First Reply Distress beacon in wild space

[Mairéad Solus]

Mairéad smiled, standing politely in a subservient but respectful pose that she had spent years practicing. Just subservient enough that the master knew they were in charge, but strong enough that they could tell themselves their slave felt well treated.

"Thank you for your consideration master, I will endeavour to learn your tongue as quickly as I can." She replied, she actually enjoyed alien languages so this was a promise she could stick to in her off duty time.

She thought about Barefu's statement that slavery was illegal, it would be interesting how this was played out. The last time she was told that her master didn't keep slaves, she was an unpaid hand maiden that wasn't allowed to leave the estate without the master's escort, 'semantics' she thought to herself cheerily, not that it mattered to her what she was called.

"I will carry out your instruction, I might need the assistance of a mech droid, I know how to pilot, but the specifics you are asking for i am not sure about"

Heading back to the hangar, she looked at the ugly ship, sitting their thug like and brooding, she kneeled next to an astromech and spoke to it. "Little droid, I need your help please," she gave it a list of technical information she wanted, "can you also get me some information on our Master, nothing specific, just who she is." Mairéad enquired, then adding, just in case Barefu thought she was snooping "just so I can know her to serve her better".

She strode into the front of the ship, a shiver went down her spine, not from cold, but from the realisation that the last time she was here she was being carried out barely alive.

Barefu Shysa ​

 

[Mairéad Solus]

Mairéad did as instructed and spent several hours investigating the ship. It was an unusual task and it exercised a part of her inquisitiveness that she rarely got to address. The droid was helpful, coming back with the information quickly, and allowing her access to logs of the ship that were marked secret.

As she moved around the ship she felt anger towards the zygerians, looking at the relative luxury of their compartments compared to the cage she was forced to reside in. Mairéad also used this as an opportunity, she wanted to destroy that cursed wedding dress she was forced to try on. She eventually found it, but could not find the courage to do it, instead, she asked the droid to store it safely with her meagre personal effects.

Finally she had everything she needed, the droid also provided her with a data card about her master as requested, but now was not the time to read that.

"Technician?" she asked to one of the other workers, "I am ready to speak to Master Shysa about my findings" she was nervous, this was the first task her new master had assigned her and it was so open ended. She only hoped she had accomplished it effectively.​

Barefu Shysa

 

[Barefu Shysa]

The woman had been resting in what amounted to an elongated hot-tub. Her room was literally steamy, and hot at all times; perhaps even uncomfortably hot for a human being. She rose, and dried herself; moving to garnish herself in some ornate robes. Her hair still dripping lightly with water, she would give it a shake and move out to find the other. Eventually, she did just that; moving to tower over Mairéad Solus with ease.

"Have you completed my tasks? What of the ship?"

She questioned, looking her over. She was a cute human female. It was saddening to know she lived in such squalor. And even more angering to know what her captors intended for her. She paced around the other, light bare footed thuds audible from her movement. She seemed to be observing every aspect of the other; trying to decide what she wanted to do with her...

"Well, there is more I wish to discuss, but show me your work firstly..."

Mairéad Solus

 

[Mairéad Solus]

Mairéad bowed to her master, now in a more balanced place she was better able to take in her form. Barefu was a striking creature that impressed Mairéad greatly, she seemed to exude strength and confidence. Most of her previous masters were weasley little men with a fat checkbook, she suspected that Barefu would have little difficulty folding them in half.

"I have assessed the Zygerian ship," she began to Barefu "I have recorded everything here for you with the assistance of one of your droids. The 'emancipator-2'" she rolled her eyes at the crudely mocking name of such a vessel. "Is an old corellian YV-865 freighter, set out for cargo transport. It is heavily armoured but has very little useful weaponry. Its main advantages are its cargo capacity and its toughness, that is about it." She paused briefly, and had to remind herself that this was the task given to her, as she went through lists of mundane technical specifications.

"The ship hasn't been modified much from its stock configuration, one of the rooms has been made nice, probably the captains room, and the cargo hold has been arranged to maximise capacity of slaves."

She looked down at her pad again

"The ship has 3 different transponders wired in to it, badly according to the astromech. These relate to the ship itself, an older ship of the same class and a hospital ship that was declared missing by a group known as the Silver Jedi Concord."

She continued listing more specifications like height, weight, fuel consumption, before summarising.

"The astromech tells me that the reactor is unlikely to be repairable due to cold damage, but the rest of the ship could be made good with little effort."

She did not mention anything about her discussion with the droid about her master, or the taking of the dress, but she expected that information was likely already in the hands of her master.

Barefu Shysa ​

 

[Barefu Shysa]

She listened to the other report her findings, nodding in approval when she was done. "Emancipator, how ironic... Well, the vessel belongs to you now. I charge you now to figure out what needs to be done to repair, or replace said reactor... Remove the older ship transponder, and disable the Silver Jedi transponder immediately; we don't want them investigating something that doesn't belong to them.." She said, moving to crouch in front of Mairead. She was of course privvy to the conversation with the droid earlier, but hadn't said anything just yet.

"What do you wish to know of me? I do not appreciate being spoken of behind my back... I will answer anything you wish to know, but you will ask me directly..." She stated, a light warning within her tone could be detected. Barefu wasn't one to believe that something was beyond repair, and had enough resources to potentially build a new one from scratch. It would all depend, however.

Mairéad Solus

 

[Mairéad Solus]

"My apologies master," she knew there would be a risk it would look like she was snooping "I mean no disrespect to you, and my enquiries were purely to allow me to serve you better, it pleased my previous masters when I knew what they wanted before the told me, it will not happen again." It was the little things that a person might not feel the need to tell you personally, but were useful to know, a favourite delicacy, topics that would please them in discussion or conversely topics that would anger them if brought up.

The ships was hers now, she thought to herself? She didn't remember owning anything of substance in her whole life, what she would do with a run down freighter was anybody's guess, but she felt that her master had longer plans in mind.

"The droid didn't give me the specifics, I am no technician so I dont really understand it anyway, but he said some of the metal components inside the reactor had contracted at different speeds and had broken. I will look into it further master"

She hoped this would please her master, she could feel like warning in her posture that she was serious about not being spied on, but it did not come across as a rage, maybe she was hiding it, or maybe Mairéad had been forgiven this transgression.​

Barefu Shysa

 

[Barefu Shysa]

She listened carefully to the response, and clearly found it acceptable. Simply standing from her crouched position and moving away from the other. Making sure to get a fair distance away before turning and beckoning her with a swipe of her metallic left arm. And with that, she was stomping along, her movements as usual bold, and deliberate. Her pure size, and mass, not to mention her status would have felt like moving in the wake of a tidal wave. Considering how she parted anyone within her path. If Mairead followed, which she likely would; she would find herself within a training room with Barefu. An open area that was used for melee, and close-combat training. There was one for ranged weapons as well, but that wasn't her interest on this day.

She moved straight ahead to the center, slipping out of her robes, and revealing she wasn't wearing much. And what she did wear wasn't doing the best job of covering her parts. Some of her seemed to be scaled, while the rest seemed to be regular human flesh. She would turn, and look at the woman; canting her head, as her eyes narrowed briefly to slits.

"Come to me... And kneel.."

She commanded the other, watching with interest to see how the other would react to this directive.

Mairéad Solus

 

[Mairéad Solus]

Mairéad watched as her master turned and beckoned her on, she followed Barefu down the corridor, it was impressive the air about this woman, everyone respected her and parted before her without a moments hesitation. Her purposeful stride, whilst pushing Mairéad into a half jog with her much shorter legs, exuded authority.

As she progressed she tried to get a feel for the ship she was on, the mix of species, their style of dress, anything that would inform her about new place in the galaxy, she had led a very sheltered life so she was unlikely to recognise many emblems other than crime bosses, but she was observant and eager to learn.

Barefu turned a corner and into what looked liked a combat training room, partially undressing in the centre of the room.

Mairéad stopped at the end of the matt and looked at her master, she couldn't help but admire her figure, she had never seen a creature of this species before and the combination of scale and skin had a beauty to it. Mairéad snapped out of staring momentarily as she heard Barefu's voice.

She walked into the centre of the matt with her master and dropped down to one knee. She did not know what to expect now. "Would you like me to assist you preparing for combat, master?" Mairéad enquired, it being the only obvious action she could think of, "I have worked for soldiers and am trained in several types of traditional armour styles"​

Barefu Shysa

 

[Barefu Shysa]

She listened to the other speak before saying anything. Simply staring at her head canting through her words, eyes alight with life, and curiosity. She wouldn't say anything, no. Instead she would feel out for the other within the Force; transmitting her emotion, and her intent. Barefu found the other woman interesting, and she wanted to teach her enough to give her a fair shake at a new life in the galaxy; a free life. She wasn't the kind to take slaves. Though it was Mairéad Solus that had so willingly offered herself up in service. Barefu would break that habit out of the woman, or break her... Her kindness would not be wasted.

All of this would be felt, almost like seen emotion by the other. All the while Barefu simply watched her like dinner. As far as the armoring went, it was noted, but not discussed just yet. It made no sense at all to go into combat training with her just yet. However, she wouldn't let this pup scour the galaxy without some sort of training in her abilities. Barefu clicked the translator from the back, and pulled it off of her face, full lips again visible as she held it out beside her and dropped it.

The woman was capable enough to follow basic orders, but that wouldn't be enough; now she had to be strong enough to decide her own path. The next thing she would do is attempt to delve into Mairéad Solus 's mind. Slowly, not a brunt attack, though it would feel alien of course. The other woman's voice audible in Mairead's head, though disembodied in nature.

'Show me your life...'

 

[Mairéad Solus]

Mairéad shivered as she felt the powerful mind enter her own, she heard the voice of her master clearly, but detached from the real world. “yes master,” she mouthed the words but made no sound, now communing in an almost dream like state. She felt her memories going backwards, almost as if they were being rewound at high speed.

'A flash of metal and a teat' these early memories were vague, but Barefu would have the sense of some kind of droid and a satisfied feeling from Mairéad as she fed on the teat presented to her. The visions moved forward.

'A dark place, with other small children, then brightness as the darkness was replaced by blinding sunlight through metal bars, and a calmouring of market noises' this memory was filled with fear, Mairéad's skin pricked up and Barefu felt the sound of her knuckles cracking as she dealt with the dread she had felt that day once more.

'Banging noises, heavy machinery, a conveyer belt whizzed mere feet above the head of the child as she scrabbled underneath, trying to squeeze her arm between two bars to fish out a dropped tool' This memory made Mairéad's heart quicken as she relived the intensity of her job at the factory, children used to squeeze between heavy machinery until they were too old or too damaged to be of use any more.

'An old woman, kind, loving' This was the first clear positive memory, the woman glowed with purity, almost as if being remembered as a saint rather than another destitute slave, she spoke kindly to Mairéad, she demonstrated a few telekinetic powers and then there was a clear feeling of hiding, and secrets that should never be shared.

'A dining table, warm hot food, a hungry feeling in the belly as several humans and a corpulent beast gorged themselves' This looked like a serving job, the corpulent creature, like the old woman before it had the air of a bad memory rather than the appearance of a real creature. If Barefu tried to probe this deeper..

It would be the first feeling of resistance that Barefu had met during this exploration. Mairéad did not know she was doing it, but she was closing off this memory, attempting to resist the explorations of the much more powerful force user, trying to keep a long forgotten memory locked away. Years of hardship had subconsciously hardened her willpower. This would be the first indication of the fierce, strong willed woman, hiding inside the shell of a girl, covered by layers of oppression and abuse. Mairéad is by no means skilled, so minor pushing would reveal the truth of the memory. 'a bed, in a shabby room, the corpulent beast slithering in and wrapping itself around Mairéad, she fought it away from her and it eventually fled, the memory then shifted to a picture of the beast and a woman in tears, of accusation toward Mairéad and her being cast out of her temporary home as a harlot.'

Back in the room, the access to this memory has caused the temperature to drop sharply, and ice crystals have formed around the fingertips of Mairéad where they reach the floor.

“im sorry” she mouthed silently as a frozen tear formed on her cheek

Barefu Shysa ​

 

[Barefu Shysa]

She was only a passenger, allowing the memories to be shown to her rather than crudely pulling them from the other. It wasn't for no reason. It was to develop a sense of trust with the other. Barefu closed her eyes and went along for the ride. She felt the others emotions at the time of the event as if they were her own, but tried to remain impartial to fully understand, and crunch the delivered information. What she saw was interesting, to say the least. Though she wasn't ignorant to the air temperature dropping. She had been submersed in hot water for this very reason, raising her core temperature higher than normal in case Mairéad Solus created an environment that wasn't exactly inclusive to her species. As she was, slowly.

The other had something else to show her... A repressed memory, something she didn't want Shysa to see, but she had to take the bait at this point, and so, she prodded her... Watching this, the air temperature truly saw a drop, the ship countered this by pumping more heat into the room, but it was still cold. By the time the vision ended, Barefu was shivering, staring at the other as she loosed quick puffs of air from her form. It made so much sense to her now, why she was so submissive. Her life had been servitude... She got to her feet, towering over the other, and looked down with a sneer before shuddering and beginning to thud around barefooted.

'From this point on, you will serve no Master... Call my Shysa, I will teach you what I can about the Force; in a more general way. I will not teach you Dark Arts, as I do not use them myself any longer. They are a poison, that will take you to places you wish not see; make you do things that are sometimes not in your interest. Rip away your soul, and in place, create a being that lusts only for power, and the destruction of those weaker than itself... That training will begin now. The first thing you will do, is learn to feel the living Force. You are connected to it deeply, as you can see by the current temperature in the room... If you cannot control it, you could kill someone, maybe a friend unintentionally. That will take some time...'

She thought to her telepathically, moving and waving her hand to bring up a holo-pad. She brought up a single program, which would scour the holonet and show the user a simple image, something for artists, though in this case she would use it to began training the girl.

'The Force is energy, it surrounds us... All of us, from every system in this ship, to the empty areas of space, and even the distant cosmos; there are few places where it has no sway. Close your eyes, and relax... Tell me what you feel. BUT, be mindful of your emotions... Be mindful of your body as well. If you cannot control yourself, you may kill me with your control over the elements...'

Her eyes narrowed into slits, grimacing at the other.

'I will prioritize myself over you in such a scenario...'

She stated honestly, not trying to be mean, but it was what it was...

 

[Mairéad Solus]

Mairéad's consciousness returned to the room, she immediately felt the cold and her eyes snapped open. "I am sorry, master, that journey was more intense than I expected" the chilling effect began to recede as the memories, one by one, returned to her distant subconscious, she played with the thawing ice around her hand, very curious about this power that she had.

She listened intently to her master's explanation, before replying. "Do you believe i can control this, mas.. Shysa?" She corrected herself.

Upon Shysa's instructions Mairéad breathed deeply and closed her eyes, what was she looking for? She tried being as quiet as possible, hearing only the steps of her tutor and the familiar humming that if you listened closely, you could always here on a starship.

"I don't know what to feel, I feel like I am on a wheel in the galaxy, slowly turning through life with no control over myself, every experience is just a fleeting reminder that something else controls me," it felt so unusual to speak this frankly to a person who to all intents was her better. But Shysa had been inside her mind, there was no reason to hide her feelings now.

"When the ice thing first happens, I feel like I am at the bottom of a river with water flowing into me, then when I come out of it, the water flows back the other way, I dont know if that makes sense, but it is the only way I can describe it" she wished she could simulate the effect at will so she could better understand it, she tried deliberately conjuring up her darker memories, to upset herself again.

"Right now I am thinking about those poor girls on the transport again and I feel the river beginning, it isnt the same though" forcing herself into the emotional place did not seem to have the same power as the uncontrolled sorrow she had previously experienced, only causing a very minor chilling "I need to understand this, I dont want to be a danger to you or anyone else"

"If you can teach me these, I would still like to serve you, if not as a slave, but as a grateful student. You have saved my life and have presented me with a different path, it seems fair that I try to repay you."

Barefu Shysa ​

 

[Barefu Shysa]

As they both recovered, the Dark-Haired woman would move her palms to feel at the ground, head canting as she observed Mairead. So she had felt pain, and helplessness... That was good. Better than, even. She would listen to her explanation in relative silence. Save for the constant hum of the Battlecruiser they were on. Since when did she take in pups, and give them shelter and advice? Ah yes... Since The Mandolorian, that smelled more chemical than man. The thought caused her eyes to trail lazily off to a corner in contemplation, before snapping back on the one speaking to her. A momentary lapse in concentration...

The heat on the ship was still holding well, much better as Mairead wasn't actively trying to create a centralized blizzard in her training room. She doubted the girl had tried in the past. When Mairead initially called her Master again, she luckily reined in the urge to do something particularly painful to her. As she later recanted, it seemed she was starting to understand. She listened in full, and would straighten her head, only to let it cant in the other direction, eyes scanning the very pores on the others face.

"I will teach you what I have learned, but it will not be as easy for you, as it was for me..." She rasped through the facemask, even with it her S's could be faintly heard slurring.

"I was taught to embrace rage, passion, and emotion... They are quite useful for exploring the Force, and you can easily break the Force to your will on this path... It is cruel, however; it is not for girls that cry for the dead... Innocent, or Deserving."


Her voice again came through the mask, eyes narrowing on the other to accentuate the spoken word. Indeed she had her ear whispered into by a renegade Sith as a child, he even coaxed her with sweets. He was so out of place, but played her like an instrument... Until she destroyed him. Even now she wore that defeat, in the form of a Beskar coated, augmented arm. She wouldn't force this girl down that path. Better her learn on her own, and avoid the Jedi... No doubt they would immediately seek to use her in their defense against the Bryn'Adul...

"I will begin your training after you have settled in on my planet, and finished the repairs on your ship... Once you learn to fly it, you'll be taking me on vacation"

Barefu said rising, towering over the other, and reaching back to click off that mask.

"Alssso, the nexxt time you call me Massster, I will give you a wound that you will not forget. You are ssslave to none... Ever again. Mairéad Solus "

 

[Mairéad Solus]

Mairéad was focused and back in the room again, these exercises were such a strange sensation but she felt she was beginning to understand what Barefu Shysa meant, that there was an energy to the universe that she was tapping into. It fascinated her now as much as it scared her. She rolled her hand around and moved her fingers about wondering how the tricks she could do were connected and what more she could learn. She turned to look at Shysa, she found the woman to be elegant and her body language almost mesmerising. She hoped that she herself would be able to learn the language of her teacher, as a mark of respect if nothing else.

"I am grateful for everything you can teach me, Shysa, you have already opened my eyes so much to something that I never understood before, and it has only been a very short time," This was honest, she had a new path open to her and it was thanks to a woman that could have easily left her drifting and frozen in the vacuum of space. "I do not intend to be that crying girl any more, and I will address you as you have requested"

She was a little perplexed by the discussion of not embracing her emotions, as it seemed her emotions had been the origin of this whole incident, but Shysa must have her reasons, so she would not pull at that thread until she better understood the context.

"What would you like me to do next?" she asked, hoping for some clarity on a few things "Will I come with you to settle on your planet, or will you guide me, I am without means to either settle, or enact repairs on the ship, although I am capable of working to earn my keep, and to pay for any repairs necessary" She thought better than to ask too many questions about the vacation, it was an unusual task and Mairéad just had a feeling there was more to it than a simple holiday​