Faction A Breath of Fresh Air

[Kivah]

Etti IV
Mondder, District VI
Code Zero
Das

Kivah paced the deck of the ‘Reaper, checking the straps holding down the crates in the back of the shuttle again. There was a mix of crates and camtonos packed in next to her speeders in their racks and her usual mix of bins with just enough clear space to get down the engineering corridor. Kivah had been living out of her ship for almost a year now, it’d become the first real home she’d had since leaving Cathar. It was small, but comfortable enough for the large woman after she’d done some renovations to make the living area between the cargo entryway and cockpit less Imperial and more homey. And now she was going to have company aboard.

Rather than check over the ship again, Kivah went down the entry ramp to look around the small commuter port. Other shuttles and small freighters were scattered among the landing pads, getting serviced or moving peoples and cargo. It was a small port, with cheap rates, at the edge of the district. Which was why Kivah didn’t mind splitting hanger space with a Gand that ran the orbitals in a beat-up Quad-Jumper. Of course if Das ended up being much later than she was, Kivah would be paying premium for the pad time. Huffing, she went back inside. Their cargo was already secure, delivered in the early hours of the morning before even the sun was up and when Kivah would have liked to be just settling in for a good snooze. She could have made this run on her own, she had good papers all the way into Protectorate territory, as much as the thought of that made her fur bristle. It was the after, slipping into Empire space where having a second person would really help and Das might be able to spoof some documents for them. Another reason was that Ord Cantrell was nearly a week’s trip in hyperspace by the route she’d picked out and Kivah knew she’d go insane from boredom by herself for that long.

 

[Das]

//: Tags: Kivah
//: District VI, ETTI IV

"Chit, chit, chit!" Das groaned, planting her boot into the rear of her speeder bike. It was one of Hex Inc's newest air bikes, one that moved fast as hell but apparently couldn't handle a stray blaster bolt to its internals. A stream of dark-tinted steam hissed from between two loose panels, which was only made worse by the frustrated teen's kicking it. Das paced alongside the bike as dozens of aircars and speeders zipped overhead, mocking her carelessness as they headed for their destinations while she was...

"Stuck?" a voice asked. Das startled a bit, expecting him to be one of the Haxion Brood fethers who took a potshot at her earlier. Luckily, it was a seemingly friendly Aqualish who stood a couple meters away. "I might be," Das said warily. "What's it to you?" The tusky alien shrugged. "I happen to be a mechanic. I also happen to be in need of a favor. That's one of the new Hex T-75s, yeah? Fastest recon bike I've seen in a long time." Das crossed her arms, eyes narrowing as she studied the multi-eyed creature. His yellow tusks seemed to rub together as he considered the tantilizing predicament he'd found her in. "You need me to run something, don't you?"

"I do," he said. "I'll fix your bike up now, you carry my package, and we'll meet up later to make this exchange final." Das tightened her lips. Jobs like this are always traps. "What's to stop me from leaving here with a fixed-up bike and a package to pawn?" she asked, testing the waters. The Aqualish stepped closer, menacingly. The move made Das take an equal step back. "Because I know who did this to your speeder," the alien said. "And you don't want the Brood knowing where to find you... Das Kolburn."

Hearing her surname -her real surname- made Das swallow all the snide comments she was considering. She simply nodded her understanding, accepting the gut-punch of knowing her cover hadn't gone as far as she hoped. "Sometimes," she could hear Reggie saying in her mind, "you've gotta eat a little chit before you have your cake."

An hour later -and an hour late- Das' T-75 pulled up to the landing pad where the Reaper was waiting. Not far from it was a rather irritated Kivah as well. Das approached with hands already up defensively, apologies flowing like Canto's aqueducts.

"Trust me, Kivs, if I could have gotten here any sooner, I would have." She pulled the speeder bike beside her, hands lowered once she knew Kivah wasn't going to claw her eyes out. If there was one thing Das had learned about that Cathar, it's that she hates being late, especially on account of some other sleemo.

"I got hit by these schuttas called the Haxion Brood," Das explained, lowering her voice when she named the gang.

"And then this guy caught up to me, offered to fix my bike if I take this package to Ord Cantrell." She tossed a small metal lockbox to Kivah, the kind that Imperial officers often store their code cylinders in when they're off-duty. Before her friend could ask any questions, Das went on. "He knew my last name. My real last name. And he knew where I was heading. Said he'd let me off for the bike repair if I got this to his contact."

 

[Kivah]

Etti IV
Mondder, District VI
Code Zero
Das

The tail was already tense, but as Das finally appeared and gave her explanation, it became positively bristling. "Trust the tail Kivah," her dad had always said. "Feth fething FETH!" She screamed out and slammed the metal box her friend had tossed her into the Reaper's hull next to the boarding ramp, crumpling one of its sides and denting the bashed end. Looking at it in her clenched hand, the anger went out of her. She might have just let her frustration screw her friend over. "Fine, fine. We'll figure it out." She said to placate herself and Das both. "There's not much room in back at the moment, so park up on the ramp and join me in the cockpit when you're ready. We can get you unpacked in hyper."

Stalking up the ramp with the box, Kivah turned towards the cockpit with a whip-like flick of her tail that spun her on the ball of her foot. Once settled in her pilot chair, she fired up the Reaper's main systems and let the dinky little port know that she'd be departing soon and to stop charging her. Eyeing the triple 'eye' cameras of the integrated Queen's Knight copilot droid she called Gem, she said in a very small voice, "I didn't even know she had a last name."

She'd already run her pre-flight twice, so she looked over the box again while she waited. No markings. Naturally. As tempting as it was to pry the thing open, she'd done enough damage already and Das would be much better at sniffing out its secrets. And they would, anyone who thought Kivah would let something like this rest didn't know a thing about her. Instead, she placed the thing on the console that wrapped the cockpit and took a drink from her water bottle as she waited for Das to come forward.

"Sorry about that." Kivah said when she did. "I know it's not your fault and I'm not angry at you." She was already back to her normal self, and a quick check of the local scan showed the sky was clear enough. Allowing Kivah to push power into the repulors as soon as Das was strapped into the copilot's seat. The Reaper surged skywards and raced towards space as the Cathar broke a few speed limits before letting the twin ion engines thrum into life as they cleared the safety limit. Gem plotted their course, it knew their destination and her preferences, and soon enough they were out system as Kivah pulled back on the levers to send them hurtling into hyper space.

 

[Das]

//: Tags: Kivah
//: District VI, ETTI IV

Das blinked, wide-eyed at the explosive reaction she got from Kivah. "I-I'm sorry," she fumbled to say, but dragging out an apology would only delay their departure more. Das nodded silently instead, moving her bike and collecting the single duffel she'd brought along for the jump. Before she could say anything, Kivah was already boarded and waiting in the cockpit.

The Reaper's Imperial design was prevalent throughout the ship, trademarked by the nationalized shipwrights of the Empire, but Kivah had done much to mitigate the oppressiveness inside. It felt... homey, Das thought. She kept one hand wrapped around the shoulder strap of her bag while the other trailed the reflective surfaces of the ship's inner corridor. In the sleek wall panels, Das could see a distorted visage of herself, something she found unsightly and decided to move away from.

"You'd better hope there wasn't a bottle of Bothan whiskey in there," Das said playfully when she spotted the banged-up receptacle on the ship's console. She secured her bag on a nearby shelf, making sure it wouldn't become a deadly object when they took off. The co-pilot's seat was empty, so Das moved over to claim it, listening to Kivah as she strapped herself in and eyed the dash in case she needed to perform any pre-flights. "It's okay, Kiv," she said with a soft smile. "Are you... doin' okay, though? I don't think I've ever seen you get that upset before. I know I fethed up, but it worried me."

 

[Kivah]

Hyperspace, Aboard the Reaper Kai
Tags: Das
"I'm fine." She grumped when Das asked, watching the star-lines shoot past the narrow wrap-around view screens. Frowning, she reached out and thumbed a toggle that pulled back the armor shutters from more screens along the sides and above. Then she turned and propped her feet up on the center console that held an inactive holo projector. "I'm not." She admitted still not able to look Das in the eyes, instead continuing to look out at the stars. Wanting to open up but not sure how without making a mess of it. "I just... This was supposed to be a milk run, easy gig. Other than maybe getting into Empire space. Had cover stories and everything all planned up, and now we're maybe cooked before we even lifted off the ground."

Kivah picked up the package again and tried to peer in through one of the gaps opened up in the lid before giving up and passing it to Das. "Some guy got a gang to shoot up your bike and then basically did spook stuff to get you to carry a tiny package alongside our much larger cargo. Ton of effort for not much pay off. Way I see it," She pointed to the box she'd handed over. "That's either a tracker or a bomb. Either way, this person's got it in for us, the cargo, and or our employer." Considering she hadn't told anyone but Das, and she knew her favorite slicer had a pretty good head on her shoulders herself, the leak was hopefully with the hiring group.

"Come on, I've got drinks. Grab your bag." Kivah told Das and pulled her feet in to roll forward until they were on the ground again. Smoothly rising, she left the piloting to Gem and headed aft to the little living area. "Cleared out some drawers under the bench for you." Kivah explained from the galley nook as she raided the chiller and a cabinet for alcohol and glasses. "Can drop the table flat and move the back rest down to make a bed when you're ready to sleep." The bagged drink she settled on turned out to be a light pocha wine that reminded her of plump yellow-orange fruits from Cathar. Her first glass was already half empty by the time she sat down and offered the second to Das.

 

[Das]

//: Tags: Kivah
//: District VI, ETTI IV

"Handlers on Etti don't know their head from their ass," Das complained. She wanted to make it clear that it wasn't by her own fault that the Brood figured out where she was going, and who she was meeting. It had to have been the handler that spilled, but it didn't really much matter, now. Das took the box, smiled coyly, then gave it a little shake. Nothing rattled inside. "Well, it's probably not going to explode." She rose to her feet to follow Kivah back into the ship, holding her bag over one shoulder as she went.

"You know," she said in a voice that played the devil's advocate, "it's possible they just wanted to scare a free smuggling trip outta us. Even the Corpos are keeping the Empire at arm's length, maybe they're just scared to get stuck in Imperial space." It was conjecture, of course, but not an unsound thought. The Dark Empire's new economic decree had been on the CorpNet for days now, and informants in Code Zero were buzzing about all the ways they could siphon credits from a nationalized Imperial industrial complex. It sounded too complicated for Das to dip into herself, but it did sit in the back of her mind when things like this happened.

While Kivah poured drinks, Das took a moment to stuff her few belongings into the drawers. It felt so familiar to the times she spent surfing couches on Denon, except much less awful. Perhaps it was the fact that the two of them were on a job and making money, as opposed to Das being little more than a hungry bum sleeping in the living room until the rain let up and she was out on the streets again. The teen actually shuddered at the thought of not having an apartment with Cinder and Jrurki Liz to go back to after this run was over.

She rejoined Kivah at the table and took her glass with a grateful smile. Wine wasn't Das' favorite, but she'd never turn down a good drink. She swirled the fermented juice around her mouth, swallowed, then sank into the seat. "Thanks again for bringing me in on this, Kivah. Your handler might start thinking we're a combo deal." She giggled, but the idea wasn't half bad. Solo jobs could be dangerous, and jobs with partners you didn't trust completely were even more so.

 

[Kivah]

Hyperspace, Aboard the Reaper Kai
Tags: Das

Kivah swirled her drink a little, looking into it before sitting back and sticking her legs out. "Nah it's not ol' Blue. Some guy I did some fights for. He knew some people wanting to jump on the Empire closing up and he knew I had a ship and could scrap. Told him I wanted a second for the eyes and blaster. But hey!" She smiled for Das. "It's good having you around. I'd lose my mind alone with Gem for a week." Having a friend around was also nice in itself, but she wasn't about to get gushy. Actually she was thinking the opposite as she returned to eying the dented package.

"I'm thinking you do your techno slicing on that, see if it has any secrets or is going to trip us up getting past customs or whatever, maybe cook us up some docs for staying at a resort," Kivah blinked. "Oh yeah, our cover! It was going to be you were marrying into the business, going to be my little sister-in-law!" Teasingly, she reached out and jostled the slicer's shoulder about. "And I was taking you home to the family for the ceremony. I mean, Cathar is right there on the edge of Empire space, and technically I was a Mando citizen. Or protectee or whatever bantha dung they call the people they bomb from orbit in glorious conquest. Of course they pack it in like the day after I get this all set up." She rolled her eyes at the unfairness of it all. "Missing one hell of a party right now..." Another drink of the wine soothed her a little. It was middling quality, anything better would have been wasted on her and more than she'd likely pay outside special occasions. But the drink let her drink more without getting as drunk as spirits, and it tasted good too. "Anyways, bachelorette party or just regular vacation on Ord Cantrell to get past the Imps. Or I can modify the Reaper's signature to an imperial shuttle's, whatever seems best on the day. And I thought maaaaybe we could swing by Cathar for real on our way back. Treat you to some real food and maybe show you what a plant looks like." She raised an eyebrow and shot Das a cocky grin. "So, what do you think?"

She may have been acting cheery, but a thin simmering anger was still burning in the back of her throat next to where the wine had gone down. For now she wanted Das to not be scared of her, to think her anger had passed. It would over the coming days, once this worry about the box could be put away, but she'd also made up her mind to sort out whomever it was that was messing with them. The Haxion Brood had just made it to the top of her to-do list. It was a short list these days. Once she found them she'd go through them until someone knew something, then she'd find this guy that'd scared her slicer and find out what he knew.

 

[Das]

//: Tags: Kivah
//: Location: Hyperspace, Aboard the Reaper Kai

Das nodded at the slicing suggestion. It'd take her longer to identify any security countermeasures the box might have than it would for her to actually slice the lock itself, and virtually no time after that to forge some good clearance documents. That was something she'd been doing since she was thirteen. "I can handle that, Sis," she said with a playful wink.

She tinkered with the front of the box, probing at the lock and keypad with her fingers while she listened to Kivah. Some might have thought Das wasn't paying any attention by the way she was homed in on her work, but it actually helped her process better.

"That sounds AMAZING!" Das said, looking up from the box with wide eyes. Like most worlds, Ord Cantrell and Cathar were two places Das had never been. In fact, surprisingly, she'd only been to... five worlds in her life? Denon, if you count the world you're born on, then Altier, Wielu, Etti IV, and Cantonica. "I'm especially excited for Cathar. What's it like?" Das asked. She titled her head curiously.

 

[Kivah]

Hyperspace, Aboard the Reaper Kai
Tags: Das

Really? Das' interest in Cathar perked Kivah's ears up and pulled her thoughts away from what she wanted to do to these Haxion Brood people. And Das also wasn't upset at her for just dumping probably the largest part of successfully dodging Ord Cantrell customs on her. "Cathar?" She asked as she moved over on the bench seat to sit across it like a lounge with her legs stretched out. "Most people think it's just grasslands with the occasional big hollow tree people live in. But there are rain forests to the South. That's where my people, the Denik, make our home. I grew up in Ran Dom Kuun, which likely isn't only the largest city on Cathar, but the largest city-tree too. Maybe ten kilometers across?" She hadn't paid the closest attention when they'd gone over it in class. "Kuun Spaceport is in the lower branches and there's a lot of tech, business, and tourist stuff around there, probably where you're going to want to spend most of your time. The rest of the place is pretty umm, 'tribal' I guess you could say. Not much happening." Kivah shrugged. "Hard to progress when every new empire either tries to bomb the planet for funzies or attempts mass-enslavement. Keeps us "one with nature" though." The way she was talking, Das could tell that these were old discussions Kivah had previously had often but never went anywhere. "Actually the lack of industrialization and mostly eco tech means that it's unlike anywhere else in the galaxy. Even in the built-up areas there's very little construction like on Etti, most places are sculpted from the living tree."

Staring through her glass of peach-tinged wine with a far away look in her eye now, she continued. "It's actually quite beautiful, especially at night when thousands of lights filter through the leaves and light up the boughs. And then you can dance and drink and then..." the wine wet her lips again before she ran her tongue over them to catch a drop of wine. "Then you can meet my family if you want." She turned to see what Das was doing and to catch her eye, "You'll have to promise not to tell them all the bad things I've been up to." She chuckled at the thought. "Dad might take us hunting, it's what he does. Even if he doesn't we'll get you real fresh food and load up the Reaper with as much as she'll carry. I'll probably refill her water tanks too, clear out this recycled stuff. And you! We'll get you something better to wear, your city clothes aren't going to cut it." The wine had loosened Kivah up by now and she looked her friend over, wondering what sort of Denik outfit would suit her with a sappy smile.

 

[Das]

//: Tags: Kivah
//: Location: Hyperspace, Aboard the Reaper Kai

Das was a teenager before she even saw a tree growing straight from the ground instead of a planter box, and even those were just the common tropical palms native to Wielu - nothing like what Kivah was describing on Cathar. "Does the tree not... hate that?" she asked. "I know it can't do anything about it, but doesn't it hurt the tree to live inside of it?" Maybe she was misinterpreting things. That was the most likely scenario.

"I would kill for a hot meal that wasn't dehydrated and stored in a cargo bay first," Das said. The idea of being the one to kill her dinner wasn't high on her list of things to be excited for, but hey, there was a first time for everything. Meeting Kivah's family would also be a first; much like herself, most of Das' friends had no family. No living biological ones, that is.

Das propped her chin on her hands, watching Kivah. "What's your dad like?" she asked with interest.

 

[Kivah]

Hyperspace, Aboard the Reaper Kai
Tags: Das

"Yeah it took me a long time to get used to the chit you people eat." She agreed on the food, "The drinks aren't so bad though." She let the bit about the tree slide by. According to the ecologists and biologists, and a few other -gists, the tree was fine, better even for their symbiotic relationship. Even the Jedi that hung around thought it was "living with the Force," or something like that. Kivah wasn't entirely so sure, Ran Dom Kuun was probably the largest tree on a planet of huge trees and was clearly thriving, but something about the Jedi always rubbed her fur the wrong way.

"Dad... He's a good guy." Kivah began to explain softly. "He always had time for me or would sit with me and listen to my side of things after Shara and I had been fighting. Would take me out on trips with him when I could get out of school or other stuff. Mom's an ecologist, really pushed for my sister and I to take after her and do the science... Biology and the like. The basic concepts are easy and stuff, but," Kivah shook her head. "Wasn't for me. I'd say it's as boring as watching grass grow, but you are! And then you're taking notes!" She chuckled a little at the memory and refilled her glass before stretching out again with her wine resting on her belly and held in both hands as she stared off at the bulkhead.

Through the cockpit door behind her, the starfield returned to normal as they dropped out of hyper. "Hey GEM. Throw in a dog-leg and change our signature to an ultralight freighter, one of the Corellian ones." The droid bleeped out an affirmative and as soon as the fast shuttle was across the system to make the turn, they were off into hyper again. "Should throw off any pursuit." Kivah said, turning back to the conversation. "I'd say they both wanted what was best for us, but dad made sure I was happy and knew I was loved even if I didn't want the same things they did for me." Sipping her wine, she snuck a look over at Das as she sat listening to her being all sappy. Not for the first time she wanted to ask after her friend's family, and decided against it again. On the streets of Etti IV everyone had a story, most of them weren't great and nobody wanted someone to pry. All Kivah knew was that Das seemed to be alone save for her friends. If the slicer wanted to open up she would, and Kivah would be there to listen.

 

[Das]

//: Tags: Kivah
//: Location: Hyperspace, Aboard the Reaper Kai

When Kivah finished, Das gave a 'what the hell?' look and downed the rest of her wine. There wasn't much to share that wouldn't be a repeat of every other CorpSec urchin's story, but Kivah was spilling her purse so Das may as well do the same. "I grew up on Denon," she started, sure she'd mentioned as much before but wanting to cover all the bases. "My dad was a security software engineer; mom was a white-collar Corpo."

Das let that sink in for a sec.

"Yeah, yeah, I know - Corpo kids are the worst. But it really wasn't like that for me, all the riches and the prestige. I went to a nice school, but it took most of my parents' salary to send me there." Nice was also a relative term; most street kids never got the chance to go to public school, let alone a private one... but the majority of Corpos didn't even feth with private schooling when they could just hire personal instructors for their children. Das fell into that awkward in-between area where the poorer kids -the vandals, arsonists, and shadowrunners- liked her just enough to include her in the rough chit while the Corpo kids invited her to their birthday parties.

She held her glass out for another round of alcohol, be it wine or whatever else Kivah had. Das took a generous swallow of it and set her glass down, twiddling her thumbs. "Somehow, my parents got caught up with the resistance movement on Denon called Darkwire. They're sorta like Code Zero, actually, except for the whole 'you work for the Corpos, now' schtick. Anyway, there was a major uprising that went down. The Denon Riots. Buncha Denonites, Darkwire folks, and even Amavikkan marched in the streets. The Seccers cracked down hard, and a lot of people went missing." A lump formed suddenly in Das' throat, which she gulped down to carry on.

"Mom and Dad went missing with them." Stars, it still hurt like hell to say, even five years later. That's how long her parents had been missing. Well, her mom, at least. Das actually sighted her dad in the underground Darkwire hideout beneath the Seven Corners district after the most recent CAD lockdown. He was talking with the Amavikkan leader, but he'd disappeared just before Das could reach him.

The teen decided to end her story there, forgoing the fact that she knew her father, Kyle Kolburn, was alive. The Amavikkan pointed her here, to the Corporate Sector, where her father had supposedly fled to after things went belly-up with Darkwire on Denon. That's why Das was here on Etti IV in the first place: to find her dad and figure out what the hell was worth disappearing and running halfway across the galaxy for.

 

[Kivah]

Hyperspace, Aboard the Reaper Kai
Tags: Das

When Das asked for more, Kivah obliged by pouring the rest of the wine in the bag into her cup. She'd known Das was from Denon, or had lived there in some fashion before they'd met. But the part about her parents being corpos was new to her, though she thought that maybe deep down she'd suspected. Not only did everyone in the Corporate Sector seem to work for one corporation or another in some capacity, but Das was better than most street kids she'd met. Not better off, but mentally, more hopeful maybe. Wanting to help others, kind.

Kivah listened to the rest of her story in stony silence, only breaking it once she was done. "Oh Das. No kiddo, no." She murmured in sympathy, wrapping a strong arm around the other girl and pulling her close against her warm side and holding her. "I'm so, sooo sorry. I'd heard about the riots, they were a little before I left home for good I think. But nothing about Darkwire." She could hear the pain in Das's voice and felt her own throat closing in reaction. If her own family disappeared like that, she couldn't imagine. Probably get herself killed trying to bring down a tower or two.

She couldn't think of anything else to say, wasn't even sure if pulling Das in like she had was comforting to her. This was the first real physical contact they'd had other than hands on arms, a back pat, or fist bump. Mulling it over, she decided to let Das decide when to pull away or if it was awkward.

 

[Das]

//: Tags: Kivah
//: Location: Hyperspace, Aboard the Reaper Kai

Das spent so much time pushing people away both emotionally and physically that she’d sorta forgotten what it felt like to be embraced for no reason other than comfort. Her immediate instinct was to shove away, and maybe she’d even flinched at first at the unexpected contact, but the emotions were stronger than her fight or flight. Das melted into the Cathar, putting both arms around her midsection and holding tightly.

She was quiet for several long moments, silently considering how long she could remain here before she made Kivah uncomfortable. The fear of ruining this by being literally too clingy prompted Das to loosen her arms and pull away.

“Thanks, Kivah,” the teen said, reaching for the replenished glass. A crystal tear threatened to roll down her cheek, but Das wiped it away before it had the chance. She drowned it with a generous mouthful of wine and smiled, as if she hadn’t just laid more of her past down than she’d ever shared before.

Maybe it was the wine talking? Funny loop - wine loosens you up to vent, then numbs you up so you can bottle your feelings again.

She giggled nervously. “And thanks for not shooting me, by the way. Most people don’t appreciate my life before Darkwire or Code Zero. They drop me the moment they find out I’m a Corpo rat.” Her thoughts turned to Zephyrr back on Denon, the first boy to run with her when she joined the cause… and the first to disappear when she spilled the truth.