Private From an old friend

[Tae'l Vizsla]

(Before the events of: Trial of Motherhood)​

Coruscant...

<<"Hey Shot, it's uh... it's Tae'l">> She sighed into the commlink about her wrist, trying to record a message mean for the slicer turned inventor known as Shot Sutaz. Sutaz had done a lot for the Vizsla family already, from the crucial role she played in locating her mother in the bowls of Coruscant, to bankrolling the extensive cybernetic surgeries that saved Tae'l's own life after the ensuing battle there.

So much had changed since then. She was hardly even the same young woman that Sutaz once knew, for better or for worse. And yet here she was, about to the woman for another favor.

<<"I know that's gotta be surprising, I'm guessing everyone told you I'm dead. And I know we hadn't spoke in awhile even before all this, suppose that's my fault. A lot's happened and it's really confusing, I just-">>

She always hated asking for favors. Not just because she was admitting that she couldn't do it herself, but because she hated letting down her comrades, making them pick up her slack. Even with that infernal chip gone, it seemed that some of her Kaminoan training would always remain. Had she even spoken to Shot since the blasted thing was removed?

But nevermind all that, this wasn't about her anymore.

<<"It's about my daughter. We've been on the run for awhile and my ship's been destroyed. I'm on Coruscant right now, got a roof over our heads for now but it's hard finding money to get out of here without endangering the kid. Public transit's become too risky for us. I don't know who else to else to call right now">>

<<"And please... don't tell Aloy? it's complicated">>


She pressed send, finding it difficult to explain further without the chip regulating her emotions at all times. She may have reclaimed her humanity from it, but every once in awhile she caught herself missing the calm it used to bring her in times like these.

 

[Shot Sutaz]

It was an average evening in her life. She was sitting there in a the middle of a synthetic beef production house. She was in the back office, relaxing in the office chair that the dead guard on the floor had been in moments before she arrived. While relaxing, one of her many tendrils had a cord leaving it, jacking into a port on the machine. Meanwhile, she herself was scrolling through a multitude of files on her wristpad. It was around then that the message arrived. The cybernetics played it in her brain while she continued scrolling the files. Upon recognizing the voice, she stops scrolling, exiting her technological trance instantly. The recording file is instantly pulled up on the wristpad with a swipe of her finger. She then proceeds to tap on it and sipe through various other options. Working her magic, as one would call it. Once she got the program running, her tendril pulls out of the port as she stands up from the office seat and proceeds to move towards the exit of the building at a quickened pace.

It would be about 30 minutes or so after T'ael sent the message that her commlink would begin chirping. Instead of a typical commlink ID, she'd see a simple undername. '5QU1D'. If answered, a familiar voice would come from the other end. None other than the cynernetic nautolan herself. "On my way now! Already know where you are, don't bother telling me. Not over comms. Your situation sounds dicey. By the way, Why would I tell Aloy? What is she, your keeper? OH! I almost forgot. What do you and your kiddo want for dinner? Bet the kid could use a pick-me-up. Nothing better for that than some good food. For you, I've got a rack's worth of fine booze. Also other drugs if you indulge. You sound like you need...something. Anything." Without hesitation nor delay, the Nautolan was turning up. Sutaz was many things. Overconfident, scatterbrained and even a tad crazy. But when she was kind, that kindness arrived fast and loud.

As for how she had managed to open an outright call instead of sending a message in response? Crazy and confident, alongside a partly mechanical skull, made a techie like her just too relentless to quit.

 

[Tae'l Vizsla]

Tae'l was not expecting a call so soon, figuring that by now Sutaz would be wealthy enough to have people or droids to sift through calls while she attended some kind of meeting or something. Besides, Tae'l had acquired new commlink codes and other ID since those days, without playing the message it was indistinguishable from any other stranger or scam call.

But to her surprise, she got a call back. The name "5QU1D" on brand enough for her to pick it up immediately. Tae'l was the kind to take offense to names like "Tails" and otherwise "othered" but Sutaz wasn't so insecure and she was always... a little eccentric.

And crafty of course. Seemed that hadn't changed any, considering she already knew Tae'l's location and was on her way. Sometimes it was a little unnerving just how good she was, but Tae'l was hardly even a novice slicer, relying on pre-made viruses and spyware to further her career as a bounty hunter. Sutaz was the real deal, Tae'l just knew the right people, people like her.

<<"I uhm... She likes cuckoo nuggets?">> Dinner had completely skipped her mind, and usually bought something cheap locally or her host made dinner during the occasional visits.

Oh, right.

<<"I'll get packed up and meet you outside. Thanks">>

As much as she would like to at least invite her old friend inside, it was Valery Noble's backup apartment and thus Noble's decision when it came to who can and cannot enter. Maybe she'd share the story of how that came to be? after a lot of catching up.


Shot Sutaz

 

[Shot Sutaz]

"Cuckoo nuggets? Alright then. Kid's wish is my command. I'm getting us some high grade bantha steaks though. I mean, I'll get you cuckoo nuggest too if you really want them but...Personally I'm not having nuggets with my wine this eve." She giggles. "See ya soon, T'ael. Lay low. I'll send you a message when I'm there. You can fill me in on what's going on over a good meal. We'll see if we can't make your life easier, yeah? Mwah." After her playful kiss noise, the commlink call ends with a beep.

It would be a solid 6 hours or so before T'ael would hear anything else. Made sense. She was probably off world when she got the call. Quite frankly, 6 hours was making good time in that instance. A message would flicker onto T'ael's datapad before disappearing as suddenly as it appeared. Once again, the message was from '5QU1D'. It simply said 'I'm outside!'

After T'ael exited the apartment, she'd be treated to the sight of quite possibly one of the fanciest hovercars around. Shiny black paint job, deployable wheels, thrusters in the back, a roof which was currently folded up to leave the car open aired, genuine leather seats, and armored plating under the shiny black paint of course. An overall beautiful piece of machinery. Currently, the hovercar is resting in a parking spot outside of the apartment. Leaning against it is none other than the nautolan herself.

Sutaz doesn't look a single day older than the last time T'ael saw her. Not a surprise considering how much of her body is synthetic or cybernetic. It was hard to tell where the machinery began and the flesh ended. In terms of attire, she was in her usual wardrobe when out on the job. A sheer black bodysuit, tight in the nice ways but not revealingly so. The front zipper was undone somewhat to allow air flow, With it she wore a brown leather jacket, a pair of black leather boots and a belt around her waist that had a leather band going around the right thigh. Held in place between the belt and the band was a blaster holster which contained an A-180 blaster pistol. Overall, lightly armed. Though anyone who'd met the nautolan knew that none of her weapons were on the outside.

Upon their approach, the Nautolan would flash them a pleased grin, showing off those sharp teeth. With a child present, she instantly snuffs out the death stick she'd been smoking before tossing it into a nearby trashcan with a terrifying amount of precision for not even looking in the direction she was throwing it. She then opens her arms as they approach, smile wide as she hurries towards them as well. "T'ael! It's been too long! We're not in trouble standing out here, are we?" Whether the embrace happens or not, she would then turn her attention to the child, leaning down slightly to be more level with her as she makes eye contact. "Name's Sutaz. We're gonna be takin a trip in that sweet ride over there." She chirps, jutting a thumb out at the black vehicle.

 

[Tae'l Vizsla]

When Tae'l left the house moments after receiving the message, she was not as Sutaz may have remembered. The Twi'lek warrior was taller than before, stronger even. But there was a certain weariness to her step, a slow and tired rhythm to the star-spurs that jingled with each step.

Even her armor had changed; Thick plates of shining chrome accented by a color somewhere between rust and blood, the most recognizable of these markings being the tear-like diamond over the narrow eye-piece of a visor built into a helmet that was clearly a replacement to whatever she had worn when the Nautolan last knew her. Even the hunting skirt around her waist made from hexagonal armorweave plates came a sharp point. Gone was the dull monochromatic markings of a once proud Vizsla, and the carefree young woman who wore it. Everything about her attire now was aggressive and angular, but well worn. Even the weapon about her hip, a shining golden hand-cannon that had become her signature weapon in the years spent separate from Sutaz, told a story.

Yet uncharacteristically of one wearing such armor, Tae'l had hoisted a protective baby carrier over her shoulder. Inside was a girl just barely old enough to eat solid food for the first time, though she was not Twi'lek like her mother. She seemed mostly human in fact, with short black hair and Red eyes that peered over her mother's shoulders at the newest arrival.

"T'ael! It's been too long! We're not in trouble standing out here, are we?"

"Should be safe, nobody knows I'm here besides the Jedi" Her voice was mostly unchanged, only sounding a little older than before. It still had that monotone, almost could sound undertoned by the slight electrical interference it fed through a mic inside the helmet.

Still, she put one arm around her old friend as they both closed in. Something that may never have happened if this were same Tae'l she'd all that time ago.

The child cooed curiously from over her shoulder, pressing a chubby little hand against the protective glass and even smiling at the similarly purple and tendril-headed alien that introduced herself.

Deciding that they were safe enough for the moment, Tae'l even reoriented the pod to be slung over her chest so that the baby could get a closer look while she introduced the two.

"Sutaz, meet my daughter: little Mirium" One could even picture the twi'lek's smile in that moment. Mirium seemed to bring the best out of the once murderous Mandalorian turned dutiful parent.


Shot Sutaz