Blade

[Tålamod Shapochka]

The clop of gentle footsteps penetrated the frigid silence of the detention level, interrupting the persistent hum of the air system. A pale woman of average female human height skulked down the halls, passing row-on-row of cell blocks. No one was in the visible brig units. Notable: Eight heavily armed guards had been stationed at the warden's post, the only access to the detention area. Someone down here was important.

They were held at the very last cell block. To the officially dressed woman, it felt as if she had to walk a kilometer to reach their cell. She had refused to be accompanied despite the warnings of the warden. Really, she was not supposed to be here at all, but she had been dismissed from the bridge a couple days ago by the captain for her health's sake. A migraine had effectively paralyzed her for an hour.

But now Lieutenant Commander Shapochka was quite in working condition. She had taken advantage of her reprieve to pay a visit to a certain high priority subject. She had heard things about this prisoner and thought to investigate them herself--very closely. A knife was hidden in her pocket, and she clutched it tightly in anxiety, unkowingly slicing deep gashes into her palms and fingers as her hand clamped around the blade. She could not sense the pain, but she felt the hatred well up inside her.

Tålamod reached the final detention unit and stalled outside for a moment, then unlocked the door and approached the paneled confine that the prisoner was trapped inside--for the moment. "Thanatass," she uttered.

[member="Alexandra Cinthra"]

 

[Alexandra Feanor]

Alexandra yawned as she was sitting upside down against the wall with her head staring at the panels. "And who, is it i have the pleasure of talking to today, i dont think i have seen your face. Also stop with the damned title, my name is Alexandra and i would wish to be treated humanly... or alienly... what ever the term is for being treated nicely in a society that is more than humans." The clothes in which Alexandra wore were just the underclothing, the shirt and trousers are all that remained while her used to be pure white robes and cloak sat in the corner. "Your name?"

[member="Tålamod Shapochka"]

 

[Tålamod Shapochka]

"You have not given me the name you prefer, no. Until then, you are Thanatass." Tålamod's hand squeezed around the blade of the knife, digging it further into her flesh, then relaxed her grasp, unaware of the blood now seeping from her fingers and palm.

"Toli," she responding, granting the captive's request for her name. "I was Toli as a little girl, and until my father and mother were killed. What do you think?" Hardly a master of subtlety, Tålamod dropped and raised her eyes a couple times to analyze the prisoner. The robes in the corner advertized the traditional presence of a Jedi of sorts, perhaps a Sith--just as the documents reported.

[member="Alexandra Cinthra"]

 

[Alexandra Feanor]

"Nice name, and sorry to say but i do prefer Alexandra, but if you want to call me by that damned title atleast dont insult me saying i prefer it." She turned rightside up and stretched as she stood. "You know, a better bed would feel so much better, less stiff too. Its been quite a while since i slept in a gutter, and i have to say that even felt better than this bed. Also what is with the inspection of my, im just your friendly neighborhood mercenary force user."

[member="Tålamod Shapochka"]

 

[Tålamod Shapochka]

"Alexandra," Shapochka repeated. "That is a very classical name." She nodded as if in approval, showcasing the silvery Republic insignia on her cap.

But her pocketed fingers tightened once more, squeezing out more fluids from her body. She believed in fighting with honor, and mercenaries had always disgusted her. Her father had warned her about their types, always greedy for money and quick to kill for it. "Mercenary, but you have killed people with the One Sith. Or is your crime not more? Explain."

[member="Alexandra Cinthra"]

 

[Alexandra Feanor]

[member="Tålamod Shapochka"]

"I kill those who fire first, i do not strike the first blow. Such a heartless act is not for me to partake in and is something only someone with no love for life to do... and to harm one's self is not too smart either. Mind stopping." She rose a brow and did not move, her eyes shot at the hand and while she would not force the woman to stop she did seem... uncomfortable at being able to sense the action, how happy she was going to be when she could no longer sense other's pain that even they might not.

 

[Tålamod Shapochka]

"How can you be mercenary and fight with a conqueror... but you do not kill first?" She raised her own eyebrow, finding Alexandra's logic out-of-tune. "Or do you deny that you have been with the Sith? Because the name you're not preferring is Darth Thanatass."

Her hand froze as the prisoner's gaze fell on her pocket. She felt no injury to herself, but there reached a moment when her fingertips sensed the liquid oozing down her hand and soaking the inner lining of her pocket. A moment of panic ensued as Tålamod brought her hand and its clutched weapon into the open and saw the bone-deep incisions in her palm and digits. Still, she neglected to release the knife after gaining composure, only now wrapping her hand around the handle instead of the bloody blade.

"Have you known of the name Shapochka?" she asked, seemingly indifferent to the situation.

[member="Alexandra Cinthra"]

 

[Alexandra Feanor]

"I fought for the Sith while they held something that is mine, and now i am free from that hold which is what brings us here now... Thanatass is a alias, a name, i took for my time with the Sith, something that i never truly embrassed... and i apologize but i do not miss... i have never heard that name." She looked at the hand again and something strange would be clear upon her face. Sadness, pain, worry, everything a Sith would not have and highest among them, kindness. "Can i help you with your hand..."

[member="Tålamod Shapochka"]

 

[Tålamod Shapochka]

Tålamod did not trust this Alexandra, but she was willing to hear her out. As if murder was an easy thing to commit. "You were helping them, yes. Or you would not be in this prison on my ship."

Her hand quivered--not because she was feeling the air against her nerves, as she could not feel such things. It quivered from the contained despair; rage; frustration; nervousness that roiled inside of her. This kindness presented by the woman confused her. She was supposed to be evil! Alexandra's compassion and Tålamod's thirst for vengeance burned against each other in the Republic officer's heart. "Why would you help me when you know surely that I am here to kill you?"

[member="Alexandra Cinthra"]

 

[Alexandra Feanor]

[member="Tålamod Shapochka"]

"If you wanted to kill me, or i kill you, we would have done so. Though if you still wish to it would put at peace the turmoil i will face for the years to come. You will end the life of a Sith, or so you believe, but remember. To kill a murderer in cold blood makes you no different, i wish to atone for my sins and that begins now, let me help your hand." She held no smile, again only sadness and kindness at the same time occupied her face, and all the while her words held nothing but sincerity. "Atleast let me help before you kill me."

 

[Tålamod Shapochka]

Her bloody hand shook violently, still holding tight to the handle of her knife while pointing the index finger accusingly at Alexandra. "Your Sith killed my father and mother!" she seethed. "I never hear it anymore. I never hear 'Toli'. I never can hear my father tell me, 'Toli, you make me proud. You do the best you can.' Or I can never hear my mother say, 'Toli, you are a strong girl. You will do impossible things.'"

The officer shivered as she watched a stream of her own blood splatter and pool on the floor. She had an easy way to explain the scene if she murdered the prisoner now. She could claim to have been attacked and was forced to kill the woman to protect herself. "How can you help, ah? What can you help?!"

[member="Alexandra Cinthra"]

 

[Alexandra Feanor]

[member="Tålamod Shapochka"]

"I am no more responsible for their deaths than you are, their killers are the ones responsible. Would they had died by an ithorian's hands would you blame that species, or would they have died by Rodian. You can not blame a group for the actions of a few, it only leads to needless bloodshed and wars that hold no more meaning than the reason those who died in them did... I can help heal your hand, i can help talk with you... i cant bring back the dead, that is a power i hold no right to command and something i would never ask the Force to allow me to do, death is a sacred thing and not something that should be tampered with. As i said, let me help you, then you may kill me if you wish."

 

[Tålamod Shapochka]

"But you helped them. You are guilty."

Tålamod clenched her fist tighter and angled the sharp end of the knife towards her healthy hand. "This does not hurt," she said defiantly, slicing a gash into her other palm. "It does not hurt." But her heart hurt. Someone needed to pay for that.

[member="Alexandra Cinthra"]

 

[Alexandra Feanor]

[member="Tålamod Shapochka"]

Alexandra jumped as the blade pierced the flesh and closed her eyes, breathing slowly as she did feel teh pain the woman didn't. Her recent training had included Empathy, and that was something she almost regretted training in as she now felt the woman's pain as her own. "I am Guilty, i never said i wasn't but i am not a holder of the guilt you accuse me of... i hold the guilt of being unable to stop the Sith, i hold the guilt of the deaths of many, i hold the guilt of failing to protect the ones i call friend and i love... but i do not hold the guilt of killing your parents." Her voice sounded even sadder as she starred at the blood, watching it and closing her eyes once more.

 

[Tålamod Shapochka]

Alexandra said nothing convicting. This was not the easy task Tålamod had expected it to be. A tear seeped from her eye--not out of a sudden realization of pain, but out of a frustration she could not quell. She wanted to satisfy her anger; kill a Sith even if they had nothing to do with her parents' deaths. But there was too much peace emanating from the detainee. Why could this woman not be simply malicious and provocative? "I have shed all the blood we need today," the officer decided.

Shapochka allowed the bloodsoaked knife to slip from her hold and smack against the durasteel floor. She may not have been able to sense the severe damage she had caused to her hand, but she could no longer operate her fingers, and that was not a good sign. There was a price for her rage. She shook her head and respired deeply, trembling. "How can you fix it?"

[member="Alexandra Cinthra"]

 

[Alexandra Feanor]

"Come sit down, and please hold out your hands on your lap... this is going to be hard to get them without a scar so i need you to be as still and calm as you can." Alexandra crossed her legs, funny part was the guards had been watching the whole time and Alexandra was the one that had stopped them from entering, speaking to them this entire time and then wiping the memory from them of seeing this, what they would remember is Talamod cutting her hand and getting the order to let Alexandra help the woman and not shoot at her... Telepathy was one of Alexandra's best areas.

With that though she looked at Tala and focused inwards, letting her hands gather the force and soon glow a bit, a light peaceful sense would flow from alex to the woman. "Remember, i need you to be still and calm once you sit down with me."

[member="Tålamod Shapochka"]

 

[Tålamod Shapochka]

Trust was not something to be easily earned, especially with someone who happened to be sitting in your own jail. Still, it might be harder to betray your misdeeds and risk losing all you had worked for. The Navy was the only life Tålamod knew. Alexandra had offered to talk? When had anyone ever done that? There was just something completely disarming about the 'Sith'. It was beyond Shapochka's comprehension.

She obeyed the prisoner's bidding out of free will, inching over to the woman's spot on the floor, hands in front of her like they were confined in a pair of bindercuffs. Slowly, she pressed her back against the wall and sunk to the floor. Her cheeks were losing color as her body struggled to recover what it had already lost. "I'm not afraid of scars. You can see I have several already," Tålamod stated, rotating her wrists to reveal evidence of past scrapes and injuries.

[member="Alexandra Cinthra"]

 

[Alexandra Feanor]

"Well, these will not become new ones, fear of scars or not." She rested her own hands over the open wounds and closed her eyes as she let the pain be transferred to Alex. Normally pain like this did not so much as phase he, but the woman had taken on none of it and Alexandra took on it all as she targeted the nerves and tissue, repairing those first as strands of force energy went from her hand to Tala's. Next a wave of peace and comfort flowed from Alex to the woman, her mind working to fix the broken nerves and repair full control of the digits to the woman, this much damage saddened Alexandra though, as she was responsible for it simply because of who she was.

[member="Tålamod Shapochka"]

 

[Tålamod Shapochka]

There was nothing in the least unextraordinary about the healing process. Even bacta could not fix things to such an extent. It was, by Toli's standards, miraculous.

Perhaps nearly as interesting as the physical healing was the subduing of her anger. It was so sudden and absolute, and Tålamod was uncomfortable with her rage being overtaken. She wanted to be vengeful; bitter. She had accepted Alexandra to be absolved of her wrath, but there was still a galaxy's worth of Sith to destroy--and yet, that determination was waning. It mattered little to her now in this moment. Everything was calm, even as she sat inside a cell with someone who was considered to be an enemy of the Republic.

"Why do you care for me when you are being carried to judgment?" she inquired, eyes still beholding the reparation of her hands.

[member="Alexandra Cinthra"]

 

[Alexandra Feanor]

"Don't look so surprised, im not nearly done yet, what you are seeing is the physical aspects of the healing, i have alot to do yet... and as for why its because i have already paid for what my actions have caused. Let me tell you a story. A Decade ago, the family of a gladiator and former jedi lived on Corellia, they had a daughter and a son, whom they named Hakora and Lianne. This was a hard but beautiful life this family had, the father fighting in the ring for the pay that kept his family going, the mother working to keep Hakora and Lianne safe and cared for... then the father did not lose a fight he was suppose to. The men that owned the ring grew mad at losing that money, and sent a sith to do their work... the next night Lianne witnessed her parent's death and fell out a window trying to escape, living for weeks with her body crippled, sleeping in a gutter, eating scraps and garbage...the Sins of those long past were paid for that day, they bore their sins into that girl and the girl then bore those sins into others. Now that Girl is shipped off to pay for the sins she had committed. I once more greet you, as Alexandra Lianne Feanor. Daughter of an Echani and Eldorai and the one to bore the sins of the past."

[member="Tålamod Shapochka"]