The Next Morning

[Jaxton Ravos]

The Medical Bay of a Ship​

Edge of Nowhere​

Outer Rim​

​

It had been some time since [member="Taheera Sollo"] was knocked unconscious on a Wroshyr branch in the middle of a Sith Invasion. Not time enough for wounds to really heal, but as she awoke she would find her wounds mostly gone, save for a slight pain amidst her abdomen. That stab was a strong one, the intensity great, and it would take more time to heal than her other wounds. Looking around the room she'd find an S-1 Medical Droid hustling about, making notes and examining tables of data.

"Jane Doe!" It would scream in excitement as it realized she had awakened. "It is so good to see you awakened. Randial has left some food and clothes for you, should you care to utilize them." It motioned to a small refrigerator with food, with plastic containers and utensils of course, then to an array of clothing to the side. Far from some dirty Hutt's fantasy the clothes were modest, nor excessively prim or proper. Simple street clothes.

"If you would humor me Ms. Doe, I would like to run some diagnostics now that you are up and going. Can you please tell me your name?" It said, as it looked at a datapad and began to prepare to make some recordings.

 

[Taheera Sollo]

[member="Randial"]

The clone grimaced but it wasn't due to the pain lingering in her stomach. It was due to the bright lights, unfamiliar surroundings, and an annoyingly loud droid. Adrenaline pumped through her groggy muscles. Crisp-medical gowned form bolted upright, legs swinging over the edge of the cot. She winced now, the pain spiking up from recent wounds.

Myrtle-ellipses darted wildly about the room.

A hand went up to her ear as her gaze settled on the droid. "Can you please turn it down?" She pushed stubbornly off the cot and hobbled over to the clothes. Finding a pair of pants, she gingerly shimmied them on, followed by a shirt - losing the gown. She ignored the droid's question.

"Who is Randial?"

She opened the fridge next, looking for something she could use as a weapon, not knowing if she was with the sith or someone else. Whatever the situation, she was thoroughly confused and disoriented. And hungry. Really, really hungry.

 

[Jaxton Ravos]

[member="Taheera Sollo"]

"Randial is my owner. Tall chiss fellow." The S-1 droid would say, it's vocabulator volume lowered significantly. As Taheera went through the fridge she'd find a variety of food, nothing fancy, but differing options. Nothing that could really be used as a weapon though. Randial might have been considered stupid in kidnapping Taheera rather than simply killing her, or perhaps for giving her such freedoms as she woke, but he was certainly not stupid enough to arm her.

"I must insist that you allow me to diagnose you before running off Ms. Doe. Will you please answer my question? Or tell me if you're feeling any nausea? Extra hunger? The last thing you remember?"

 

[Taheera Sollo]

[member="Randial"]

"A chiss?" Alarmed eyes darted from above the other side of the fridge door at the droid. Her hunger went off like a switch as she remembered those red eyes with a shudder. She sank to the floor and sat in front of the fridge, fingertips pressing into the sides of her temples.

If it was the sith chiss....the healing wound on her abdomen rippled in pain. But the food, the medical help, nothing made sense. The clone disliked saying her name because it only reminded her of what she was. Luckily for the droid, she disliked Doe more.

"Taheera Sollo. Two e's and two l's. Wait," head snapped up as she ignored the droid's questions a second time. "You said I can run off? Where are we exactly?"

She winced as she shifted on the floor. Frustration at her current physical condition and the situation flickered across her brow.

 

[Jaxton Ravos]

[member="Taheera Sollo"]

"We are in Randial's ship Ms. Sollo. Beyond that I do not know, navigation is not within my programming." The droid responded, continuing to answer the woman's questions where it could.

"And 'run off' may be a bit of hyperbole. Randial has said you may wander the ship as you please, but that entering his meditation room and altering critical ship systems is restricted." It said. If Taheera were to test the droid's words, say try to leave the room, she'd find them true and the door would open, allowing her to explore the ship. Stay or go the droid would remain with her, in the pushy helpful way perfected by protocol droids long ago.

"How are you feeling Ms. Sollo?"

 

[Taheera Sollo]

[member="Randial"]

"How am I feeling?"

She blinked and stared at the droid incredulously. Another blink. Then another.

"How am I feeling?" Tone rose sharply. The memories of Kashyyyk's battle slammed into her: The stench of burning flesh and armor stung her nose. The screams of dying and injured echoed against her ears. Merciless magma-eyes cut to her core. Blackness.

"I was stabbed with a lightsaber multiple times twenty-four...forty-eight....STARS KNOWS how many hours ago. Instead of not waking up at all or waking up in a prison or work-camp or in some hutt's basement I wake up here, on the ship of the same sith that stabbed me but also provided me with a bowl of nyorks and honey," tone rose as she jerked up the packet of food with a plastic spork she seriously considered using as a last resort weapon.

"HOW DO YOU THINK I FEEL?"

She stood abruptly, once again too fast. Hand came to rest protectively over her stomach as she hunched over to collect herself. The clone-copy definitely inherited the 'pushing yourself too far' from the original.

She finally straightened, clutching the nyorks and honey in one hand.

"I want to talk to Randial."

She didn't know if she was ready to see him again. If it would be too much. If she would go into shell-shock. If the fear would swallow her whole when she saw those eyes again. If she would throw-up. If she could stop herself from trying to punch the sith in the face...or stab him in the eye with the spork.

But the need to overcome her fears and get some answers to her questions trumped all of the above.

 

[Jaxton Ravos]

[member="Taheera Sollo"]

The S-1 soon learned that perhaps it's phrasing of the question was not the best. Still though, Taheera Sollo, with two 'e's and two 'l's had responded promptly to the question, unlike it's others. Maybe it was the right question, and the S-1 just wasn't ready to hear the response. It was so unready in fact, that it cowered as the woman raised her voice.

"I apologize Ms. Sollo, I do not mean to offend." It said in as meek a manner as the droid could muster. Then she asked to speak to Randial and the droid fidgeted for a bit.

"I am not scheduled to wake him for another thirteen minutes." It said, the vocabulator humming with what might be considered self doubt. "But he did say your comfort was a priority." It continued, before pausing for a moment, as if running some calculations. "I will summon him as you wish, but please Ms. Sollo, have some food. There are pain killers in the cabinet should you need them. Do not let your disdain for my master trouble your health." It advised, ever the medic-droid worry wort. With the turn of a head and the humm of automation the S-1 would leave the room, heading to find Randial and leaving Taheera to her own devices.

 

[Taheera Sollo]

[member="Randial"]

She blinked at the droid's retreating form. It wasn't fair to be frustrated at the droid. But life wasn't fair.

She hobbled over to the cot and took the blanket on the end, wrapping it clumsily around her shoulders. She waited a second at the door, still clutching the container of nyorks and honey and of course the spork in one hand before stepping forward.

She half expected the door to remain closed and found herself hesitating in the threshold as it hissed open. The back of her babysitting droid disappeared around a corner a little ways ahead unaware of where its charge was about to go. Clutching the blanket a little more tightly, her bare feet padded along the deck plating in the opposite direction of the droid.

Her steps were slow and methodical as she worked through stiff muscles and the lingering fatigue and pain. She passed a room that looked like spare living quarters, a few closed doors she didn't feel the desire to open, and found herself at the cockpit. Fatigue immediately set in from the small jaunt, a sign that her healing process had a long way to go.

She frowned.

Shuffling inside the cockpit, she sunk down into the co-pilot's chair, the unopened packet of nyorks and honey clutched on her lap. She stared quietly out of the viewport at the stars. She considered tampering with the controls. But she didn't know how and she imagined the sith had them locked. She would probably send them into the gravitational field of a burning sun.

Still might be worth it, though.

She waited silently to feel his approach. One question above the others was burning at the forefront of her mind.

 

[Jaxton Ravos]

[member="Taheera Sollo"]

Randial would re-enter the physical world as Stitches injected him with a quantity of Ixeltal Cilona, till his connection to the Force was too paltry to travel Beyond Shadows. As always he would first look at the chrono, seeing that he had been taken from the metaphysical realm prematurely. Funny, he had always been afraid of being late.

"What is the matter Stitches?"

"The patient awoke and wished to see you." The medical droid replied, and Randial nodded.

"How is her recovery going?"

"From what I can gather she is physically recovered, aside from her stomach which will need more time. Although she seems a bit . . . emotionally distraught." The droid answered.

"Gather what spare medical supplies she'll need and prepare them for her. I'll go speak with her." Randial said and left the droid to his business, heading around the ship. If she was half as curious as he expected anyone in her situation to be she wouldn't be where the droid left her. He eventually found her in the cockpit, looking at the controls and the un-opened food frustratingly. If he had to guess she had found his systems locked.

"I was planning on dropping you off at Laekia, but we can change course if you wish." Randial said as he entered. If she turned to see him she'd see his eyes drift to the unopened nyorks and honey.

"A McYoda's perhaps?"

 

[Taheera Sollo]

[member="Randial"]

Shoulders stiffened beneath the blanket as Randial's familiar voice met her ear. There was still a small part of her that hoped she was wrong and he really wasn't the sith from Kashyyyk. She swiveled in the chair, myrtle-ellipses slowly panning up to meet his gaze.

She was surprised by what she found there or what she didn't find there: malice, sneering, haughtiness, or anger.

Was that genuine concern?

"How many?" The burning question erupted from her throat as if she was too distracted to hear all of what he said - at first. "How many were lost on Kashyyyk?"

She frowned, comprehension flickering over her features as his words clicked. "Wait...drop me off?"

 

[Jaxton Ravos]

[member="Taheera Sollo"]

Randial's lips fell at the question.

"Far too many." Was his response, and from the tone Taheera should have been able to tell it was his genuine opinion. Perhaps not though, he had no idea how a clone picked up on such social ques. Or that Taheera was even a clone for that matter.

"I try not to keep up with things like numbers. For quite a while I ignored the galaxy at large. All except my little corner of the map. But after a while I couldn't hold my head down any longer, had to act. Still can't look at things like that though." He said for a moment, letting his experiences drift into his speech.

"I didn't believe you'd wish to stay." Randial said a bit inquisitively, as if he were surprised at her response. "Nor can I really afford to let you." A pause, as if he were thinking on what to say, or perhaps what not to say. "Stitches treat you well?"

 

[Taheera Sollo]

[member="Randial"]

Her expression shadowed with the weight of failure. Her failure. Hollowed gaze looked at Randial without really looking at him as the cries from battle echoed in her not so distant memories.

She felt...lost.

Slowly, myrtle ellipses refocused picking up on the tension of an unanswered question. Confusion caused her lips to frown. Gaze traveled down to the package of unopened nyorks and honey before returning to Randial's face. She didn't think she had gotten any stitches so she assumed the droid.

"The medical droid? It was fine. Very attentive. The volume levels were a little high...you're," she hesitated and leaned forward, pulling the blanket a little more evenly around her shoulders - a hidden wince at the cost of the movement, "not like any sith I've learned about or met."

It was more of an observation than an accusation.

"No hidden agenda? You'll drop me off and that's it? There won't be any hutts involved at this drop off?"

Listen, the clone heard plenty of stories about hutts and the slave trade, especially for young women.

 

[Jaxton Ravos]

[member="Taheera Sollo"]

Randial wasn't really a chiss, and as a result had certain other abilities. One of which was the emission of pheromones. The other was a slight telepathy that allowed Randial to sense the emotions of others, though not anything more. Right now he could feel her confusion, her sorrow, and a feeling of . . . regret perhaps? It seemed Kashyyyk brought up sour memories, not that Randial could blame her. War wasn't exactly a pleasurable thing.

"Nor am I like any Sith you'll ever meet or learn about." Randial replied, as he noticed the slightest bit of pain twinge on her face as she adjusted her blanket. If he knew her better he'd have offered to adjust it himself, but he was still probably a creepy sith to the healer, just a confusing creepy Sith. "I'd advise you not to let me change your opinion of the Sith in general. Were you captured by another your stay would be far different." He warned, not bothering to go into details. His words were not intended to threaten the woman, just warn her not to think that behind every Sith was some nice guy who was really just misunderstood, or some such nonsense. Stupid stuff that would get her killed.

Randial admitted a laugh at the woman's mention of drop offs and hutts. "No, there will be no Hutts, nor slavers, nor criminals of any sort." He said, his tone growing a touch friendlier as he spoke. "I do have a hidden agenda or two, but none of them involve you. Or hutts." He said, and his eyes drifted to the still unopened food.

"Are you sure I can't get you anything before I drop you off? You have to have some sort of appetite after all that."

 

[Taheera Sollo]

[member="Randial"]

A sith warning her about sith. So odd. She sensed there was more beneath the surface of Randial but chose the fortune out of her misfortune to stay silent.

"What?" She looked at the food again. "Oh. No, this is okay. I don't think my stomach could handle much more right now."

Shock and lingering pain tended to lurch her appetite.

Trembling digits attempted to peel open the food packet. She must've gotten the one with the stubborn lid. She tried again, her pride taking more of a beating at this than losing the battle and getting stabbed with her own lightsaber.

An exasperated sigh huffed out of her lips and stirred the strands of chestnut hair hanging down, across her face.

"Why go to all this trouble, why not just leave me on that branch?" She grumbled, refusing to ask for help as her focus remained on the nyorks and honey and that dagum plastic seal.

 

[Jaxton Ravos]

[member="Taheera Sollo"]

Randial extended a hand and reached for the nyorks and honey. If allowed he'd take them from her, open the plastic seal, and then return them.

"I thought of it admittedly. But the stronghold you were defending was captured. If I'd left you there you'd have only been captured by some other sith, most of which would be far more eager to fulfill your huttish fantasies." Randial replied, before walking forward and taking the pilot's seat. He'd put his hand on the scanner and it would glow for a second, before a noise similar to opening of a hatch would echo throughout the room. A digital aid to show the ship's systems had been unlocked.

"Laekia is a safe place, as are most Levantine worlds. I could drop you in Republic Space somewhere but I honestly don't know what's safe there anymore. Or what's even considered Republic space with how the One Sith carved them down the middle. Do you have a master or some friends somewhere I could drop you off close to? I don't need to know names or details but making sure someone will be able to lend you a hand would be comforting."

 

[Taheera Sollo]

[member="Randial"]

Frown deepened the curve that was already on her lower lip as she stared from his offered hand to the food pack. She considered the consequences of stubborn defiance. She considered it for a few long seconds. But hunger was already returning and gnawing at her stomach as her initial shock wore off.

Her healer's instinct silently reprimanded her for even considering the refusal of help, especially when her body was in dire need.

Finally, she handed Randial the nyorks and honey. Once returned, she forced herself to take slow, small bites instead of scarfing the contents down. Things in her digestive system were still a bit iffy.

She swiveled the chair back to the viewport as he took a seat. "Hmm. Levantine. I don't know much about them but I know enough to agree with you about the...safeness to someone like me. I...," she struggled to weigh the wisdom in her response, "don't have a master." As for friends, she wondered if Marvin counted. She was almost as new to the republic as she was new to life.

"I will be fine on my own." The admittance was quiet but firm as she took another bite of nyorks and honey.

"And I do NOT have hutt fantasies," she said defensively and shot him a look out of the corner of her eyes.

"You seem like you know a lot about Levantine?" A statement as a question.

 

[Jaxton Ravos]

[member="Taheera Sollo"]

An eyebrow raised at her admission of not having a master. He supposed she didn't seem to carry any of the esoteric force maneuvers that typically indicated having a master nowadays, but she had handled herself rather well. Randial would have been lying if he said he didn't spend a minute thinking of the possibilities she presented. What she could have become under his training. But Randial would not fall into the archetype of kidnapper-masters, not if he could help it.

Another laugh at her defense about her hutt fantasies. Not intended or forced it just came. Where the chiss might have been cold before, emotion began to show.

"Everyone comes from somewhere." Randial admitted. "The One Sith aren't a home for me, but a job." He said, punching in the hyperspace co-ordinates for Laekia.

"How does a talent like yourself run around the Jedi for long without a teacher?"

 

[Taheera Sollo]

[member="Randial"]

A job?

Randial was becoming more and more curious indeed. She focused back on the nyorks and honey before looking up in surprise at his compliment. Chestnut-brows rose. "But I failed those on Kashyyyk I was sworn to protect. You still think I have talent?"

Perhaps her original would've done better? She rested her head back in the chair and closed her eyes, gathering herself for a moment.

"I have not been with the Republic long. I," she paused wondering what was safe to say. What wasn't safe to say? He seemed genuine in her release. If he wanted to hurt her more, he would've by now. Or, she was about to learn a very painful lesson.

Myrtle-ellipses finally opened and refocused back on the chiss. "I was only there a few weeks and met a few people. We were all called to Kashyyyk. As you are well aware, we're running ragged since Manaan. That surprise attack took a great toll on our numbers and morale. That's part of the reason I joined the Republic. I thought I could help. I thought I was made to help."

Lips pursed closed, afraid she had said too much.

"How long until we reach Laekia?"

 

[Jaxton Ravos]

[member="Taheera Sollo"]

"We have a little while. Tingel arm is a bit remote, takes a while to dredge through what hyperlanes can get you there." Randial said as white lights streamed through the viewports in front of them as the ship rocked and they traveled into hyperspace.

"And what you tried to do? To fight for the Republic? To combat legions of Sith? To defend a nation in a moment of weakness? It is no easy task." Randial said, his words bearing weight of years of experience. He paused for a moment, trying to figure whether or not to say what he wanted. His next words came slowly.

"When I had just started to learn the Force I had been put in a similar situation. The Grandmaster of our order picked me to fight at his side against a threat to our allies. Our mission was to defend our allies leader, their general. I fought against a temptress of no small skill, and held my own for a short time. But the Grandmaster fought an enemy he could not best. I tried to help him but was too slow. He died in my arms as I ran from the battleground. The general we were sent to protect yet lived, but was seduced by the darkside in the battle. It was humiliating." Randial said. If Taheera was particularly well-versed in post-gulag Jedi History she might have recognized that he was hinting at the Second Battle of Junction, where the Jedi Grandmaster Teferi Efreet died, and was taken back home by a young athlete-turned Jedi named Jaxton Ravos. Randial doubted that name held much weight in the Jedi anymore however.

"But I lived. I learned. And I grew. Failure may seem damning but it doesn't have to be. I don't know who you are what you think you were made for but all paths are possible with the Force. One needs only the patience to listen for the ripples it brings throughout the galaxy."

 

[Taheera Sollo]

[member="Randial"]

She found herself gravitating toward the chiss as he spoke. The remaining nyorks and honey remained untouched in her lap. She studied the sith intently.

"You sound like a jedi," voice was quiet and thoughtful. "You were one."

Chin came down to rest atop a curled fist. She was missing something here. Something huge. She couldn't figure it out and it was driving her nuts. "Is it wrong that your words give me hope but I doubt them at the same time? You're not like me. You're not a cop-," she wavered between giving too much away. "What happened to you, anyway? You were clearly a jedi, once."