MC: AOTE: Brothers in Arms

[starmark2k]

"We're heading for the core, Chandrila." Nic replied to his pilots question. "Beryl want's to play Galactic Hero and the rest of us are going to stop her getting killed."

 

As they walked onto the landing pad, Nic caught his first glance of the Echo and smile... until he noticed the modification made in his abstance causing his whole expression to drop. "Jana, what have you done to my Ship!"

[Writer]

"A modification that should have been made the moment it became evident Reibe was going to stick around," Jana shot back. "And it's our ship anyhow."

 

"Jana, you hardly have to defend me from Nic's rage," Reibe said, laughing softly. "Nic, that gives me easy access to my fighter. Don't tell me that you couldn't use another fighter in action in some of the scrapes you'll encounter. Well, there it is... and here's its pilot." She indicated herself.

 

"It's not that major a modification, really," Jana offered, attempting to soothe the captain. "Just a little rerouting to a little wiring... the catwalk's routed around the fighter dock. Nothing like, say... swapping the engine room with the bridge."

 

"Though that was considered in the modified design," Reibe teased. Jana glared at Reibe.

 

"He already doesn't like you," she snapped. "Don't give him a reason to stab you to death in your sleep!" She stormed ahead, frustrated for the second time within a half an hour by interaction between her captain and her trainer. Reibe watched her go.

 

"Back in the Rest, her storming off was your fault," she told Nic. "That one's mine... guess we're one for one on setting her off..."

[JasraLantill]

Beryl, who had been following with Conn behind Jana, Nic, and Reibe, had also been rather surprised to see Riebe’s fighter attached to the side of the Echo.

 

“Gone for a few weeks and everything’s changed,” she said quietly to Conn. “Wonder how Reibe’s redecorated the inside as well.”

 

“Your room’s still the same,” Sam said, catching Beryl up from behind. “I didn’t change a thing.”

 

Beryl was just giving Sam a strange look when Reibe teased Nic to Jana’s chagrin. Seemingly frustrated, Jana stormed ahead to the ship. Beryl put a hand on Conn’s arm. “I’ll catch up to you later, and give you a tour,” she said, and then jogged after her.

 

“Hey, wait up!” It didn’t take her long to catch Jana up. She fell into step with her friend and First Officer, and for a moment or two, she was silent. She couldn’t help but feel something was different about Jana, but she couldn’t quite place her finger on it. But as they were boarding the Echo she finally spoke.

 

“Jana? I don’t mean to pry, but I’m a little confused. Actually, I’m a lot confused about a lot of things,” she confessed. “But all the other things aside, can you please explain when, how, and why Reibe came onboard? What’s going on?”

[Writer]

"Confusion is fair," Jana answered shortly. She sighed. "To be honest, the things that have happened on the Echo these last two months are overwhelming... more than that. They're downright impossible."

 

She boarded the ship with Beryl at her side and Jana gestured across the cargo bay to where the wall now bulged in to accommodate Reibe's fighter. "Takes away a little cargo space," she observed, "but not that much seeing as how it's slanted in, rather than just chopping that whole side out..."

 

With a look of frustration mixed with concern, she turned back to Beryl. "I..." she began. But she couldn't get the words out to tell her friend that Reibe was here to train her in using the Force. She decided finally to conclude with, "I missed you, Beryl. It's so good to have you back..."

 

After a moment of silence, she added bluntly, "Something's different about you."

[JasraLantill]

With little expression, Beryl stared at Jana for a moment. Beryl felt something odd about Jana through the Force, but again she couldn’t quite put her finger on what it was. She was about to mention her feeling to Jana, but then, for some unknown, reason, decided not to.

 

“I’m on drugs,” Beryl answered matter-of-factly. “But Conn says he can fix that.” She frowned, then shrugged with indifference. “Eventually.”

 

She didn’t wait for a response from Jana, but instead meandered over towards the Headhunter. “So, anyone been flying her while I was away?” she asked, changing the subject as she ran her hand over the fuselage. “I wasn’t allowed to fly anything solo at the Academy.” She snorted with disdain. “Commander Thalmon and Dr. Ferrana thought I might be a ‘flight’ risk.” She turned to Jana, with a smile that looked positively evil. “They were right, of course.”

 

She closed her eyes and took in a deep breath. “But it feels so good to be home, Jana. I know that this is just a ship, but… it feels like home.”

[Writer]

Jana chose to ignore the comment about Beryl being a flight risk. "Jeez has flown her a few times," She said. She chuckled and gestured to the new fighter dock. "And before we had that installed, you should have seen the challenge it was for Reibe to access her fighter... hop in a space suit, clamber up to the upper hatch, which, incidentally, Reibe's fighter was docked right on top of..."

 

She laughed. "She made me do it once so I'd stop laughing at what she had to go through if we needed an extra fighter in action. Truth be told, it only made me laugh more. You could push the hatch open a bit, but then you had to squirm out under the fighter, hope to Force you didn't get bucked off while the ship was moving, and climb up on top of it." She shook her head. "No wonder she wanted that," she concluded gesturing again to the fighter dock.

 

Beryl closed her eyes and took in a deep breath. "But it feels so good to be home, Jana. I know that this is just a ship, but... it feels like home."

 

Jana smiled warmly. "It is home, Beryl. Four solid walls and a solid foundation on a planet isn't what makes a home. It's the heart of the thing... and it's where we spend our time when we're not out on a job." She gave Beryl another quick hug. "It's good to have you home, Beryl."

[JasraLantill]

Beryl nodded at Jana. For an instant, she felt as if there was something important that she needed to tell her, but then the thought vanished just as quickly as it had come.

 

“Right, so I guess that I’ve missed a few cooking rotas,” Beryl said, staring up at the ladder to the catwalk and the decks above. “Reibe hasn’t remodelled the galley, has she?”

 

***********

 

One hour later….

 

The crew were beginning to gather in the common room for the evening meal. Beryl had taken it upon herself to cook, and was just chopping up the last of the vegetables for a nuna stirfry. It had been a long time since she had actually prepared and cooked real food, and for the first time in many weeks she was enjoying herself. Until her hands started shaking again.

 

“Damn it.” She had sliced her finger with the chef’s knife.

 

“Something wrong, sweetie?” Sam sidled up beside her.

 

“Just a bit careless,” Beryl answered. She sucked the blood off her fingertip. The cut wasn’t very deep. “It’ll be fine.” She scraped the vegetables from the cutting board and into the frying pan. Then she paused. She glanced over her shoulder. Conn wasn’t around just yet, probably still getting acquainted with the med bay.

 

“Sam…,” Beryl started, “you wouldn’t happen to have any… tranqs, would you?”

 

Sam raised her brow. “Me? Tranqs?” She shook her head. “I’m a stim person, sweetie. You know that.”

 

“Yeah….” Beryl sighed. “Well, then can you reach up under that cupboard there? There should be a bottle of Cassandran Brandy stuffed up underneath the lip of the cupboard.”

 

Sam did as she was asked and handed the bottle to Beryl. “Expensive taste, sweetie.”

 

“Yeah, well.” Without ceremony, Beryl covertly took a long swig from the bottle, then splashed a bit of it into the stir fry. “Gives the veggies a bit of a kick.”

 

Sam shook her head. “You really need to tell the Doc about that,” she said, nodding at Beryl’s tremoring hand.

 

“He knows already, okay? But he said I’m not due for any more meds for…” She looked at her chrono. “…1 hour and 12 minutes. So….” She shrugged. “Here.” She handed Sam a large spoon. “Stir this, keep it moving and don’t let it burn. I’m going to get bacta patch for my finger.”

 

Sucking her injured finger, she headed for the medbay. But just as she was about to enter the room, Conn opened the door to come out and the two of them collided heads.

[starmark2k]

Nic stood on the edge of a deep chasm, looking down into the dark seemingly endless abyss, it seemed that he could fall forever if he slipped or jumped. The chasm and Nic were in a dark cold rocky cavern with only a dim glimmer of light coming from behind him.

 

Nic’s face was almost entirely absent of all emotion as he looked down with only the slightest hint of bewilderment in his eyes. He was calm and seemed entirely balanced as his toes hung over the abysses edge.

 

The sound of whispering came from behind where the light emanated from causing Nic to slowly turn around and face it. As he turned he saw that he stood inside a room made of stone brick walls, the walls were old seemingly ancient as they had began to decay and vines crept through the cracks, moss covered the entire wall giving it a green tint. Looking further along the room he saw a large staircase that led to the source of both the light and the strange intangible whispers.

 

Nic began to walk down the room over the old stone floors and towards the large staircase, his movements were slow and calm. He began the ascent up to the light source moving like he was half asleep.

 

Reaching the top he came across an ornate circular table surrounded by four statues of faceless men in robes each holding something different. The first held a compass, the second held a sword, the third a heart and the last held a dagger but it was pointed inward towards it’s own body.

 

Nic walked over to the first statue and looked down at the base of it, he saw some writing on it noticed the word ‘Guide. He then turned to the second and saw the word Guardian. As he was going to turn to the third statue he heard a scream coming from the statue and saw a Stone that glowed, blue, green and red all that same time in the middle.

 

He couldn’t explain why but he felt compelled to reach over and touch it, like it was calling out to him as, or pulling his hand like a tractor beam. As his hand made contact with the stone his mind was suddenly flashed with images, sounds and emotions each lasting no more than a second each. He saw and people in dark blues robes, young women and men fighting, Sith lords and many planets. He felt love and hate as each image passed through his mind, the flashes happened so fast he was unable to comprehend individual visions.

 

Suddenly one image stuck in his mind, it was a young attractive woman he had not met, the women’s image lingered in his mind as if to burn it into his memory.

_____________________________________________________

 

Once he got back on the ship Nic did what he said he would and had a shower but decided to go to bed after. It had been two months since he had slept in a bed and was not hanging from a wall or on a stone floor.

 

Nic eyes opened as he laid on his bunk, he slowly sat up and looked around his room curious about the strange vision dream he had just had.

[Rogue Nine]

“Ow!” Beryl and Conn both uttered as they collided with each other.

 

Conn staggered back, a ringing pain starting to throb in his forehead. He clutched at his temple, then looked to see who he'd inadvertently headbutted. "Beryl?" he said, taking a few steps towards her.

 

“Sorry, sir,” she said automatically, without really looking at him. “Wasn’t concentrating.” She sucked on her fingertip, again starting to bleed from the cut. “Just came to get a bacta patch. Oh, and dinner’s almost ready.”

 

It took Conn a few moments to remember that Beryl was cooking up dinner for the crew. "Oh, of course," he said, retreating back into the medbay. "Hang on, I'll grab one for you."

 

As Conn went to retrieve the patch, Beryl noted that various medical supplies were splayed out over the countertops. Obviously, Conn was reorganising the place to his liking. “Doing some spring cleaning?” she asked, as her eyes darted around the room, trying to figure out in which storage cabinet he was planning to put the tranqs.

 

"Yeah," Conn responded as he removed supplies from an overhead cabinet. "Your previous medic was certainly an eccentric one. Had some really odd instruments here that I didn't know could be used in medical applications."

 

“Yeah, Ollie was more of a ‘do-it-yourself’ medic,” Beryl commented, as she looked around the bay. “And a home-brewer,” she added as she passed her eyes over a heap of metal tubing. “He was great at doing stitches though,” she recalled. She looked down at her forearm, recalling a particularly nasty cut she had suffered when helping Cloud in engineering one day. “Can’t even see the scar.” She turned to look at Conn. “I won’t need stitches for this though.” She held up her finger. “Just a bacta patch.”

 

"All righty," Conn said, picking out a finger patch and bringing it over to her. As he approached, he felt an odd, jittery feeling emanating from the blonde Corellian pilot. Probably still feeling the withdrawal effects from those Imperial drug cocktails, Conn thought to himself. He exterted a little bit of his Zeltron abilities, in an attempt to soothe her frayed nerves.

 

Beryl thanked him as she took the patch. She was feeling a bit calmer now, although she attributed that to the slug of Cassandran brandy rather than anything Conn was doing, but her hands were still shaking a bit. “I feel a bit silly asking this, sir, but can you…?” She met Conn’s eyes, and held out the patch and injured finger.

 

"'Course," he said, taking the patch and ripping it out of its wrapping. He took her hand in his own and carefully applied the patch to her injured finger, then gave her hand an encouraging squeeze, hoping his emotional projection eased a bit of her shakiness.

 

Beryl stared at him for a moment, then kissed him lightly on the lips. “Thank you, s—.” She paused. “Conn.” She shifted uncomfortably. “So, you coming to dinner?”

 

"Wouldn't miss it for anything," Conn replied, a little surprised at her kiss, then at her look of slight discomfort. There was something else... and as he ran his tongue over his lip, he figured out what it was. "Beryl, what have you been drinking?" he asked.

 

“Cassandran brandy,” she said truthfully. “That’s why I cut myself. I was shaking. Not from drinking the brandy,” she clarified. “I did that after the cut. But...” She lowered her voice to a whisper. “Sir, can’t you give me something that lasts longer? Please? I feel like I’ve got bugs crawling behind my eyeballs.”

 

"Oh Beryl," Conn sighed. "Tranqs aren't going to make things better. You're going to need to pull through this without them. More drugs aren't going to cure you." At her crestfallen look, he reached out and squeezed her shoulder. "Let's wait until after dinner, all right? If it'll help, I try and use my abilities to ease the jitters."

 

She nodded. “I’d better check on Sam. I left her stirring our supper.” She held out her hand. “C’mon.”

[JasraLantill]

“Mmm, something smells good,” Cloud said as he sauntered into the common room. But seeing Sam stirring what was in the large wok-style pan, he frowned. “I thought you said you couldn’t cook?”

 

“I can’t.” Sam turned her head and gave Cloud a wink. “But I’m not bad at stiring.” She then nodded towards the corridor. Beryl and Conn were approaching. “I was just babysitting Beryl’s creation while she went to get patched up. Dangerous things these veggies, eh sweetie? So…” Sam glanced askance at Beryl. “Did the Doc fix you up?”

 

Beryl’s eyes shifted from Sam to Cloud to Conn and then back to Sam. She didn’t answer right away, then wiggled her bandaged finger in the air. “Bacta patch.”

 

“Ah.” Sam waved a hand over the pan and sniffed the air. “Do you think the veggies need any more seasoning?”

 

Beryl knew that Sam was covertly asking if she needed another shot of brandy and she gave a guarded look at Conn. “No,” she answered Sam as she sidled up beside her to take over the cooking. “No more seasoning.”

 

“Ah. Good.” Grinning, Sam handed Beryl the spoon. “So, sweetie, I guess we’re ready to eat now?”

 

Beryl nodded and while she started to get the food ready to serve, Sam went over to the shipwide comm. “Chow!” she announced loudly. “If you’re hungry, come and get it! If you’re not, more for the rest of us!”

 

“You know, Sam, there’s this little thing in the comm box called an ‘am-pli-fi-er’ that makes your voice louder so that people can actually hear you quite well when you decide to use the shipwide button,” Cloud commented deadpan.

 

“I shouted for the dramatic effect,” Sam responded.

 

“And the added sophistication, no doubt.” Cloud shook his head. “Sam, has anyone ever told you that you’re a bit… odd?”

 

Sam took a moment to consider. “Once or twice. Why?”

 

Cloud sighed. “Nevermind.”

 

Beryl was carrying the food over to the table just as Teser made his way into the common room. Beryl gave him a look as he sat down, but didn’t say anything until she seated herself. “So?”

 

“He said he’d do it, but he didn’t sound very happy about it,” Teser replied cryptically.

 

Beryl shrugged. “He’s probably ticked off with you for the same reason I am.”

 

“Who?” Sam asked brazenly.

 

“Our brother Rayne,” Teser answered. “And I don’t understand why you’re angry, B,” he said to Beryl. “Thought you’d be happy to see me alive.”

 

Beryl’s eyes narrowed. “I am. But…. how is it that you were able to contact Jana but didn’t see fit to contact any of your own family to say that you were alive and well?”

 

“Look, I told you, I wasn’t in a position to….”

 

Beryl put her hand up. “Just drop it. I don’t want to hear any more lame excuses.” She looked at Conn. “When everyone gets to the table, sir, we should probably go over our plan for infiltrating the Imperial facility at Chandrila,” she said to him. “Have you had time to find out more about those drugs combinations on that inventory list?”

[Writer]

"If one thing can be said for Sam," Jana said, coming into the common room with a teasing grin, "it's that she's one hell of a loudmouth." To Beryl, she said, "That smells fantastic. Ooh, how I missed having you around!"

 

Reibe entered a few seconds later, sniffing at the air. "I can see what's to be expected when you cook," she informed Beryl solemnly. Then, she cracked a grin and concluded, "the remarkable scents will make their way to all... even from behind closed doors."

[stingerhs]

Inside of his quarters, Jeez paced restlessly inside of the small space. All he could think about was how Beryl had changed. His mind was pacing itself as much as he was, and he used the Force to try and ascertain exactly what was going on. Throughout his entire life, he had been taught by the Jedi that "falling" to the Darkside was a choice, but as he had predicted many times before, here was Beryl that had been influenced and pushed towards the Darkside against her own will. What didn't help her at all was that some sort of psychological drugs had been administered to her to make her more "pliable" to the influences of the Darkside.

 

Still, there had to be another factor deep inside of Beryl that was also apart of things. He couldn't solve it by just thinking about it, and Jeez had realized that much. What he was looking for was a way to guide himself in the right direction. The last thing Beryl needed was a harsh rebuke for her actions, but then again, she needed something.

 

Then, Jeez noticed Ryshana's lightsaber lying on the small display. Taking it, Jeez examined it for a moment and activated it. Its bright yellow blade shown brightly in the small space. "She murdered in cold blood you know," Jeez heard Ryshana comment behind him.

 

Turning behind him quickly, Jeez saw the ghostly form of Ryshana standing behind him next to his bunk. "Well, I knew she had done something," Jeez replied. "But why are you here?"

 

"I'm apart of you, Jeez. Remember that moment back on Alderaan? It was there that we became permanently linked through the Force. Even in death, I am still apart of you," she replied. "And for Beryl, I have tried to guide her in her dark hours. I'm afraid that I've failed."

 

"Show me," Jeez stated as he deactivated the lightsaber. With a nod of her head, Jeez closed his eyes for a moment. When he opened them, Jeez found himself in the cockpit of a TIE Fighter. He noticed that it had landed, and there was an open hatch leading out into a jungle. Just outside stood Beryl, and a man stood in the doorway.

“What are you d….?” The Captain began to sputter and his hands flew up to clutch at his throat in a reflex reaction.

 

Beryl didn’t respond to him right away. She was concentrating, her free hand slightly outstretched and contracted, using the Force to put increasing pressure around his throat. “I’m sorry, but this is mostly your fault. I just wanted to escape. You, being the lecherous adulterer that you are, wanted a ‘tandem’ flight. But I can’t have you telling my brother or especially that creepy Dr. Ferrana that I’m leaving.”

 

Gasping and choking, the Captain shook his head as he sank down to his knees.

 

“You should have just let me go up in a ship of my own," she continued. "I would have disabled yours, and then taken off. And then you could have been rescued and home this evening to eat your roast nuna dinner.”

 

In a few more seconds the Captain fell face forward onto the ground. Beryl stood there for a moment, feeling his life force fade until it was nothing. Then she took his blaster pistol and shot him twice—just to make sure he was dead.

Then, the image faded, and Jeez was back in his quarters on the Echo. Feeling a bit lightheaded, Jeez reached behind him and pulled his desk chair over and sat down. "She is a murderer, isn't she?" Jeez stated. Looking over at his bunk, Ryshana had vanished.

 

"Do what must be done, Jeez," Ryshana's soft voice seemed to state in his ear. Nodding his head in agreement, Jeez attached Ryshana's lightsaber next to his own on his belt and headed outside towards the Common Room where Beryl had been preparing a meal.

 

Catching sight of Jeez, Cloud motion for him to sit next to him. As Jeez sat down next to him, Cloud leaned over and whispered, "You ok? You look like you've just seen a ghost."

 

"I'll be fine. I've just had an interesting revelation. That's all," Jeez replied quietly.

[Rogue Nine]

"Not really," Conn replied. "Between moving in and setting everything up, I've not had much chance to study the rest of that stuff." He pulled out his chair, then stopped, a pensive look on his face. "Some of the chemical formulas were incomplete, however. Halted right in the middle of the recombinant sequences, mostly missing catalysts and enzymes." He shook his head. "A lot more chemistry involved than I'm used to, it's been a while since I've seriously studied biochemistry. I'm hoping that when we get to Chandrila, we'll be able to put together the rest of the sequences and find out just what exactly the Imps are cooking up."

[starmark2k]

Nic was in Oliver’s room cleaning up his stuff and putting then in boxes, after his vision he decided to do something to take his mind off it and thought clearing up the medics room would help. For some reason Jana had left both Nic’s and Oliver’s room the way they where when the group left for the Reaper infiltration, it was fortunate as Nic did return but nothing was going to bring Oliver back.

 

Nic felt it was his duty to do the cleaning, after all Oliver did die saving his life in a strange kind of way. Oliver didn’t have much stuff other than a few medical datapads, Holographs and plenty of bottles of alcoholic beverages from empty to un-open.

 

The captain picked up one of the un-opened bottles from the floor and sat down on the medic’s bed. “I’m beginning to see why you drank so much.” Nic said out loud as he stared down at the bottle.

 

He cracked the lid off the bottle and began to bring the drink closer to his mouth when he heard the new girl scream that the food was ready. ‘another change I’m not happy about.’ Nic thought as he sighed and stood up.

 

Walking into the Common room just behind the new Jedi crewmember Nic walked over to his chair, he stood behind it a second caressing the chairs back for a few moments. He smiled and without saying a word he sat down in the Chair looking at the assembled group.

 

I'm hoping that when we get to Chandrila, we'll be able to put together the rest of the sequences and find out just what exactly the Imps are cooking up."

 

“Yeah. I find the best thing to do is play it by ear.” Nic stated. “Never gone wrong playing it that way.”

 

Jana and cloud both turned their heads to Nic with an expression that could only mean. ‘Are you joking?’

 

“Ok Most of the time it works out.” Nic said defensively

[Writer]

"And the escapes get all the more remarkable when things go unexpectedly wrong," Jana explained to their newest additions. Reibe arched a single eyebrow in reaction to that statement.

 

"Indeed," she murmured. Then, she leaned forward and wondered, "So what is it exactly that you're looking for on Chandrila? Forgive those of us who've been on the Echo and therefore not privy to the discussions you all had before our two groups joined... but we haven't a clue what you're interested in doing there. And I, for one, am not thrilled at the idea of marching into something uninformed."

 

Jana winced. Bluntness, it seemed was Reibe's way, and Jana was concerned that Nic especially would take advantage of that in an effort to force Reibe to leave. It wasn't that Jana particularly enjoyed the strange woman, but in an odd way, she felt bound to her. It was almost as if...

 

... as if what? Jana had to wonder. It wasn't like they had overmuch in common. Reibe was far older than she looked. Of that, Jana could be sure, as well as that Reibe had extensive Force training. So how did that compare with Jana, who had only found out two months ago that she was Force sensitive at all? Jana frowned, placed her elbows on the table and leaned her chin against her hands. Their connection was a puzzle... and Jana had yet to determine exactly how all the pieces fit into place.

[JasraLantill]

“So what is it exactly that you're looking for on Chandrila?" Reibe wanted to know. "Forgive those of us who've been on the Echo and therefore not privy to the discussions you all had before our two groups joined... but we haven't a clue what you're interested in doing there. And I, for one, am not thrilled at the idea of marching into something uninformed."

 

“Oh. Right.” Beryl’s eyes darted from Nic to Conn and then she cleared her throat. “Sorry, sir,” Beryl replied to Reibe, seemingly unaware that she had addressed the petite woman in such a way. “We do have information, lots of it. We just don’t know what it all means or how it fits together yet. ” She paused to take a sip of her drink—Corellian ale, extremely mild compared to the swallows of Cassandran brandy she had had earlier. “The Empire is doing something strange on Chandrila. I think… I think with the help of some med-tech companies, they are gearing up for an experiment on some kind of bio-weapon or something, sir.”

 

Without expression, she looked directly at Reibe and continued. “Not that I particularly care what happens on Chandrila, sir, but it’s quite clear that the Emperor has no love for Senator Mon Mothma. Her speeches and interviews are always either terminated because of ‘technical difficulties’ on the Holonet or interrupted for special news broadcasts on Imperial humanitarian projects. So it’s…” At her combination of ‘Imperial’ and ‘humanitarian’ in the same sentence, Sam had let out an amused snort, and Beryl had heard it. “What?” Beryl asked her pointedly.

 

“Imperial humanitarian projects? Are you kidding?”

 

Beryl stared at Sam deadpan. “No. Through the COP, the Emperor has set up hundreds of new SAGroup camps for younglings all over the Galaxy.”

 

Sam frowned and gave Jeez a quick but quizzical glance before turning back to address Beryl. “COP? SAGroups?”

 

“The Coalition for Progress Sub-Adult Groups,” Beryl clarified. “It’s a very popular and successful programme throughout the Empire.” Her eyes narrowed a bit. “I’m surprised you haven’t heard of it. There’s always something SAGroup related on the HoloNet news just about every day.” Beryl shook her head with disbelief before continuing. “Anyway, to get back to what I was saying, sir,” she said to Reibe. “Whatever Nuss’ new project is, if it’s successful he’ll probably get the go-ahead to set up a similar project on another planet. Maybe Corellia would be next.” Her gaze flicked to Conn. “Or perhaps Alderaan.”

 

She turned to Reibe again. “Sir, I was able to come away with some information from the document library at Carida. Shipping documents, equipment manuals, and requisitions mostly, to be fair. But I noticed that there were a lot of…” She paused a moment. “Unusual disposition orders to Chandrila to government contracted companies like ChandraMed. For things like large quantities of drugs like Clondex, Perigen, Symoxin, and....” She looked at Conn. “What was that other one called, sir?”

 

“Lesai,” Conn answered, giving her a raised eyebrow for her ‘sir’ but nothing further.

 

“Lesai,” Beryl continued. “It’s a narcotic that deadens its users' senses. And then there is the lab equipment--centrifuges, vial capping machines, animal cages—as well as stuff like hydraulic-pressure gauges, digging and tunnelling equipment, pipes, conduits, connectors, water filters. The list is huge. We,” she looked at Nic and Conn, “still haven’t gone through all of it. But something’s happening there. Something big. And we have to stop him.” She frowned slightly, suddenly aware of her slip referring to her quest for revenge on her brother, rather than to stop the Empire at large. “Them. We have to figure out what they are doing and stop them.”

 

She looked at Riebe again, and then Jana. “That’s why we need to go to Chandrila.” She took another drink. "We just haven't ironed out all the details yet."

[stingerhs]

"Mind altering drugs? Hmm, that sounds very familiar," Jeez commented out loud. As the other crew members looking in his direction, Jeez then continued, "Not long after I was taken to the Facility, the experimentation was quick to begin with two doctors at the head. One was our good friend Twerna who was a neurologist, and the other was a pharmaceutical specialist. This guy was very different from Twerna in that he was looking for drugs that would make the mind of a Jedi more pliable.

 

Unfortunately for him, his experiments were quite successful until he started experimenting on me. I was his lone exclusion to his experiments because I had the ability to overcome the effects of the drugs through the Force. He came up with all kinds of concoctions, and although none of them have any lingering effects, his drugs were very powerful. Its difficult to control the mind in such a state, and it normally allows for ideas to be implanted into the mind."

 

"Sounds like a "truth serum" in an interrogation," Cloud commented.

 

"Well, that's probably not far from the truth, no pun intended," Jeez replied. Looking directly at Beryl, Jeez continued, "Some of those drugs you mentioned do sound familiar, and I would be interested in taking a closer look at your findings. If this is connected to my experience, then I can only hope that we can put an end to these experiments. No one should have to go through what I went through with those drugs. If there was any consolation for Twerna, his methods were far more... forgiving, so to speak."

 

Standing up, Jeez then said, "While I have the floor, there is something that I need to do." Looking over at Beryl, Jeez then unclasped Ryshana's lightsaber from his belt. "If I'm not mistaken, it is customary in the Jedi Order that the Padawan of a deceased Master be given charge of the Master's lightsaber. It is the task of the Padawan to bear the weight of decision: the lightsaber must have a final resting place the same as the Master. For this task, Beryl Quitaan, I charge you."

 

With that, Jeez kneeled down in front of Beryl. Stretching his arms out over his head, Jeez offered the lightsaber to her.

[steven]

"The Empire, abusing human rights? Secrete experiments? Doesn't sound like them at all," Jack said sarcastically, darting a look at Sam as he said that.

 

"Two questions, no three," Jack said as he raised his hand, sort of ignoring Jeez's tradition thing. It was clear the way Beryl spoke that her time with the imperials had changed her greatly. Whatever they did to her, it turned the young rebellious tomboy headhunter pilot into a strict solider who wouldn't step out of line to save her life, and appeared to be more of a tomboy than she did before. Jack only hoped she wouldn't remain in this personality for long because despite how much her previous state annoyed him, it how he knows her and if she remains being the dry solider that she is. "First question is: what the hell is up with 'sir'. Second question: What's the lucrative benefit of all those? Cause I don't wanna come out of this empty handed, cause like I don't like going against the Empire without a good reason, we all suffered when we did that last time. Third question: how are we going to get into this facility?"

[JasraLantill]

As Jeez knelt, Beryl could only stare dumbfounded at Ryshana’s weapon displayed in front of her. In her mind, she had probably been the worst Padawan ever. Not only had she let her own brother kill her Master, but even now Beryl felt untrained and unpracticed in using the Force. Some Padawan. Yet here was Jeez, giving her the same honor as any other Padawan would have been given.

 

Intellectually, Beryl knew that this moment was special, and that she probably should have been feeling either sad, or reminiscent, or even proud to be receiving her old Master’s lightsaber in such a ceremonial way. The last time she had been in Jeez’s company, he had chastised her for being too emotional. Now, she felt next to nothing. Would he sense that through the Force? And if he did, would he be offended? Beryl wasn’t sure. She did know that she should probably say something but, no words came to mind.

 

She swallowed hard. And then Jack began to ask some questions. Beryl let out small sigh, relief at Jack’s interruption that she didn’t have to say or do something right away.

 

"First question is: what the hell is up with 'sir'.”

 

Beryl slowly turned her head in Jack’s direction. Was Jack insulting her? She knew that her use of ‘sir’ had been drilled into her head over many weeks, and Conn had mentioned much the same thing to her already, but… sometimes it still just slipped out. And for some reason that Beryl couldn’t fathom, speaking to Reibe especially seemed to manifest it.

 

“Second question: What's the lucrative benefit of all those? ‘Cause I don't wanna come out of this empty handed, cause like I don't like going against the Empire without a good reason, we all suffered when we did that last time.”

 

Beryl’s right eyebrow slowly began to creep up. Benefit? A good reason? The word ‘revenge’ came immediately into Beryl’s mind, but she kept silent. With or without the crew, she would have her revenge on her brother—for killing Ryshana and drafting her into the Empire’s service. She wanted things back the way they were, and she knew that would never happen. And that made her angry.

 

“Third question: how are we going to get into this facility?"

 

Beryl suddenly had an urge to use the Force to vault Jack across the room. One of her hands started to shake again, and she clenched it into a fist. She took a deep breath, trying to steady herself in front of the crew. “That’s what we need to figure out,” she said in a measured tone. “Jack,” she added, mindful of not using ‘sir’.

 

She turned back to Jeez and the lightsaber. “Thank you,” she said to Jeez as she started to lift the weapon from his hands. “I’m honored.” She paused, then gave a look to Cloud, and then Reibe, then Jana, before coming back to Jeez. “And I’ll probably need some advice later on what best to do with this,” she said to him softly.

 

She turned back to the others at the table. "After we finish eating, I think it would be a good idea if we tried to come up with a plan for getting into that ChandraMed facility. Getting through the planetary security isn't a problem. Rayne's going to meet us just outside the system with one of his large transport ships so we can hitch a ride."

 

At this Teser, who had been extremely quiet up until now, spoke up. "He won't be happy about it," he added. "But he'll do it." He shook his head. "Only because of you," he said, looking at Beryl. "Spoiled little brat that you are."

 

Beryl shot him a look. "I don't care what his reasons are. As long as he does it. Now," she addressed the others, " getting into the facility grounds might be a problem, but I do have some security code cylinders and Lena or Lana, or one of them anyway, came up with an algorithim that should create a basic sort of entry code so we can make our own. But I need some help coming up with a plan to get into the facility itself. And that's where you all come in. Any questions?"

 

"Yeah," said Sam, raising her hand. "Since when did you become captain of the ship?"

 

Beryl stared at her for a moment, then, with geniune shock and fear displayed on her face, turned to look at Nic. "I'm sorry, sir, if I overstepped my boundaries," she said quickly. "It won't happen again. It's your ship. They're your crew. And you're the captain. You give the orders, sir."

 

As she waited for his response, she clenched her fist even tighter as her tremor got suddenly worse from a sudden feeling of apprehension. Had she acted the same in front of an Imperial crew, her punishment would have been quite severe.

[steven]

"Ok, time for Jack to be useful," Jack said before opening a bottle of drink. "Number of years ago I had some work done. Sort of the top secrete stuff that the public isn't told. However the lab they work was being done was attacked and the scientists were killed before they had the chance. There's been a poster out for me however thanks to the miracle of aging I've changed a lot but say if a disgruntled imperial or someone discovered that poster," He said pausing to take a swig of his darting a look at Beryl, "They could drop me off in a stasis chamber, a stasis chamber that holding a small EMP bomb and a blaster. Then I escape, open the door and we will charge in, plant some explosive and get the hell out of there. Job done."

[starmark2k]

Nic stood up and looked at Beryl then the rest of the crew. "Look this is going to be dangerous, but Psycho isn't going to b talked out of doing this so I'm going to make sure she doesn't end up with a toe tag." Nic explained looking at all the members of his crew. "As Jack has pointed out we ain't getting paid for this so i can't force any of you too come with us, if you want out we'll find somewhere to drop you off. So does anyone want out?"

 

“The way I see it if you’re going to stop Beryl getting killed, I should go to stop you dying on us again.” Cloud explained with a smile.

 

“Thanks guys.” Nic replied turning to Jack. “That may help us out, but as I said we’ll play this by ear, opportunities may arise which won’t involve us risking anymore than we have too.”

 

Nic then turned back to beryl. “I may be the Captain, but you’re leading this thing.”

[Writer]

Reibe chuckled softly. There were a number of things running through her mind about this little trek to Chandrila... but she wasn't about to launch into a long speech about the dangers and how most people would consider this crew to be exceedingly foolish for thinking it could be done etc. She knew that would annoy Nic, but there was a much simpler way to do that...

 

She chuckled softly. "You ain't gettin' rid of me that easy, Nic White."

 

Jana made a face. For some reason, Reibe found it 'fun' to get on peoples' nerves. Jana didn't understand it, but she didn't much like it either. "Knock it off," she ordered, sending a bit of a physical 'nudge' through the Force. Reibe shot her hands out to either side to steady herself and threw a glare in Jana's direction.

 

"I taught you a flick!" she exclaimed. Jana smiled, almost cruelly.

 

"You needed more than that," she answered calmly.

[JasraLantill]

Beryl gave a curious look across the table at Jana. Since Reibe’s ‘shove’, it was now obvious to Beryl that Jana knew the ways of the Force… and Reibe was her teacher. She looked at Jeez then, who was taking his seat next to Cloud again. And then she looked at the lightsaber in her hand. Ryshana’s lighsaber. Five force users, two of them Masters of the Force, on one small merchant ship. What were the odds? She decided that she would ask Jana later about her Force Sensitivity, as she was sure that there was a story behind it—and Reibe was probably involved.

 

Beryl should have felt thankful that there were other Force users on board. With Ryshana gone, she needed guidance from someone. But she felt like the odd one out. Jana had Reibe. Cloud had Jeez. Beryl only had her dead master’s lightsaber and the occasional hallucination of her.

 

But she didn’t feel completely isolated. Nic had asked the question, and not one of the people there had taken the opportunity to opt out of this mission to Chandrila. Her gaze lingered on Reibe. Not even Reibe, she thought. "Thank you, sir," she said to Nic. "I'll do my best to assess and minimize the risk to everyone on this mission."

 

"Minimize the risk?" Teser gave his sister a disparaging look. "Hmm, that sounds very ‘official’. Did you learn that at the Academy?”

 

“We touched a bit on risk assessment, yes,” Beryl answered. “For the successful completion of an effective mission, one must minimize the risks while utilizing one’s resources to maximum efficiency,” she quoted from one of her Imperial training lessons.

 

“Sound very… practical,” Teser commented between bites. “Bet they teach that to all their officer candidates, don’t they.”

 

“Probably.”

 

Teser lifted his cup and took a drink. “Bet you learned how to plan all sorts of ‘effective missions’ to maximum efficiency.”

 

“Training missions, yes.”

 

“Bet you got top marks, too,” he continued.

 

“I did alright.” Beryl stared at him. She didn’t like his tone of voice. He sounded condescending, almost accusatory. “Are you trying to make some sort of a point, Tes?”

 

Teser considered for a moment. “Yeah, suppose I am. Not that I’m wanting to disagree with your good captain here,” he nodded at Nic, “but given your recent submersion into the insane world of Imperial regulations and protocol, if you’re solely in charge of this mission, how do we know that you won’t just sacrifice one of us in your effort to achieve ‘maximum mission efficiency’?”

 

Beryl was beginning to feel angry. “Are you suggesting that I would purposefully put someone’s life, my friends’ lives, at risk just to achieve my goal?”

 

“Oh, so it’s your goal now, is it?” Teser gave her a dubious look. “Not a goal for the betterment of Chandrila, or to prevent this experiment-whatever thing from spreading to other planets, but your goal?” His eye narrowed slightly. “So, tell us, Beryl. What exactly is your goal?”

 

Beryl’s jaw set, and then her eyes narrowed. “Like I said,” she said in as measured a tone as she could manage, “to stop them from doing something that could affect the whole Galaxy. And if in the process of doing that I can get back at Nuss for what he’s done, allthe better.”

 

“Ah. Revenge. Great reason,” he said deadpan. “Wonderful cause for all of us to get behind. Revenge on Admiral Berasmus Quitaan. Woo. Hoo.”

 

Although intellectually she knew Teser was purposefully trying to goad her for some reason, she could still visualise herself slamming Teser against the wall and choking the life out of him. It wasn’t that she wanted to kill Teser for what he had just said. He was her brother, the closest in age to her, in fact, and she loved him dearly. But she hated her brother Nuss now, and since Nuss wasn’t here, Teser was becoming the nearest suitable substitute.

 

But having the urge and desire to do something horrible to her brother scared her. “Excuse me,” she said suddenly. “I’ve… I’ve got to… check on something.” She pushed her chair away from the table and got up and left, heading to the end of the corridor and down to the hanger bay.

 

The first thing she saw was an empty durasteel container, probably once holding spare parts for Cloud. In a moment, the barrel was crushed—looking like it had been squeezed in a giant fist. Beryl kicked it hard, sending it flying across the bay before taking refuge in a quiet corner.

 

She reached into her pocket and pulled out a small retractable spanner. She set it on her shaking palm and began to concentrate, levitating the tool in the air and making it move in an infinity loop. Ryshana had taught her this meditation technique. It was supposed to calm and focus thoughts and soothe emotional outbursts. But Beryl was still shaking and still wanted nothing more than to pound Teser’s head against the wall.

 

"Breathe, breathe, breathe...." she repeated softly to herself.

[Writer]

"Impressive display of power," Reibe complimented, using the Force to descend into the cargo bay without the aid of the ladder. "But overall, ineffective really. Taking out your aggression on an innocent parts container?" She snorted. "Really, Kid, your target leaves something to be desired..."

 

Beryl slowly glanced up at her, but all the while continued to revolve the small spanner in the air. "This whole 'Force' thing leaves something to be desired," she said to Reibe. "I hate it."

 

"Only because you don't understand it," Reibe retorted. "You've spent a short time in training under a Jedi. You've touched lightly the rage of the Sith. Faint touches, nothing more."

 

She stared at Beryl intently. "You could be so much... but suppressed by the fearful Jedi, tainted by rage of the deadly Dark Side, twisted to bits by Imperial 'training'... you are small, Beryl Quitaan. Small and helpless."

 

The tool Beryl was spinning suddenly launched like a missile, embedding itself in a bulkhead support some meters away. Beryl seemed disappointed by her 'slip', but not surprised by it.

 

“So, what am I supposed to do, huh?!" she snapped at Reibe. "I feel like a spice junkie from all those drugs they pumped into me! I let my own brother murder the one person who even took an interest in training me! And every time I try to ‘connect’ with the Force on my own, something like that,” she motioned at the tool sticking halfway out of the bulkhead, “happens and I feel like I’ve learned absolutely nothing!” Beryl tried to calm herself by taking a deep breath. “I want to hurt someone. I really, really do.”

 

Reibe laughed. "This uncontrolled, you could be devestating," she said, "but the devestation would touch you as well. You're a time bomb, Beryl. And the clock is ticking down. Reign in the rage and you'll be able to make something of yourself. Maybe."

 

She turned to leave. "But if you can't... then all you love will perish. And you will go along with them." She rose up the ladder to the upper deck the same way she came down.

[Rogue Nine]

Conn had watched the exchange between Beryl and her brother and was surprised at how heated it got. Beryl was certainly under a lot of stress and Teser hadn't made it any easier on her by goading her purposefully. Conn felt a wave of anger surge up in her, only to be replaced by a feeling of guilt. As she excused herself from the table, Conn turned to look at Teser. "Was that really necessary?" he asked the older Quitaan.

 

"It sounded like she needed a bit of a reality check, doc." Teser crossed his arms. "At least she's feeling something. Don't worry," Teser added. "She'll go sulk for a while and then she'll calm down. She's done that same thing ever since she was a kid." Just then a loud thud, from the durasteel container Beryl had destroyed, could be heard echoing in the cargo bay. Teser lifted an eyebrow. "Then again, I could be wrong."

 

At that moment, Reibe silently left the table and headed down the corridor. Conn glanced in her direction as she retreated, then turned back to Teser. "She isn't the Beryl you remember, Teser," Conn said. "At least not right now." He didn't add his thought maybe not ever again... to the end. He pulled his chair out and headed down the corridor and stepped into his medbay. Pulling open a drawer, he extracted a fresh syringe from it, then grabbed a vial out of the centrifuge on his desk. Stashing a pair of surgical gloves in his pocket, he headed out and down towards the end of the corridor.

 

As he neared the hatch, Reibe ascended out of it, seeming to float on air, not touching the rungs of the ladder. She gave Conn an enigmatic smirk and passed by him without saying a word. Conn watched her glide down the hallway for a few moments, then shook his head hoisted himself down through the hatch, sliding down the rails. Once at the bottom, he quickly jogged over to where Beryl sat, hunched over on top of a cargo container. He slowed as he approached her. "Beryl?" he called softly.

 

"Stay away, Conn," she said, her head buried in her hands. "I'm not right."

 

"You know that line's never worked on me before," he responded, taking a few more steps closer, just enough to get into arm's reach of her. "What happened?"

 

"Bad thoughts," she replied, still not looking up at him. "Angry thoughts. I want to choke the life out of Teser. Beat his head against the wall until it's just bloody pulp. Not for what he said, but for what he is. My brother."

 

"Teser's not Berasmus, Beryl," Conn said gently, taking a seat next to her.

 

"I know!" she shouted. "But he's the next best thing." She looked up at him then, the frustration and anger showing on her face. "I want to hurt someone and it might as well be him."

 

"That's not really the best way to look at it, is it?" Conn said, keeping his voice soothing. When Beryl was like this, even his latent Zeltron abilities provided only very little relief against the onslaught of emotion that she was feeling. She'd always been headstrong and grounded, but her recent Imperial incarceration and indoctrination had left her with still much of the former but very little of the latter. He could almost feel her control slipping the longer she went without the drugs the Imperials had pumped her full of. He placed a hand on her arm, trying his best to ease her feelings. "He's your brother, he loves you and he's done nothing to deserve your anger, okay?"

 

Beryl said nothing, a small shudder running through her body.

 

Conn sighed softly and pulled out the syringe and the vial. Snapping the small glass tube into place, he took Beryl's arm, straightened it out and carefully slipped the needle into a vein in the crook of her arm. She didn't even wince at the pain, which Conn found incredibly ironic, given her quite vocal state. "This sedative is milder, so it shouldn't put you right out," he explained. "I hope it'll help ease you away from the withdrawal of all those other nasties the Imperials doped you up with." He deftly removed the syringe and capped it, then slipped a patch over the injection site. He waited a few moments, studying Beryl's face. "Well?"