Digging Through The Sands (Gean The Faceless)

[Nefertari Sovint]

I finally got to the basement. Carefully avoiding the pit, I heard an astromech scream.
Emerging from the hole, I saw smoke coming from the droid compartment.
"What did you do?" I asked, my tone clearly indicating annoyance, frustration, and anger. If this blaster happy fool had any eyes, he would have seen the crystal on my neck glow brightly, not fully, but still.

I ran up to the tail. "R3, are you alright?"
The droid whirred and beeped weakly. I was about to backhand Gean, but refrained.

"You nearly killed my droid, you blast happy fool! Put that thing away before you hurt anyone else!"
I jumped down into the cockpit and unpinned the note from the seat. The mold was terrible, I'd have to have it reupholstered. Looking in the compartment, I turned and asked "Did you find a license in here?"

 

[Gean The Faceless]

"Nnnnope. And what do you mean by 'hurt'? It's just a droid. I'll fix it if you'd like."

 

[Nefertari Sovint]

"Then where is it...?" I asked rhetorically
At his "Just a droid" comment I said "That droid and I have been through a lot together. You bet you're fixing it. Anyway, let's get to that freighter."

 

[Gean The Faceless]

"Alright. Can you drive this thing? I'll guide you to the hangar."

 

[Nefertari Sovint]

"Of course! I flew this very fighter several times!"
I jumped down into the cockpit and picked up the flight helmet sitting in the floor space.
"Nice, this old thing is still here" I said, putting it on
"Let's do this"

 

[Gean The Faceless]

*The ship flares up again, extending its landing gear -and itself- into a taut stance. Sliding the ship through the rubble, Nefertari maneuvers according to Gean's sometimes incorrect hand gestures. Nefertari has a moment of humiliation as she realizes she's accepting driving instructions from a blind man. Eventually the course rubble is exchanged for metal pavement as the ship nears the harbor. Weaving through the ships, Gean suddenly signals Nefertari to stop as he realizes a plan must be made to bypass the checkpoint before they can proceed. Gean decides to cut some essential wires on one of the ships in the parking lot, then line up Nefertari's ship where the disabled ship would've entered the queue for the freighter. Hopefully, Gean figures, the pilot of the dilapidated vessel will be slow on the uptake while Nefertari works her mind tricks on the checkpoint guard. There is a moment of hesitation, but the guard relents as Nefertari shuffles her fighter into the cargo hold of the town-sized transport. Gean sneaks past in tow, concealing himself first behind the view of the guards, then in the poor lighting of the cargo entrance. The new distance between Gean and Nefertari is slowly bridged as they look for each other. Once they meet up, Gean notices the licence again in his pocket, sticking out, and shoves it in again. Nefertari carries a more relaxed look on her face, but still radiates a sour irritation through her brow.*

"So, the ship'll hit light-speed and be in Nar Shadaa in a bit. Once there, I'll lead you to Caldee, the mechanic. He's not really the best we could get, but this ship is probably too old to be fixed by anybody else, and he'll likely be free for me. I was hoping not to waste the favor he owes me on a stranger, but I feel like a favor from you would be worth more."

​*The ship rustles and jerks as the repulsors flare up, igniting the engines and swooping into the sky.*

"And... Now that you can't leave, and on that note, I can expect a favor from you for doing this, right? Nothing big, mind. Just that when I give you a call, you come and wave your hand in front of someone's face and tell them what to do, like you did earlier. I mean, I found your ship and am repairing its wiring and droid for free, after all."

*Nefertari grows increasingly furious.*

"Besides, you're stuck on Shadaa if you don't say yes. There's no way anybody will know how to repair that ship, and you can't exactly leave it in the middle of the city."

 

[Nefertari Sovint]

My annoyance subsided soon after I realized I had gotten the best ship I had ever flown back.
"Gean wasn't it? Thank you. You can expect a favor from me. provided it's within reason of course. However, you don't seem like most men. Your mind was actually somewhat of a challenge to trick." I gave Gean a friendly pat on the shoulder and picked up the mossy droid.
"The wiring looks alright. just needs a good cleaning and some power" I said, plugging into an outlet.
It would take a few minutes at least, now was the time to get to know each other without tension.

 

[Gean The Faceless]

"What do you mean by 'my mind'? Did you use your mind trick on me?"

 

[Nefertari Sovint]

"When I first approached you, mind tricks can be useful for controlling a potentially dangerous situation."
I turned away from the charging droid. "Are you from Nar Shadaa? You also took some scrap metal...you don't happen to know a good shop that would let me use their tools would you?"

 

[Gean The Faceless]

*Gean didn't like the idea of somebody else using his tools.*

"Nope, not that I know of. And yes Nar Shadaa is where my home is."

 

[Nefertari Sovint]

Trying not to sound insesitive, Nef asked "I'm curious, how do you see where you're going?Or what you pick up for that matter"

 

[Gean The Faceless]

"I'm not entirely sure. I just kind of... Feel it, and hear it, and smell it, and sometimes taste it. I can't see very clearly, but enough to get by."

 

[Nefertari Sovint]

"That's interesting, if not unique."

Another voice spoke
"Power-up complete"
My head turned
"Miss Neffy! Thou hast returned! His Lordship will be most glad."

 

[Gean The Faceless]

"It's working?!"

 

[Nefertari Sovint]

I spun around "Gean, meet S-3DO. Possibly the finest protocol droid I have ever met."
"Thou doth flatter me, m'lady." the droid looked at Gean "Greetings, sir. I am S-3DO, human-cyborg relations and butler to the noble house of Sovint. I seest thou hast made friends with Lady Nefertari. Do be good to her."

[member="Gean The Faceless"]

 

[Gean The Faceless]

"Yeah sure. So you don't actually live in those ruins, do you?"

 

[Nefertari Sovint]

"I used to. The thing is, I was forcefully frozen in carbonite and stayed there for a long time. Technically, I am 702 years old."

 

[Gean The Faceless]

*At this point, Gean figures he's being played for a fool. At the very least, this lady isn't all right in the head, he thinks, and Gean figures it isn't a good idea to contradict a crazy person with a weapon. What concerns Gean more, however, is her mention of carbonite. Gean had read about the whole carbonite process, but doesn't believe someone would go through the trouble of a carbonite freezing someone to just forget about them for 700 years. Even more so, Anybody who is frozen in carbonite has to be one dangerous person. Gean decides to play along:*

"Who froze you?"

 

[Nefertari Sovint]

"I was one of the Jedi. 154 years after the Battle of Yavin, I was defeated by a crime lord I was supposed to be stopping. The last words I heard were "Hope you like making a new life" and then, next thing I know, I'm in a dry lake bed and it's been 837 years since the Death Star was blown to bits."

"Has it truly been that much time? Goodness..."

I nodded to S-3DO
"So either he wanted me to suffer or he couldn't bring himself to do the deed. Perhaps both"

 

[Gean The Faceless]

*Gean is incredibly bored, and questions Nefertari's sanity even further, while still admiring her story-telling capabilities.*

"What's a death star?"