The Stepping Stones of Growth

[Darlyn Excron]

Darlyn listened quietly, absorbing the new information quietly as he kept an eye out for any sign of further cave-in activity. Curious, her father abandoned her? Small galaxy after all. He shook his head lightly and looked back at her. [member="Lady Kay"] only grew in intrigue with every passing day. But as it was he had a story to share in return...

"When I was a child I used to live with my mom, dad, and older sibling on Arkania. Ever seen it? Frozen wasteland, but so very beautiful at sunrise and sunset. I don't remember a whole lot about them, though. My dad took my family and left the planet, I still don't know why, but I was ended up getting left behind. I lived on my own for a year... or two.. I think. It was my master who found me after I broke into my old home to find supplies. Wasn't much of a teacher though."

 

[Kay-Larr]

Arkania. She had never been there, but she knew a few of it's people. And they weren't the kindest of individuals, usually caused her harm and torment than anything else.

"Did they leave in a rush? Perhaps it wasn't on purpose. Have you ever tried finding them since?" Was [member="Darlyn Excron"] abandoned because he was a Force User? It made her wonder where her daughter was and how she felt. Though adoption was different, the bonds not as tight as actual parenthood. Still not a day went by when she didn't think of them.

 

[Darlyn Excron]

"I don't really remember. I just remember realizing I was alone and couldn't find my parents. I used to be afraid a lot.. not exactly the kindest place for a human to grow up alone after all. Looked down on and all that. I tried to find supplies in my old home after a while, that's where I found my blaster and saber's crystal. I got hurt trying to run away and ended up being 'rescued' by my sith mentor. The rest goes as you'd expect, I was given a weapon and told to hunt after the barest of educations. Failed one hunt after a long while, and left before he could kill me for it. Started working as a hunter.."

"Never thought to look for them. They had years to come back, it wasn't like I was going anywhere. If they had wanted me they'd have come back." Maybe it was the dust or some gas getting to him, but Darlyn was sharing quite a bit with [member="Lady Kay"]. In fact, as he went on he began to curl up in his seated position tighter and tighter, not unlike a child growing scared or upset. "..I uh, I think it's your turn for a story again, isn't it?"

 

[Kay-Larr]

There was no doubt that Kay felt a little sorry for [member="Darlyn Excron"] as he spoke about his distant past. It was no wonder that his loyalty to her after she had saved him was so strong.

She too was sitting curled up, however she was in her own bed as opposed to being stuck in a cave. "My turn?...Well, let's see....My memory is still full of holes and that bothers me. Finding a good story for you is difficult. So...umm...I used to be a great hinderance to the Hutt Cartel. My slave liberations were nearly flawless. No two missions were the same, and it was because of that that they couldn't predict what I'd do. I would go after all different aspects of slavery, everything from viiage raids, to auctions, to breaking into their camps and stealing them. I was very good at it, yet it got me into a lot of trouble as well."

 

[Darlyn Excron]

"You, in trouble? Never would've guessed. That's such a far cry from how things usually go with you." He offered a half smirk to her as he gave his response. Slaves eh, she certainly had unusual hobbies. Then again his own hobbies weren't anything to cry home about. So perhaps he couldn't judge, though admittedly he approved of her choice of pastime. [member="Lady Kay"] grew ever more interesting with each day.

There was some more rustling of rocks to his left, and Darlyn cast a glance over before looking back. "How far in are the diggers you think? Not that I'm being impatient, but I am downhill from several tons of rock."

 

[Kay-Larr]

Kay smirked and rolled her eyes. She knew that [member="Darlyn Excron"] could see that too. She answered in a fully sarcastic tone; "Yes, I live such a sheltered life..."

Then he asked about the rescue crew. Kay couldn't blame him for being nervous. She'd of been the same way if their roles were reversed. "Hang on a sec, I'll check."

She brought out her commlink to reach the crew. "It's Kay. Any word on locating Darlyn?"

~Not yet, my Lady. Progress is slow, but we are moving. The droids and miners are working as fast as is deemed safe. Out.~

Kay looked to Darlyn. "You get all that? They're coming. So...just hold tight. And now it's your turn for a story..."

 

[Darlyn Excron]

Darlyn hummed, what was suitable for a story to keep the time going? Well, [member="Lady Kay"] had offered her oldest past time, perhaps something similar? Well it certainly wouldn't be as, delightful a story... "When my sith master had control over my life, he used to have me hunt Jedi down, kill them, all sorts tasks such as that. I didn't really mind it, there was a thrill to the hunt, and those self righteous pieces of filth always got on my nerves. Always proclaiming they were the guardians of the weak, when they failed over and over on so many fronts. I don't hate them now of course but, I think now they're more willing to admit their mistakes..."

"... Anyways, things went pretty well like that for me. Most of my hunts were successful, and if I was lucky I got time to train somewhat properly instead of on the battlefield. Until one day I got hit by shrapnel I hadn't predicted, cut a lovely scar right up my neck here..." He ran his index finger up over his neck to show where he meant. "It wasn't terribly deep, but I had to pull back to stop the bleeding in case it was. After I failed i knew he'd kill me, so I ran away, smuggled myself aboard a vessel. Didn't know how to do anything but hunt, so that's what I decided to do. Bounty hunting."

 

[Kay-Larr]

Kay nodded. Had some events gone differently in their lives, then there could have come a time when [member="Darlyn Excron"] would have hunted her down. Quite possibly he could have killed her too. Killing, even in self defence wasn't something that she had often done. Now however could be a different story.

But she wanted to change the topic ever so slightly, for she was quite glad that they weren't enemies, yet. "What got you into loving explosions? I'm sure that that's an interesting tale."

 

[Darlyn Excron]

Darlyn smiled a little bit, and kicked himself off into the new story. "Well, [member="Lady Kay"], back when I was working for that Sith lord, I had to be very versed in different tactics to take care of myself. One of my few teachers was a soldier who specialized in sabotage, the explosive kind. We often had lessons in rigging explosives and setting different detonate conditions, anything that could be needed. He particularly loved setting explosives to register other detonations, creating cascade effects. Wasn't too hard either, you'd just have to put pressure sensors on them, or something else to register the force or heat..."

"He loved to set up the ship I'd invade to handle a Jedi on to explode when we left. He was very good at it.. I suppose part of it is just to remember one of the few things I liked about working for that sith."

 

[Kay-Larr]

Kay nodded as she listened to his story. It made sense as to why [member="Darlyn Excron"] succeeded so well in destroying the mining platform on Bespin, and giving them the right amount of cover for their escape. Because of that, Darlyn lost his right to travel in First Order space. Having him work for her was a small way for her to pay him back.

"I've used some small explosives in my time. Once on Naboo to stop a walking base of some kind. And other times on some of the Hutt Cartel's slave camps. Once I...forgot to warn the slaves to get out of the way...and some of them died. It was a stupid move and I haven't used them ever since."