin and yet another as the worthwhile sensation of a warm towel as she stepped out of it. She packed her clothes, stashed her hygiene articles and what-nots to survive a lengthy project out of town. Toothpaste, brush, the usual paraphernalia associated with it. She was a professional, she didn’t borrow from others. That was called poor planning and Kaili intended to prove herself anything but a poor planner.

The doorbell rang by the time Kaili took the first bite out of her hastily prepared sandwich breakfast. She kept the food firmly lodged in her mouth as she flung her bag over her shoulder and went off to answer the door. The woman calmly swept her hand against the keypad to open it up. In front of her stood a man. Tall, trimmed hair and beard, dressed as if he was from around the block. He was of course anything but a local, an act of subterfuge that Kaili had a very deep appreciation for. Blending in was half of the lessons that Mara had taught her after all, it was part of being within the particular group of force users that they associated themselves with in quiet.

The quarry and the messenger nodded in understanding at their situation. A final glance shot out at the pedantically cleaned apartment to ensure that there weren’t anything left that could go bad and cause a stink. There was nothing all too obvious around, but with Allyson most likely returning within the week that Kaili would travel, she didn’t think all too much of it. The door closed, the lock clicked and the two Underground associates were off. A sudden thought struck Kaili as they stepped through into the front yard. She went rooting around in her bag to retrieve a small box. She flicked it open and within were two lenses. Color lenses that would turn her orange eyes into something far less conspicuous.

“There will be no need.” A gruff voice called out. It was the man who had come to retrieve her. He motioned towards the corner of the block and to a small speeder nearby. The two of them got in without saying much before they were off once more.

Time passed, they boarded the ship without too much people taking note. The man showed her the team, a round of hello’s were spent before they all went to attend their stations. Kaili was in the cargo bay turned workshop. A large roll of paper was placed atop her new workbench and she was just about ready until the ship took off. The ground shook, for a second she panicked as the memories rose like a tidal wave of guilt, but with a few quick breaths she suppressed it.

Not that it stopped her from waggling on over to the communications terminal for a last second message.

Spoiler

To: [member="Allyson Locke"]
From: [REDACTED]
-----------------------
I will not be home when you get home, and I might not be when you leave either. I am off on a job that might take a while, but I’m safe and in the hands of Mara’s father. I will let you know more when we meet again.

I love you.
- K

The ship kicked into hyperspace and Kaili went back to the shop. Here came the fun part. The part when she had the schematics ready upon arrival.

[member="Freyia Whitelight-Carrick"] // [member="Jorus Merrill"]

 

[Jorus Merrill]

[member="Freyia Whitelight-Carrick"] [member="Kaili Talith"]

"I'll let you take the wheel on a jump or two when you're ready, yeah, but we don't have time for intensive piloting lessons. By the end of this, you'll have the tools to learn to be a decent hyperspace navigator. But instinctive navigation is about more than just hyperspace or sublight piloting. It's about, say, going through a maze blindfolded. Or a ship. That's how I taught my kid: blindfolded hide-and-seek on familiar and unfamiliar ships. Not hard to pick up once you let go and trust the Force."

***

Two weeks wasn't ideal; he couldn't cram a comprehensive Jedi education into that time period. He wasn't Yoda. But by the time the D'Lessio reached Rebellion Actual, he was fairly confident he'd given Freyia the building blocks for further learning.

The Underground attack craft docked with the hidden space station, and the airlock hissed open. "I'm meeting Kaili Talith at the Red Shift Cantina," he said over his shoulder. "You're welcome to come along, or take a break and see the sights."

 

[Freyia Whitelight-Carrick]

Reflecting what was being taught to her over the last couple of weeks. Even then she was always on time as it seem that she had a lot of late nights to the fact that she wanted to learn all that could learn from the seeker of the knowledge. Even as one like her speak to the fact that didn't want nothing more to do but to wonder if could do anything more, then to practice.

As she look upon [member="Jorus Merrill"] with a smile upon her lips. Even so she couldn't help but nod before she would speak, thinking that was always her of lately. "I would like to come with you to the Red Shift, learn more on this library that would be creating."

[member="Jorus Merrill"]

 

[Kaili Talith]

It wasn’t going to be long until Kaili took to life as a spacer, something within her told her that. The state of the Republic and Borleias’ proximity to One Sith space had started to make her all the more anxious about the chances of their influence spreading to her home. She already had contingency plans for such an occasion, and if truth was to be told none of them ended without explosions. But that was a topic for another time. For the moment Kaili needed to focus on her work. The pieces of paper on her drawing board called out for the gentle touch of carbonized charcoal delivered through the sharpened steel of a master’s pencil. Delicate, intricate designs in which data was allowed to flow like rivers made of the digits zero and one. Binary was a crude language, but a beautiful one.

On the first day the process began with a brainstorm session between herself and her robot companion. What they needed was something that could store data beyond what was perceived to be possible while the actual structure itself remained as small and compact as she could make it. Although it was against her design principle, she got to work without really running everything by her partner. Henry didn’t seem to mind though, he scuttled right over to his charge station without a word as Kaili began drawing up the basis of what was necessary.

Day two swept on by much like day three and four. The crew had started to get worried for her, claimed that they hadn’t seen her for much of the trip and while she could appreciate the thoughts she had a record to beat. Six hour sleep followed by eighteen hours of work, the young Talith was dedicated to her promise of delivery.

The alarm clock on Henry bleeped and blooped the girl into a twitch from her slumber. Eyes feasted upon the sketches in front of her and no small measure of pride. It was done. Day six was upon them with a day to spare for fluff. A small smirk spread on Kaili’s lips. She patted her drone much like anyone else would pat a good dog on their head, and the droid reacted much like it. It’s chassis shook and shivered in delight. The hand touch was so much more though, of course. A small measure of maintenance for a job well-done.

“We’ve really outdone ourselves now, partner.” Kaili grinned a lopsided grin at her pet.

[ Ah well, I can’t take all the credit. ] The droid responded with glee.

“Oh, of course not, what would I do if you ever gave me the praise I deserved?”

[ Grow an inflated ego? ]

The two laughed like good friends.

“Alright, let me just grab the loose metals and we should be able to throw up some demos for our buddies over at… Wherever we’re going.”

Kaili pushed herself out of her chair to go get a few thin metal plates and a small carving tool out of her pack alongside a tiny metal box. Kaili sketched a few of the mainframe pieces on the surface of the metal and Henry cut it apart until eventually they had a small collection of models of the mainframe, servers, hologram stations and droids. They were all deposited into the padded metal box.

By the seventh day the demi-goddess had finished the work she had been doing; so on the seventh day she rested from all her work.

The ship pulled into port. A freshly awoken Kaili lazily patted her hair down, put her shirt on and made sure the tag by the hem of the neck was in the right spot before she grabbed her metal box in her hands and let herself be lead towards the Red Shift Cantina where she decided to take up a booth for both herself and the man she was expecting to see. Nobody was present. A careful eye shot out at the people around her.

She had time. Her arms folded on top of the table and she rested her head upon them. Eyelids closed, breathing slowed while Henry was allowed to stand guard.

It was just a nap. Professionals napped too!

[member="Freyia Whitelight-Carrick"] // [member="Jorus Merrill"]