Endings, Beginnings, and a Little in Between

[Jason Reau]

[member="Rekha Kaarde"]


Jason secured himself with the available stirrups and assorted other straps. From the resulting position he found himself in, it was obvious he was just along for the ride. Not to mention the saddle rode higher in certain tender areas than would ever be comfortable for a full grown Mandalorian male. On a positive note, there was no obvious place for his hands so Rekha’s waist seemed the best place to hold onto. Her bulky coat made any stimulation from such contact purely a mental thing… but, Jason always had an active imagination.

As the thranta lifted away from the platform, Jason’s attention focused on it and how it flew. Unseen airsacks in its body gave it a neutral buoyancy and its manta like wings provided propulsion for moving forward, climbing and descending. It was amazing.

As fascinating as the creature was, the view they had from its back proved to be what captivated Jason. Soaring above the gas giant Bespin, gaps in the clouds provided brief views of the various mid-levels of the gases although the Rethin sea was too far below and shrouded in clouds and other vapors to be visible.

The famous Cloud City dominated in one direction while the clouds were dotted with mining platforms of various sizes, shapes and altitudes. As much as Jason flew in his ship, he was still too earth-centric for the vista to be anything other than surreal… and he loved it.

He was surprised but only because he hadn’t considered it; but, the flight was amazingly quiet. The thranta’s wings made a gentle swooshing sound but other sources of sound were too far to be a nuisance to their enjoyment.

He leaned forward and spoke near Rehka’s ear so that he wouldn’t have to speak loudly and damage the serenity of the moment, “Thank you, Rekha. This is really flying and it’s simply amazing.” Caught up in the experience and without thinking about it, he gave Rekha a soft kiss of gratitude on her cheek. Opps!

Well, dammit, blame it on his mother. She was affectionate with her children and taught them it was all right to treat people kindly and with affection. But not everyone understood such simple gestures weren’t always sexual come ons. Jason just hoped she didn’t drop him into the molten sea far below.

 

[Rekha Kaarde]

Rekha could hear and feel Jason's excitement it wasn't hard to feel happiness like this. Anyone who loved flying the feeling of freedom could not love this to wind on your face, the movement of the muscles of the thranta as it moved with what seemed like such little effort.

She laughed out loud and almost cried at the same time. Then the gentlest of kisses she turned and looked at Jason. She knew her face was contorting in ways that could only be confusion. She turned back keeping her knees tight on the saddle and holding the reins.

She tried breathing in deeply. Convincing herself that it was ok that this was fun that she was sharing an adventure with someone. Someone who had never been able to do this before, she was giving him a memory. He'd always remember this, she would always remember this.

This might be the reason he came back here. Why else would he visit Bespin?

What else was there to do? She shook her head, cleared her mind.

"Ready to dive?" She looked back hoping he was ready, she was ready..more than ready. "Hang on Jason, let's not go splat today!"

She leaned forward and changed the angle of her body, then made a little whirling noise through her teeth. The thranta with two flaps of his wings turned downwards not straight down but angled downwards, slowly he was picking up speed.

Rekha could feel her heart now pounding loud in her ears, the adrenaline pulsing through her. She began breathing hard, Oh God she thought this feels so good right now only one thing better....

There was a bit of bite to the wind "JASON! YOU Ok?" She shouted she felt the wind would drown her voice out.

[member="Jason Reau"]

 

[Jason Reau]

[member="Rekha Kaarde"]


Jason was dismayed by Rekha’s reaction to his innocent kiss. It was an impulsive act of gratitude; and, as such, needed no response. She didn’t respond verbally, but, the look of confusion and then her rigid attention to riding the thranta was reaction enough. He regretted it but had never learned how to undo a kiss – even one that was just a peck on the cheek. He shrugged mentally and sighed audibly vowing not to do anything that personal again unless invited and he had no reason to expect any such invitation.

"Ready to dive? Hang on Jason, let's not go splat today!"

“Sure, Rekha,” he answered automatically. Well, she didn’t sound angry. He would simply consider it a learning exp… OH, CRAP!!! The bottom fell out from beneath them.

Jason squeaked in a very unmanly fashion and when he thought of it later only hoped it wasn’t loud enough to penetrate the rush of the wind that suddenly surrounded them. He glanced back up where it seemed his stomach might be waiting for them only to see their previous location to be receding rapidly with the speed of the thranta’s dive. The surprise didn’t last long, though, and the amazement returned. He marveled at the creature they rode and had a strong desire to see what rolls and other acrobatic maneuvers would be like on its back.

They were approaching wispy clouds. From Jason’s limited knowledge regarding the gas giant, any vapors were probably not benign and his breathing seemed to reflect that premonition as he was becoming short of breath. He remembered his rebreather and looped its straps over his head and was relieved to find breathing through it almost normal.

He leaned forward and, lifting his rebreather for a moment, asked, “Do you need your rebreather? Atmosphere seems rather short on oxygen.”

He leaned back and looked at the thickening clouds below them. They were simply more dense, and didn’t seem to be anything like the storm clouds of Corellia. He wondered if Bespin had anything like thunderstorms. His idle speculation was interrupted when he saw a dark shadow moving through the cloud below them. The thranta seemed to shutter a moment at the same time Jason noticed the exposed hairs on his arm standing straight up.

He leaned forward again and pointed at the shadow. “Velker?” he shouted over the wind. If it was, and they had already entered its electrical field, then it knew they were there. The question would be would it care. They were know to disable cloud cars with their electric stun but most attacks seemed to be when they confused a target as being a beldon. It was a massive shadow compared to their thranta. He wondered if their ride could outrun Bespin’s primary predator.

 

[Rekha Kaarde]

[member="Jason Reau"]

Rekha nodded to the rebreather her hand coming back to grab it found instead she had put her hand on Jason's chest. She looked back to see where it was. Then green eyes looked up into his she felt like a cheater. She felt like typhoid Mary. She didn't know what to do about this. She felt like she needed permission to want someone.

Her mind was getting blurry. The air was thin, "I've needed the rebreather since I met you" She took her hand off him and fumbled for the mask. Finally able to work her fingers she pulled it on turning to look at the shadow that was looming close to them.

Rekha held the reins and let the natural instinct of the thranta take over. So far it seemed calm as it slowly began to make a move away from the huge velker. Rekha had only seen one or two since arriving and they were not aggressive yet. There was a first time.

Then the thranta began picking up speed. It tilted to the right slowly, then something happened Rekha looked behind them. "Hang on!! " they were being chased. The tilt was turning into a roll.

Rekha gripped the reins but allowed the thranta its freedom of movement, she did not want to be velker appetizers.

 

[Jason Reau]

[member="Rekha Kaarde"]


Jason looked back briefly and saw the shadow beginning to emerge from the cloud. It was friggin huge and had a maw that could swallow them up whole! The velker was matching their speed; moving back and forth across their wake as if finding and following their scent.

When the thranta began a rolling dive Jason reach around the already crouching brunette’s waist and got a firm grip on the saddle’s pommel. He mimicked her crouch trying to help the thranta’s aerodynamics as much as possible.

Another look back revealed the velker was basically maintaining station; neither gaining nor losing ground on them but persistently following. A look ahead revealed a couple of possibilities. To the left and slightly lower were a group of beldon; to the right and higher was what Jason thought must be the derelict platform of Tibannopolis. Weaving through the beldon might cause the velker to lose interest in them. If not perhaps they could reach and go to ground on the old platform.

 

[Rekha Kaarde]

[member="Jason Reau"]​

​

Rekha looked behind them this was the first time that the velker had ever taken notice of her when she was riding perhaps a thranta and two humans was too much of a temptation. Rekha for some reason began to laugh, she always laughed when her nerves were jangled. She never figured out why but it never failed. The more scared she got the more she would laugh until reality caught up and stunned her silent.

Rekha felt Jason bring his hands around she reached back and pulled him closer so that his body covered hers they would look seamless she pulled down more toward the saddle giving the thranta as much speed as it could push out. She laughed again, then bit on her lip hard the pain reminded her that this was serious. The thranta dove through the beldon maybe that would deter the velker but Rekha had a feeling they were going too fast to fall off the radar that quickly.

The ground was coming up, "come on baby don't fail me now..." Rekha angled her feet and brought her knees tighter to the thranta.

At that moment a song that she had heard that morning came to mind and why it came now could only attest to where her mind really was

There are times in life when you gotta crawl
Lose your grip, trip an' fall
When you can't lean on no one else
That's when you find yourself​

I've been around an' I've noticed that
Walkin's easier when the road is flat
Them danged ol' heels'll get you every time
Yeah, the good Lord gave us mountains
So we could learn how to climb​

Maybe this was her wake up call, maybe this was her last chance to do anything.

"I'm going to go to the abandoned platform" Rekha began to guide the thranta to where she wanted him to go as slow as the velker had been and now it was tangled with the beldons they needed just a bit more, she brought the reins up to slow the thranta down wrapping them tightly around the palms of her hands. "come on baby, we need to stop"

The powerful wings began to push back to slow down.

 

[Jason Reau]

[member="Rekha Kaarde"]


Jason arched a brow but didn’t comment as Rekha began to laugh. He just hoped that the outcome of this adventure would prove her humor correct. Perhaps after another ale, or six, back at the cantina, he would also be able to find some amusement in the situation. For now he just puckered tight and held on for dear life.

As large as the bendon were, it would be easy for the velker to lose sight of them as they flew through the group. Jason had the impression; however, that sight was only one of the ways it stalked its prey. Scent and that electrical field it generated were probably more important to it than sight.

"I'm going to go to the abandoned platform."

Jason nodded his understanding without pausing to consider if she eyes in the back of her head to see his response. He glanced back again and was relieved to see the velker had slowed as it passed through the beldon. They were its preferred prey; although it usually took a pack of velker to take on a fully grown bendon. Perhaps it was looking for a youngling to drag down into the lower atmosphere and shred.

Even so, lying low on the platform until it left the area seemed like a good idea. He turned his attention back to their destination. Tibannopolis was built to compete with Cloud City so it was probably much larger than this one proved to be. It was a huge mining facility, no doubt, but didn’t have anything that looked like public structures as a town platform would have had.

The reason they were landing on it notwithstanding, he found himself looking forward to exploring the old derelict. He just hoped Rekha knew how to secure the thranta so they wouldn’t be stranded here if it decided it was feeding time and wanted to head home without them.

 

[Rekha Kaarde]

[member="Jason Reau"]​

​

She wasn't looking back at him her eyes were on the platform if she had to look she could lose her nerve and one thing she learned as a smuggler be smart, and play the odds. Odds right now she thought it was even money on them escaping thing is though even once they got on the platform the velker could still want the thranta. The thranta had learned from being around them how to evade and as much as Rekha loved this she knew it would do better without the load on it's back.

The thranta rolled catching Rekha a bit off guard that was not fun. The wind was whistling now thranta weren't that fast but fast enough given their build.

She'd be able to comm back and tell them to come get them. As they got closer it was slowing they needed a bit more time. The thranta soon came to the abrupt hover and then a bump it squeaked. Rekha caught her breath, "Come on Jason, we got to pull the saddle off" Rekha looked back Jason was a little whiter than she remembered. Had she scared him? Freighter pilot huh, guess he never smuggled a thing in his life. "You oookaay?" She would love to sit and converse but time was of the essence.

She was getting ready to be a bit abrupt on her own she swung her legs over and slid off, quickly going under to unfasten the straps, "It will be faster with us off it's back and we can get a transport to come get us." Rekha felt the adrenaline in her system it had been a long time since she had to do anything like this. There were days she missed smuggling and then there were days she didn't miss it at all.

Rekha reached up for Jason's hand, "Just swing your legs over and drop down, easy peasy" She smiled, she knew as he came down the saddle would come with him.

 

[Jason Reau]

[member="Rekha Kaarde"]


Jason normally had no trouble with motion sickness; but then, a ship wasn’t a thanta. That last twist, dip and snap turn left his stomach a couple of moves back. “Uh, yeah, I’m fine,” he claimed rather unconvincingly.

Rekha was moving fast. She was off and doing something under the thranta before he could get his legs free of the straps. She offered a hand, but, he muttered “I’ve got it,” and leaned left to swing his right leg over and off.

Off was definitely what he got. The saddle rolled left as he did and continued with nothing to hold it in place. “OOOFFF!” was about all Jason could manage when he landed on the deck with the saddle on top of him. To add insult to injury, even the thranta tried to look back and see what was going on.

Jason sat up and watched as Rekha stripped the remainder of the gear off the thranta and let it fly away free of all encumbrances. It flew in the opposite direction from where they had last seen the velker. Jason stood up and stretched out the aches from being cramped in the saddle and his unplanned meeting with the deck. As he watched their ride flying away, he said, “I think it will be safe on its own. It sure seems to be moving more freely now without us.”

He looked around and asked, “So what now, Captain? Time to explore a little?”

 

[Rekha Kaarde]

[member="Jason Reau"]​

​

Rekha looked down at Jason she did not want to laugh but she could not help herself the sound of her laughter echoed back at them. Jason looked so out of his element right now there on the deck saddle on top of him. "Bet when you set out for Bespin you didn't think about doing this huh" She reached over and pulled the saddle off of Jason, "Don't feel bad Jason really, ok?". She pulled it across a bit wanting to make sure when they did leave they'd remember to toss it into the ship. She turned to help Jason who had recovered and was standing there looking at the thranta and then back to her.

Rekha was standing watching the thranta move off she hoped it would get away, "I've never had a velker come after us odd." She smiled though, "Yes let's explore I've never come here before it is a bit scary being empty, and old"

AS if listening to her on cue it creaked loudly, and a gust of cool wind rushed over them. "Do you believe in spirits Jason?" Rekha turned and headed towards a door she was unarmed perhaps realizing that now was not good. But she did not think about shooting anything, or anyone lately.

 

[Jason Reau]

[member="Rekha Kaarde"]


"Bet when you set out for Bespin you didn't think about doing this, huh?"

Jason grinned and joined her in laughing at himself. He had never been too proud to see the humor in it when he was screwing up something new; especially something Rekha made look easy. “No, I never considered the possibility of flying a thranta,” he admitted. He knew he would never come back to Bespin without wanting to ride them again, however.

"I've never had a velker come after us odd." He gave her a grin and replied, “Maybe it was female and couldn’t resist.” More seriously he added, “Or maybe we just got too close, anyway, it was an experience I’ll never forget. And no, I've never had a reason to believe in spirits, Rekha. Do you?”

He started walking along the deck with her, looking at the strange engines and structures that made up the former gas mine. In the depths of large bay, he saw a shape that looked familiar. Stepping inside he confirmed what he expected and said, “Let’s go down a deck here.” They found a stairway and descended one level, finding the large open area with several processing stations. He walked over to a large black block and ran his hand over its surface.

“Carbonite. This block appears to be sealed. It might actually have spin-sealed Tibanna inside… or maybe Han Solo,” he teased. They looked around the chamber. It looked like everything was simply turned off and everyone left. “I get a strange feeling in here. I wonder what happened to shut this place down so quickly.”

 

[Rekha Kaarde]

Jason was a good sport about it all she had to admit that if it had been here on her backside she wasn't sure she would have been so accommodating about it. She could laugh at herself she had at times in the past. Flying a thranta, once you do it you just never have enough, like you said it's really flying. Tell ya what Jason, you keep coming around and I'll teach you how to ride, least I can do. Now that sounded more like Rekha Kaarde someone who didn't mind doing something for nothing, she did it because it felt like the right things to do.

Did she believe in spirits I've seen things that I can't explain, so I will have to say yes I believe in spirits. She looked over, One day you might, so let's hope there aren't any in here. She smiled big at him. It was old, there was signs of age Rekha suddenly became concerned about how safe was this place? She was looking over when he said Let's go down a deck. She didn't see anything but perhaps he had.

Rekha looked over at the large black block, You know I don't think I've ever seen it like this. She took a step forward to extend her hand to touch it just as he said something about Han Solo she gave him that you devil look.

Rekha looked around it seemed rather odd that the block would still be there, I don't know, there could be some recordings still, not likely but it is possible, we could try to locate a station. It was odd feeling in here Rekha kept thinking it was because it was empty, and old.

There was that eerie creak again, Rekha turned looking. We can start over this way, we need to be careful though.

[member="Jason Reau"]

 

[Jason Reau]

[member="Rekha Kaarde"]


Jason was in total agreement with the “be careful” part.

“You would have thought scavengers would have taken this place apart piece by piece by now; much less leaving a sealed carbonite block to gather dust. The place… I guess it could have been shut down by its owners if it was losing money… or maybe a sickness spread through the workers here causing a shut down. But why there has been no obvious scavenging beats me. We could probably drag that block to Cloud City and make a few hundred credits on it alone if we were so inclined.”

The creak turned into a groan and the deck shifted under foot as if the whole platform were leaning slightly. “Some of the repulsors are failing throwing the array out of balance,” he theorized speaking almost to himself. “It’s amazing they have lasted this long without any maintenance.” He followed Rekha, curious what they might learn about this mining platform’s history. He was also curious to see what might be left on the other decks.

 

[Rekha Kaarde]

Rekha looked around again her trained eye could see that there was still quite a bit of valuable scrap in here, as well as computer gear, mining equipment, and of course this block before them.

"If we were so inclined" she whispered thinking when she was thinking her voice got lower. The creak and subtle change in the position of the platform caught her a bit off guard. "Oh this isn't good," she laughed again nerves kicking in, "Just our luck we come over and today is the day it may decide to shift completely" She was not going to think about that right now, she was looking down the hall.

I don't usually scare too easily, but something is starting to crawl down my neck and give me the chills. Her imagination perhaps she moved to the other side of the hall taking the approach with caution she peeked around the bend nothing was there but she could have sworn there was a shadow. Not wanting Jason to think she had gone off the deep end she said nothing.

Looks like a few offices up ahead, do you know anything about these platforms? She looked back at him information would be good.

[member="Jason Reau"]​

 

[Jason Reau]

[member="Rekha Kaarde"]


Jason wasn’t spooked but he did see an interesting mystery when it lurched under his feet. “I know very little about them, Rekha. From an engineering standpoint, only that they are held on station by banks of hundreds or thousands of repulsors and tractor beams. Cloud City is said to have 36,000 repulsors keeping it aloft. A platform this size probably requires a couple of thousand.”

He followed her towards a corridor with a set of offices. Learning the prior ownership and, if possible, what happened, would give them an idea of the platform’s current legal status. If it was completely abandoned salvage rights could be applied. If that was the case, why hadn’t someone been in here stripping out the valuables? Was there an ownership issue still, or, did something else keep away scavengers?

His thought were distracted by a sound – or more a sensation of a sound so low it was more felt than heard. He reached out and grabbed Rekha by the belt at the small of her back and stopped her, pulling her close. “Listen,” he whispered. A deep throbbing pulse – frighteningly like a slow heartbeat – seemed to be wafting up from the depths of the station.

After they listened to the sound a couple of minutes during which time it never changed, he said, “The only thing I can even imagine that being is a generator going bad. Probably why the repulsors are flacky.” At least he hoped that was what it was. He was determined not to let his imagination run rampant as it was want to do from sitting at home alone watching too many sci-fi holo-vids. Reality could be bad enough... an old nuclear generator could be very bad news if it failed - especially a low-budget one like a platform like this would have been able to afford. That was probably one of those things best left unsaid - at least for now.

He let her go and they went on into the first office.

 

[Rekha Kaarde]

That was about what she knew as well, and if enough went out it would free fall to the surface taking them with it. It was not the kind of demise she saw for herself. Rekha was moving at her quickest pace when she was pulled backwards, she turned her head to look at Jason a look of bewilderment on her face.

She paused and listened she felt him, warm against her back. She nodded though listening for the sound that Jason had detected. The silence was a bit eerie but there it was that low hum. She often heard these noises like when the transport crashed into the desert of Tattooine. She had nearly died that trip, nearly being the descriptive word. She remembered how that all went too.

There wouldn't be anyone coming after her this time.

Once he let her go she turned into the office door looking around quickly, "I haven't broke into a system in a while so this might take a few" Rekha sat down and began typing commands. She had a little skill, she gained it from necessity. When the company emblem came up Rekha stared at it, Cloud City Miners Guild she looked at Jason, This would make sense that they would do this, but so far no reasoning as to why they left it.

Rekha tried to find some of the old communciations. There were messages regarding deliveries, requests, schedules. One finally caught her eye, Hey Jason look here.

TO: Operations
FROM: Containment

Last night there were three more unexplained changes to the process of refining the gas, one resulted in a small explosion disabling the lower level. If these type of incidents keep up many of the workers are threatening to leave.


Rekha tried searching for others, but there wasn't much else. They could have been deleted. This was when a real slicer would come in handy.

[member="Jason Reau"]​

 

[Jason Reau]

[member="Rekha Kaarde"]


Jason rubbed his chin as he pondered the information that email revealed. If the refining process was having anomalies, there was no telling what was in that carbonite. That might explain why it was left behind, or, maybe not. There just wasn’t enough information to tell. That also might explain why the generator was sounding the way it was.

“Rekha, my first jobs on board freighters was as engineer. If we can get to the mechanical decks, I might be able to stabilize that power source and give this old platform a few more years.”

Plus he wanted to see more of the place before they had to leave. He hoped she was right… that she could call for pickup, and, if she could, that they would be able to get to them quickly. He had a feeling that this platform was in a perilous state and he had no desire to become velker chow.

“I assume the Cloud City Miners’ Guild is still active. That would create some question as to salvage rights. We would have to prove abandonment for whatever period the local system specifies for claims. From the looks of this place, though, that shouldn’t be too hard.”

He looked out the view port at the kaleidoscopic gas plumes shooting up from the denser clouds farther down. It was subtle, but, everything was in constant motion. “what a place,“ he murmured somewhat to himself. As interesting as it was, he knew he preferred terra firma. Flying things had a tendency to crash so living in one full time seemed a questionable endeavor.

He turned back to Rekha and asked, “So, what now, Captain?”

 

[Rekha Kaarde]

[member="Jason Reau"]

Rekha had to think this through a bit crossing her arms the wheels and options played out. The guild is still active, and they might come calling once they realize that someone is playing with their rig. She leaned forward slightly the carbonite was the trick. The carbonite could be a decoy meant to lure someone in to taking it or it could have been left by someone in a hurry. It makes me nervous.

She looked at Jason while she had wanted to give him a memory that he would remember always and associate only good things with it. The possibility of putting his life at risk had not been part of the plan. But here he was and his spirit of adventure was certainly as great as hers could be. She bit her lip for a moment the sharp pain reminded her of where she was.

Jason, you know there could be some danger to this that we cannot see. I if I were I would do this, but you must be sure that you want to do this as well. I say we go forward. What do you say?

She was sure she knew his answer but the final answer would have to come from him.

 

[Jason Reau]

[member="Rekha Kaarde"]


Jason grinned at Rekha. She was saying the right things; worrying about the welfare of her ‘guest’, but, he could hear the hint of a challenge in her question. Or maybe, the question wasn’t meant to challenge him but as more of a test to see if he measured up to her sense of adventure and daring in the face of possible danger. He wondered at his ‘reward’ for answering correctly.

“I definitely want to see more of this place, but, I think we need to check out the generator as a priority to see how long we have. Best case, we get it running better and maybe a second one on line. Then we could explore unrushed. Let’s backtrack to the stairwell we came down and use it to go deeper into the platform. We know it’s serviceable and we won’t have to take time to find another.”

He picked up a handheld device and switched it on. He was pleased to see it still had a charge and explained, “This is a manifest scanner used to scan cargo on and off freighters. It reads the codes on the package and has shipping and receiving information as well as contents. If that carbonite was ready to ship, it should have a barcode engraved into one end of it. Maybe we can get more information about it with this… and it’s on the way to the stairwell,” he ended with a challenging grin of his own.

 

[Rekha Kaarde]

Me too. She had figured him right what pilot in their right mind would turn down a little more adventure. Reward, was he looking for a reward? Hot shower. Hot meal that was waiting back at the Underground.

Who knew what kind of reward could be found whether it was here on the station, or back there. Rekha nodded, "Ok then let's go take a look around and cross our fingers" And our toes, and our eyes and pray that nothing jumps out of a dark corner and drags us down a vent. You are hereby in charge of scanning. I will be in charge of....slicing into the computers when need be.

With a deep breath she nodded and moved forward this wasn't the first time she'd play the odds, and not likely the last. The look she gave I can't let you best me be more daring than me. No. I won't show hesitation, if I can help it.

They were back tracking he was right it was the safest way to go.

[member="Jason Reau"]​