Private Against the Law

[Trextan Voidstalker]

"What?" Trextan went, looking around them for trouble.

It did not occur to him that her panic could have been anything to do with his questions.

 

[Lossa Aureus]

Location: Denon
Equipment: Danger Jacket, Outfit, Discreet Hearing Enhancer - Left Ear, Long Handled Double Lightsaber, Concealed Sling Bag
Tags: Trextan Voidstalker

His jump to defensive was not unnoticed.

"We are good. Just. Hadn't thought about what could happen," She reassured him, a weak smile appearing to sooth over the panic. "When I got back to the temple. I mean."

She nodded to herself, still thinking quietly.

"Do the Wardens. Do they have any open spots?" Admitting finally to the idea swimming in her head.

 

[Trextan Voidstalker]

He frowned. He was trying to mentally weigh up her surprising question, with the revelation that she was having a panic because of something he said. Trextan was not always quick on the uptake.

"I'm sure they won't be upset with you," he offered.

"I don't really...know how that works. You just kind of...learn off another Warden," he said. He didn't sound entirely sure of himself.

He ruminated on the question. Chloe would know more. She had trained several people to be Wardens.

"I know some people who are good at teaching. Wait, you weren't asking seriously were you?"

 

[Lossa Aureus]

Location: Denon
Equipment: Danger Jacket, Outfit, Discreet Hearing Enhancer - Left Ear, Long Handled Double Lightsaber, Concealed Sling Bag
Tags: Trextan Voidstalker

She balked at the reassurance. Her mind already racing at the concept of hearing about how she shouldn't have even been on Denon along with a myriad of other details.

The idea was less than appealing.

"Mmm. I'd rather not test it. Especially if any of those corpo chit-heads actually saw my face." A new anxiety packed onto the already tightly wound thought.

The switch to training as a Warden gave her pause.

Face screwed up in disbelief at the explanation. It certainly seemed less organized than a padawan team on any given day of their first year.

"Just kind of- You're kidding, right?" The merry go round of questions continuing as he rounded on her.

"Yeah. That'd be why I asked. To, you know," Emphasizing her point with her hands. "Join. That's what people do."

 

[Trextan Voidstalker]

"It's not like...its not like its a club or something," Trextan said.

"I think you just understand what it means to be a Warden of the Sky and decide that's what you do. You still have to find work and stuff as you travel around."

They were getting close to the spaceport now. As powerful as he was, he couldn't fight his way into such a secure area and fly away unharmed. It was going to be a moment of truth.

"How well can you fight? I'm not saying that's all there is to it. I know I'm better at that than finding a more peaceful way to keep people safe..."

The admission was almost muttered under his breath. A self confession as much as an explanation.

 

[Lossa Aureus]

Location: Denon
Equipment: Danger Jacket, Outfit, Discreet Hearing Enhancer - Left Ear, Long Handled Double Lightsaber, Concealed Sling Bag
Tags: Trextan Voidstalker

There was a touch of disbelief in her frown.

"I didn't figure it was a proper job. It's not exactly like being a jedi is a proper job either though." The comparison perhaps out of place, but no less accurate in her mind.

"And work is easy enough to find. Especially if it's helping clear the sky. Or lend a hand on the ground." She tacked a little bit more onto the end, preparing to speak more when he cut her off.

"I'm no master, but I can hold my own." Her head turning as she amended her assessment."So long, as I don't get ambushed."

A preemptive defense on her part for the day before.

"Worse comes to worse, I can maybe make someone a bit more... pliable." She offered just as quietly. Knowing people had their aspects was something she could appreciate.

 

[Trextan Voidstalker]

"I wish I was one of those that could see further ahead, you know? Those Jedi who get visions of the future and more guidance. Instead...well you've seen how I deal with trouble," Trextan said.

He wasn't showing off. Trextan would have rather not ended up in situations where he had to telekinetically pummel his way out of trouble. The situation at hand was an example. The Force told him nothing about what was going to happen at the space station.

"I can teach you how to fight," he said, "If I can't, then Jacen can. But I can reach out to Chloe. Or I know a Cerean Warden. His name is Xi Pav. Not sure what sector he might be in these days. He had a zeltron companion.

"Oh I'm not like saying...she's zeltron too so you must know her or get along or..." Trextan stammered, clearly uncomfortable that he might have said something offensive.

 

[Lossa Aureus]

Location: Denon
Equipment: Danger Jacket, Outfit, Discreet Hearing Enhancer - Left Ear, Long Handled Double Lightsaber, Concealed Sling Bag
Tags: Trextan Voidstalker

She waved her hand, dismissing the idea of stealing glances into the future.

"Might be handy. But I wonder how many times seeing ahead caused the issue rather than solved it. Ya' know?" Her own idea of what that power could lead to already settled into her lack of the ability.

She shrugged at the mention of dealing with trouble.

"Everyones got their own way when the fuel hits the reactor. Other than running away, I usually just... avoid it." A long and far look to her eyes as she arched a brow to his words.

"I can fight. Sorta. It's just. I can practice all day long." Fiddling with the hidden saber beneath her jacket. "Everyone else has been in like. Really real fights. Like, combat fights. With actual people, er, enemies. Opponents?"

Fumbling over her explanation as he pointed out what she hadn't thought of. Taking the opportunity to make a larger show of her reaction. Turning her head and shoulders to face him as they walked.

"Hardy Har. All the pink people must know each other because-" She started before she couldn't help the forming grin. "It's alright."

 

[Trextan Voidstalker]

Trextan grimaced. Being raised in a broken home and then a Sith academy and then being thrown straight into war hadn't left him gifted with social experience. In the last few years he had been travelling around either with Choli or alone. Not a lot of socialising had happened.

"Yeah that was...yeah..."

Trextan tried to brush past it, but it did feel a little bit like his soul had fallen into a black hole.

"How intense has the training been so far?" he asked. This was safe ground. The one thing he had more preparation for than most of the Galaxy.

"You can push up the intensity to make it as close to a real fight as much as possible. Following a saber form isn't enough."

His eyes glazed over a little. For all the preparation with the Sith, which had driven him to the edge over and over, his first real battlefield experience had nearly broken him. He'd ended up crawling through the mud and crying out for help.

Then he had lost his arm.

 

[Lossa Aureus]

Location: Denon
Equipment: Danger Jacket, Outfit, Discreet Hearing Enhancer - Left Ear, Long Handled Double Lightsaber, Concealed Sling Bag
Tags: Trextan Voidstalker

Sometimes being privy to the emotions of others didn't help the awkwardness she felt through experiencing them. She could feel the tinges of despair on the aid, but couldn't pinpoint what had caused it.

And found herself shutting her mouth as he pressed onto a different topic. The teasing smile not finding its mark as well as she had intended.

"Burns. Never got up to, uh. Potentially doing anything. Well. Dangerous in practice." She frowned, unsure of herself now and drawing inward.

Learning to regulate the affect others had on her, and vice versa, was a skill that needed development it seemed as she quieted. His mood seeming to darken further as she couldn't help the slow spiral of her own thoughts.

"I'm. I'm sorry. I meant to tease you. Not," Her hands suddenly felt very empty, and wanting to fidget with every little spiked stud on her jacket. "Whatever I did."

 

[Trextan Voidstalker]

"It's fine, I said something silly," Trextan said. He resumed fairly stoic silence as they approached the spaceport.

They had to walk around a large multi-story speeder park to reach the main entrance of the spaceport.

Trextan walked straight for the main entrance. It was wide open, but several armed guards walked the perimeter. No one paid them any attention and there seemed to be a slow flow of people in and out.

"We can train," he said suddenly, feeling that he had been unfair with his awkward silence. "You couldn't swing a kowakian in the Verree, let alone a lightsaber."

They had to approach a security checkpoint and the man waved them over. Beyond the checkpoint was a security droid and two more armed men.

"ID and travel docs."

Trextan laid his down through the gap under the reinforced glass.

"No travel documents, we have our own ship," Trextan said firmly. He leaned casually on the counter.

"Offworlders?"

"Came here for work, but after the train explosion and lockdown I've decided to look elsewhere," Trextan said.

"Good call, off you go," the man said

Trextan headed for the third hangar, the Verree coming in to sight. It had been made from scrap parts by squib engineers. How it was still holding together, he didn't know.

"You can show me what saber you have," he said, knowing there was one on here.

Assuming she dared step into the ship.

 

[Lossa Aureus]

Location: Denon
Equipment: Danger Jacket, Outfit, Discreet Hearing Enhancer - Left Ear, Long Handled Double Lightsaber, Concealed Sling Bag
Tags: Trextan Voidstalker

For saying it was fine, it certainly didn't feel that way. Or at least was how it felt to her. The urge to clear the air didn't win against the want to get off world however.

The speeder port was a short lived wonder. Her eyes locking onto a particularly lovely piece that most would have considered gaudy with the multi-toned quality it was painted in.

Then again most people didn't think pink was a particularly tasteful color.

The look she gave it, and subsequent feeling of approval, was blatant as they walked past the two-seater that didn't seem to have a coherent pattern. As though it had been tagged by a numerous amount of different locals.

The gathering of guards would have made her nervous had she been attempting this by herself.

Thankfully the one guiding her was far more useful than she'd anticipated, mimicking the mood he had set with his silence. Her quiet stare broken when he spoke at her. The initial surprise giving way to confusion at his expression.

"Why would I be swinging-" She cut herself off when they were waved over.

Sliding her ID over as Trextan explained for them. Taking it back, she kept silent save for the slight frown when the train was mentioned. Stowing the cover story for a later date as they passed through without issue.

The walk to the hangar was quiet again, still trying to figure out why she'd be swinging a monkey lizard around when something came into view. Visibly pausing in the doorway as she watched him.

"Hahno." Her crimson eyes searching the interior of the, ship, as confusion was quickly squashed by the rising alarm about her.

"Th-. This flew here?" The whites of her eyes easily seen from low orbit as she dared step inside. Her hands held up to her chest as if something would jump up to bite them.

 

[Trextan Voidstalker]

"It's tougher than it looks," Trextan said. The rest third of the interior space was a small living compartment and cargo space. It wouldn't even fit a small landspeeder.

Trextan headed into the narrow corridor to the cockpit. One their left was a pair of bunk beds recessed into the wall. To the right was a small refresher with sonic shower. He glanced around them. He decided the damage was done, trying to sweep up the clothes on the floor with one foot as they. He didn't even notice that the area definitely smelled of a small space that had been lived in by a man for months on end without enough fresh air flow.

There was a hiss as the pneumatics pulled the ramp up from the back of the ship. Trextan sat down, flicking a few switches to start warning up the engines.

"It flies a lot, lot better than I do," he said. "If you want to worry about something, worry about that. My piloting droid is in repairs. On the plus side if DG is fixed now you won't ever get to see me land."

 

[Lossa Aureus]

Location: Denon
Equipment: Danger Jacket, Outfit, Discreet Hearing Enhancer - Left Ear, Long Handled Double Lightsaber, Concealed Sling Bag
Tags: Trextan Voidstalker

"I would hope so." Her remark just shy of sarcastic as she slowly followed behind him. The small mess was nothing compared to the need to open a few viewports and maybe even do a hard scrub of all the surfaces.

Eyes taking in every detail as she spied the bunk bed arrangement.

Her lips drawn tight as she hoped they were headed somewhere with a decent cleaning service. Or at huge laudering units. Even Briana's room had been decently in order with all the things the impromptu mechanic had tinkered with.

With a great deal of effort, namely to not gag, she drew in a deep and calming breath while thanking the force for getting her off world.

She wasn't about to go scurrying off the ramp now. Even as the hydraulics hissed to close the damned thing. Her only chance to turn back closing behind her as she steeled herself for the path ahead.

His words not lost on her as she glanced into the cockpit, finding a seat for herself. At least after pushing aside a few changes of clothes that might have been more cushion than-

No they had definitely been worn. Figuring out that detail as she stared at her way off world.

"You-A piloting droid? Did it come with the ship!?" Feeling her blood pressure rising as she fumbled around for the harness buckles to her seat.

The comment about seeing him land making her worry.

A very loud worry at that.

"I mean. You landed here on your own... right? You. You can't be that bad." A healthy dash of alarm creeping into her words.

 

[Trextan Voidstalker]

"I mean. You landed here on your own... right?

"Yeah, I know right? I was surprise anyway," Trextan said, clearly teasing. "Fortunately for you space is a really big target to aim for. Much bigger than this hangar."

He had been learning, slowly. It was something neither him nor his father had a natural aptitude for. The owner of a firespray had looked on with shock at the sight of the Verree wobbling its way towards the ground next to his vessel.

"And, erm, I will get this all cleaned up," Trextan said, clearly embarrassed. That she was an exceptionally pretty zeltron girl had actually avoided his attention for the most part, until she was looking at his discarded clothes in mild horror. It shouldn't have mattered, but it did.

"You're not a pilot are you? DG didn't come with the ship. Nothing comes as standard on a squib junk ship. Its more a living space strapped onto the two biggest engines they could find."

 

[Lossa Aureus]

Location: Denon Hangar, Aboard the Verree
Equipment: Danger Jacket, Outfit, Discreet Hearing Enhancer - Left Ear, Long Handled Double Lightsaber, Concealed Sling Bag
Tags: Trextan Voidstalker

He might have been teasing. No. He was clearly teasing. That didn't stop her from the moment of panic that had followed his initial response.

"Yeah. Yeah it is." A glassy eyed look forming as she wondered how Trextan was so, casual, about everything.

The blank look fading when he mentioned cleaning up.

While she wanted to say something about the cleaning, the words weren't coming to her. At least none that wouldn't come off as rude. Or in some way condescending. Instead opting to travel down the safest route of social etiquette.

A simple if continuous nod.

Which was stopped at the mention of the droid and the maker of the ship. The color drained from her face as everything seemed to click finally.

"You fly a squib made-? Oh. Oh." While it wasn't an extensive knowledge about the squib, even in a hospital you heard things. Or found them out on the holonet.

The off handed mention of a pilot crashing a squib ship had been passing commentary for the charge nurses.

But the holonet search that followed had been enlightening for both Lossa and the gaggle around her in the care unit. The short span of time between this revelation and her question forcing her through a number of emotions as the last buckle of her harness clicked shut.

"No. I'm not. A pilot. How long, have you been, flying this ship?"

 

[Trextan Voidstalker]

"I've been learning to fly a couple of years now," he said, trying to provide a modicum of reassurance.

He took the controls in both hands and flicked two switches. The repuslors hummed to life and took him straight up a few meters and clear of the other ships.

He grinned. Fortunately he didn't have to do anything at all for them to be safely above the landing pad.

Another button push and a route was automatically requested from the star port. A few seconds later and one of the screens showed a concentric group of rectangles to show their safe flight path out.

"And we're away," he said, relief in his voice.

Things were relatively smooth. The ship always had a little judder when in the atmosphere because of its nature. It went away - mostly - when they broke atmo. The ship slipped into hyperspace and they went into smooth sailing.

"Just give me a few minutes..." Trextan said, getting up from his chair. He turned and went to the spare bunk, which he had been using to pile clean clothes that he hadn't yet tidied away.

 

[Lossa Aureus]

Location: Aboard the Verree
Equipment: Danger Jacket, Outfit, Discreet Hearing Enhancer - Left Ear, Long Handled Double Lightsaber, Concealed Sling Bag
Tags: Trextan Voidstalker

A couple of years was definitely better than her.

Maybe a couple of days worth of total experience which likely made itself known as she watched in alarmed silence as everything moved and beeped in sequence.

The relief at the projected path was shared, if her own had a sliver of anxiety behind it.

She had no qualms with flying anymore. When done right anyway. It was certainly one of the more fun experiences that she had grown accustomed to. But the last time she had been in a Starship aside from the transports and her own, a jedi master had threatened to throw her out of the cargo hold to a bullet train below.

And even with her own she barely did more than flip a few switches. Begging someone to prepare it with automatic flight programs.

The shaking of the hull make her grip the harness that kept her, and a silent wonder about the futility of it crept in before they broke atmosphere. Ease settled in when they entered hyperspace and began their journey far and away from the cursed place.

He excused himself, leaving her to watch the from the viewport as they went force only knew where.

"Alright." Her whole body numb as he went back to the space behind her.

The moment he left the cabin, she inhaled, feeling a weight leave her shoulders. A deep and worrying feeling settling into place as her eyes stung. Heat flooding her face as her whole body shook to keep from sobbing.

Her face screwed up as the realization of nearly dying settled over her and tears streamed, her arms wrapping around as she curled up in the seat. Body settled against the harness her emotions took hold despite her efforts.

Safety had come with a downside.

 

[Trextan Voidstalker]

Trextan chose to shove most of the clean clothes into a drawer without any attempt to seperate or fold them. He actually saw the mess the small ship was in now, himself. Trextan felt a wash of embarrassment. It had just been his familiar surroundings and not an abject mess.

Realisation of one thing led to him ignoring another. Lossa's strained breathing went unheard.

Trextan stopped as he was trying to keep a hold of dirty clothes with one arm whilst adding to the pile with his other.

He felt the ripple in the Force before he heard the sound and turned to see her profile against the blue of hyperspace.

Trextan dumped the clothes on his bunk. Better than the floor. He approached, but kept his distance.

"Are you...alright?"

 

[Lossa Aureus]

Location: Aboard the Verree
Equipment: Danger Jacket, Outfit, Discreet Hearing Enhancer - Left Ear, Long Handled Double Lightsaber, Concealed Sling Bag
Tags: Trextan Voidstalker

Even the minor break in the elevator hadn't dealt with all the overwhelming feelings that had piled up. Stress over the last couple of days mounting as she had just pressed forward without looking back.

The constant state of fear and survival pushing aside the reality of it all as it crept into her mind.

Crept into her body.

Her limbs ached. A strange steeping exhaustion that made her feel as though the planet were pulling her back. Her thoughts ablaze as the sound of cleaning behind her stopped.

She wanted to respond to his question. Wanted to dismiss the scene she was making. But she couldn't control her throat. A pressure keeping her from doing more than breathing. An unseen hand grasping and constricting her airway while keeping her from outright sobbing.

She was so far away from home. Away from people that knew her. Alone save for this stranger that barely knew her name.

"No." The only word she could manage to croak out between gasping breaths of air.

Her form rocking against the crying and hiccups that followed them. The force around her a discordant current of fear and loneliness.