Gravity

[Asmus Janes]

The need to see Kaile had become less pressing than another. The need to get away from his squadron mates.

“Right then Janes, that’s two whole weeks of sweet rations. Enjoy the enforced diet,” Wilson jeered.

“Too easy,” Chad added. “He’s got no game today.”

“What would you call that expression?”

“Melancholy.”

“Now that is a big work for a pilot. You should be on the bridge or something.”

Asmus decided to interject, holding up both hands. “I’ll let you two fight over the spoils. I’m out.” In his head he’d been watching her turn and walk away. Except this time he’d held on. He’d held on and tugged her back to his ship and she hadn’t left. “I’m going to head down to the flight deck and see if they want help.”

Both men looked at him, aghast. “You’re going to help out? With the ships?”

“Wow it’s bad.”

“Worse than I thought.”

“Maybe you should drop into the med bay on the way?” the word escaped the door before it closed behind him.

Damnit. Needed to go and think alone. There was an observation point on C deck. He went there to watch the stars.

 

[Kaile Vera]

@Kaileann Vera

The worst thing about being in the med-bay wasn’t just the memories, but how Kaile’s mind was racing twelve parsecs a second. On your own, the mind is a terrible thing. It brought forth the shadows of the past, running through a variety of scenes and what ifs if things had happened differently.

Beep. Beep. Beep.

Hands came up to cover her ears, and Kaile brought up her knees to her chest, the blanket shifting. Shutting her eyes tightly, the Lorrdian tried to calm her quickening breath.

Beep.Beep.Beep.Beep.

Heartrate was increasing. It felt as if the organ was about to thump straight out of her chest. Stop it, Kaile girl. Just, calm down. Breathe.

But it was easier said than done.

 

[Asmus Janes]

The problem with working on machines was that it reminded him of her. The smell of all the grease and metallic dust from the hull of his X-Wing took him right back to the Quintessence's engineering bay. The fact that it went back so far was testament to how little manual labour he did. A lot of pilots liked to do general maintenance on their ship and help out the deck crews. Asmus wasn't one of them. He liked to tinker with Thunderstruck, but he left the day to day work to the engineers. He had important squadron drinking games to conduct.

He'd stayed by the observation port for all of five minutes before growing bored and heading down here. Now he regretted it.

"Oh and to make matters worse..." he mumbled.

"What are you doing down here?"

"Hi Lucy."

Lucy was a nice enough girl. A little skinny for his tastes and overly friendly. Also head over heels for him. The feeling wasn't mutual It was in the "Come back to my cabin" sort of way, but more of a "be mine forever and ever and ever and ever." way. Apparently her obsessions tended to swing between the pilots whose rears looked best in flight suits, but he seemed to have been her infatuation for a few months now.

 

[Kaile Vera]

[member="Asmus Janes"]“Are you alright, Agent Vera?”

The query was laden with concern, the diminutive Polis Massan padding his way over to her. He may not be the most expressive near humanoid, but the mild alarm at the sudden increase in Kaile’s heart rate would be evident upon his body language.

Red rimmed eyes managed to peek through the valleys of her fingers.

“Are you in pain?” Kree’s voice was mild, attempting to sooth her. In his hand, he took another medical scanner.

“I can give you a mild pain reliever.” Anything stronger wouldn’t be advisable with the mild concussion she had.

Kaile gave a small shake of her hand, trying to wave him off.

“I’m fine. Really.” a lie. It was really starting to register. Hit her with a white hot crashing wave.

Asmus is here.

 

[Asmus Janes]

Having finally evaded Lucy, Asmus found himself on the edge of that particular region of crew quarters, deck B. Hadn’t even realised he’d retraced his steps back here until he saw that corridor ahead. The one where he’d waited to ambush her. He had truly intended just to get her talking to him. Hadn’t meant to follow her into her room and end up flinging the buttons of her jacket all across the floor.

A guilty smile found his lips as he looked down at hands that could still imagine digging into her hips.

No, no, this wasn’t fair. Wouldn’t be fair. Leave her to think. Just because he didn’t want to be left alone with his thoughts didn’t mean that she wasn’t perfectly comfortable alone in her room trying to work things through. Otherwise she probably would have sought him out.

Not the greatest leap of logic, but it served a purpose. Namely getting him to turn on his heel and head for the mess for dinner.

 

[Kaile Vera]

[member="Asmus Janes"]

At least, until Asmus found himself crashing into a body. A rather large body. Rather barrel chested, dark skin, a deep scowl upon his face and yes, that rather short shorn high and tight.

It was Captain Amadgenar. And he didn’t appear to be none too happy to see the Wraith Squadron leader back on deck B.

“...Janes.” his gruff voice seemed to resonate with ever increasing disapproval.

“What are you doing on B Deck again?” his curt voice seemed to flay the pilot.

 

[Asmus Janes]

“Not in the restricted zone!” he protested quickly. He pointed back down the corridor. “Level Three zone…” he pointed back down at their feet. “...Level Two zone.”

“No, the Level Three starts back at those blast doors. Which shouldn’t be open.”

“Wasn’t me!”

“I dare say it wasn’t. Still, we’d best go and put this second infraction in the log book and get you confined to quarters for....”

“Look, look… no…” Asmus stammered, blood draining from his face. He’d been caught off guard, not his usual sharp-tongued self.

“What?”

“Look, it’s just….just I’m madly in love with someone on Deck B.”

Amadgenar laughed. Except it was more like a short, sharp bark than a laugh. “Yes, yes, I’m sure. Look the crew have enough warnings about people like you. Mostly from the med team at the sexual disease awareness workshops…”

“Hilarious.”

“I know. Don’t interrupt. Despite these warnings the crew is free to make as many...mistakes…” his dark eyes gave Asmus the once over at that word “...as they’d like. Just keep out of my damn Level Three zone and pester people in the mess and rec room like everyone else.”

“Got it,” Asmus replied curtly, slowly backing off.

"Go get your end off with that silly Lucy on the flight deck or something. The people on this deck won't fall for your shenanigans."

He was like a dog minding his territory, Asmus decided. He was almost regretful he would have to delay this one sided battle of wits for the next day.

 

[Kaile Vera]

[member="Asmus Janes"]

“Was that Captain Janes again?” It was Lieutenant Vaal Pal, the Sullustan Intel Officer. His large black eyes curiously studied the retreating figure of the Wraith Squadron leader.

“Sniffing around for his next bone, I’m sure.” a rather crude way to put it, but while the majority of the crew were aware of Asmus’ rather laid back extracurricular activities, they were well aware that he meant no harm.

“Does he realize the agent’s here would break him in two?” Pal added, quite amused. Typically, Janes didn’t bother fraternizing with the officers from Intelligence.

“Bring fresh blood in and any kathhound comes sniffing around.” Amadgenar replied, turning towards his Sullustan Intel agent.

“Get me a status on Vera and Vo.” black eyes went drifting to catch Janes turn the corner and leave B Deck.

“If he comes around here again, notate it down.” he turned at a ninety and began to walk to his room.

“I’ll get him on restriction.” a short bark of a laugh followed that.

“Janes? Madly in love?” it was a joke considering his reputation on this small ship.

“That’s a new one.”

 

[Asmus Janes]

Asmus’ attitude for the next few minutes could be best described as a petulant sulk. The day had started so well. Three kills. There were now four rows of little insignias on this nose. Several One Sith, mostly First Order. He idly wondered if they’d do a skull and crossbones for a pirate ship. He made himself a right pain for the deck crew. Half the missions he flew in that fighter were low altitude reconnaissance or acting as an armed civilian ship to extract an individual. Those times when he was after one person and the shuttle didn’t have the right performance. The small ship had been fitted with a long range fuel pod by himself and his uncle back when the notion had been to use it as a long range courier for Mal’s business. How times had changed. Every time they scrubbed off the kill marks and every time he made them put the right back where they had been. Maybe it was Lucy who did that?

The ace found himself meandering through the narrow corridors, ducking under bulkheads. He was walking right past the med-bay, but wouldn’t stop off there or even poke his head in. No need for a second ear bashing of the day. Even if the temptation was there to go and talk to Darak just to converse with someone who might have known Kaile than he.

 

[Kaile Vera]

[member="Asmus Janes"]

All the while, Kaile was in the middle of quietly arguing with Kee. Well, more like attempting to. For a Pollis Massan, he was quite stubborn.

In between going back and forth, he had already taken a small vial of acetaminophen. It would help with the pain as well as any swelling. They couldn't risk her concussion getting worse.

"Please sit still Agent Vera." the slight snap click of the vial confirmed it now sat snugly in the dermaneedle.

"I really don't -- OW!" came Kaile's abrupt cry. For a tiny near humanoid, he was dastardly fast. He had snuck the tip of the dermaneedle over to her arm and had it depressed before she could even fully object.

"There." despite the lack of facial expression, he gave an aura of satisfaction. "You need to rest." he insisted again.

The acetaminophen worked fast. That was the benefit of high technology. The aching throb between the bridge of her nose and at her temples began to fade.

There was another reason why Kaile didn't enjoy feeling any medicine run through her body. It made her lose focus, a bit fuzzy brained. It blurred all together, making her feel as if she wasn't control of anything.

Much like she hadn't been back then...

 

[Asmus Janes]

The cry of pain brought Asmus to an abrupt halt. What was she doing down here? More importantly: why was she crying out like that.

Nerve shot, he did exactly what he'd told himself not to and poked his head around the door. The medical bay was as cramped as any room on the ship. Just a handful of beds and two bacta tanks. Any bed could have a field deployed from above to make it a sterile environment for patient separation or surgery.

There she was. Looking woozy with fingers against the inside of her arm. Oh, just a shot.

There was a weak, embarrassed smile on his face as he started to turn away. He'd promised.

 

[Kaile Vera]

[member="Asmus Janes"]

Kaile was too busy rubbing the area where Kee injected the shot. It was more the pressure of the contents being pressured onto the skin than actual hurt. So when Asmus poked his bedraggled head in, concern in his expression, it was the Medic who caught him hanging by the threshold.

"Do you need medical attention, Captain Janes?" Oh yes, Kree knew the Captain very well. Amadgenar had not been exaggerating about sexually transmitted disease safety briefings. Periodic screenings were a necessity, and Janes at least was responsible enough to get his periodic med screenings; and receive his prescription of birth control.

Hearing 'Captain Janes' made Kaile's head snap up. Her eyes went wide, and she froze. Chocolate brown eyes swiveled from Kee over to to the entrance.

Wait, he was here?

 

[Asmus Janes]

Oh fethdamnit she hadn't even seen him until the doctor had decided to call him out. He couldn't just run away, so he stayed rooted to the spot on the threshold.

"Sorry Doc, heard a sound I couldn't ignore easily," his voice was loud enough for her to hear. That was obvious really. The med bay was only a few metres deep. "Thought we were under attack, but I see you were just sawing off a finger without anaesthetic or something."

"Very amusing, I'm sure. The one you picked up wounded is in the tank I'm afraid. I know you like to come and get in my way by checking in on your passengers."

He did as well. Often spent some time bedside with wounded assets he'd got out of tight spots.

"Got to go anyway doc. Got a promise to keep."

 

[Kaile Vera]

[member="Asmus Janes"]

This was strange. Typically, Captain Janes had a tendency to linger about the medbay regardless if he had any work to do. In fact, he went out of his way to make himself a nuisance.

"Oh, are you terribly busy then?" Kee took a few steps over to the pilot, the long fingers reaching over to tug at his uniform's leg.

"I have a few scans I need to go over, and Agent Vera is suffering from a mild concussion. I cannot have her sleeping, but she may need some company." this was just one terrible situation that was progressively turning worse.

Kaile herself had her eyes as wide as saucers. She blanched a few shades, and for the present time, felt as if nothing would be better if the ground simply rose up and swallowed her whole.

Oh, stars please no....

"I do believe she was one of your passengers." even if Asmus had come over to check on Agent Vo, there was still Agent Vera. The Polis Massan twisted his doll like face over to Kaile, "Have you properly met Captain Janes, Agent Vera?"

Fate had a cruel sense of humor.

"He was the pilot who brought you and Agent Vo today." the medic was oblivious to the frantic flickering of Kaile's eyes from the medic over to Asmus and then back. Her fingers went curling tight against the bedsheet.

"Rather sociable fellow. He can keep you company and watch over you for a bit." Kee turned then to Asmus.

"Right?"

 

[Asmus Janes]

[member="Kaileann Vera"]

A rather strained and embarrassed smile had lodged itself on Asmus' face.

"Yes we've met and..."

"Good, I have work to do. Don't let her sleep so keep talking. Not a problem for you."

"Erm," Asmus looked at the raw anxiety Kaile was displaying. He looked at the doctor's back as he hunched over a terminal. He looked back to the door.

Finally he looked at his feet and then back at Kaile before dropping down into the chair beside her.

"This wasn't a plan," he murmured apologetically. Problem was the room was small and Zee had exceptional hearing. "I'll stay a minute for appearances then give you your space..."

He turned his head to one side, then looked over at Kaile. She looked so very fragile. He just wanted to hold her. "Vera...Kaileann Vera. That's very pretty." It was much nice than the alias she'd taken on the Quin.

 

[Kaile Vera]

[member="Asmus Janes"]

There was a mental groan there. Along with the brief roll of eyes to the ceiling as if to say, ’Why me?’ By the time Asmus sat down on the chair beside her cot, Kaile had turned her head so that only her profile would be towards him. She couldn’t meet his eyes.

It was a most bittersweet series of unfortunate events. The Lorrdian wasn’t sure what made it worse. That Asmus was being apologetic, or that this was a scene straight out of the past that she’d once desperately craved.

Why now?

Swallowing hard, Kaile’s gaze fell to her hands, dark hair falling forward like a veil. Her thumb was nervously rubbing against the side of her forefinger, moving in a pressured back and forth movement. An anxious tick. One that prompted a curling of fingers when the espion heard him say her name. Well, the real one at least. It had been Cobb then.

What does one even say in this situation? Her stomach clenched. It didn’t help that the heart rate monitor was picking up her increased heart rate.

Finally, she managed to say, “Y-you… don’t have to stay here.” her voice gave a slight crack, and for Asmus, he’d be reminded of the wretched Kaile he’d met long ago.

 

[Asmus Janes]

Are you not even a little happy to see me?

The thought ran through his mind and Asmus found his world view suddenly confronted. One thing was almost always certain for him: things would be alright if he stayed positive. Right now, the way Kaile was avoiding his gaze, made him feel as if there could be no fixing this. There was no way he could understand what she was being put through.

Her hands were talking again. She used to curl up the fabric of her clothes when she was nervous or perturbed. That struck him. She wasn't angry, but she was upset.

"It's alright. If you want me to go I'll leave in a few minutes when Zee isn't looking. I said I'd give you time to think."

I don't want to give her time to think. I want to hold her hand.

"How bad is the knock? My fault really, but there was a lot of EM noise as if a weapon was being locked on. Had to bolt."

Had to show off more like, he chastised himself.

 

[Kaile Vera]

[member="Asmus Janes"]

If he only knew the truth, Asmus would understand. Even with lids lowered, Kaile was able to pick up trace amounts of his body language through the peripheral. The rather trouble expression he wore across his angular face was enough to make another wave of butterflies and knots in her belly. He was confused. Perhaps even a bit hurt. Certainly saturated with all the questions he wanted to ask.

Questions that Kaile knew would only end in heartache.

At least when he asked her about her injury it was a safe topic. Asmus would see that knuckle white grip relax.

Beep. Beep. Beep

“Just ah mild concussion,” her voice was thick, he’d be able to catch her drawl. He got to her, that much was clear. Kaile was unable to maintain her professional bearing when it came to Janes. The Espion was able to play pretend any role, embed herself into the First Order as an officer, abscond with that information; but when it came to neerdowell pilot, it just seemed to fall apart. All the worse when he was able to so keenly read her with an intimacy few ever could.

“Ain’t like gettin' scuffed up a bit ain’t in my job description.” nervousness managed to relay more than she intended. Heart rate hitched again.

Beep. Beep. Beep

 

[Asmus Janes]

Just talk, he told himself. Last time she'd been in a worse state than this and all he'd done was talk. That and play silly buggers in the maintenence tube.

That memory brought a small smile to his face.

"When...erm...a few years ago I used to smuggle for a living. Used to hide things in secret tunnels in the ship. Used to get the odd knock back them. Once got smacked about by a gran who was on top of me. Thought I was gonna meet my end fot a few moments. Someone saved me.

"These days it's pretty much easy going. I survive or I'm space dust before I even realise I've been hit."

"Ah, there's Asmus," a small voice chirped up. "Was going to give you a check up you were so quiet. You see miss Vera he usually talks the ears off my patients. Very handy when they're not allowed to sleep."

Seeminglu satisfied with himself, the doctor returned to his work.

 

[Kaile Vera]

[member="Asmus Janes"]

“I remember.”

It was said rather quietly that perhaps Asmus wouldn’t catch it. I remember., Kaile thought to herself, the memory of slipping into that small hideyhole with Asmus at the Quinessence. Where they’d set to fixing a small area before his head had suddenly popped up above her, a silly little boy’s grin on his face and his hair flopping over her. The memory was so vivid it made her fingers itch, recalling how she’d laughed and gently tucked away the strands of his hair behind his ears then.

It was hard to not follow through and say ‘I know,’ when it came in regards to what Asmus had done throughout the years. Weak moments where the Lorrdian used her skills and connections to catch up on what Asmus was up to. How he’d been doing. His time in the Academy and his career in the Alliance.

When Kee came in to peek at them, his blank white face and tiny black eyes a small pop alongside the curtain a welcome reprieve. So when Asmus turned his dark head towards the Doc at his intrusion, Kaile managed to swivel her own to get a better look at him. Cleaned up, his hair was an unruly mess, but it still gleamed with a healthy glow even under the incandescent light. There were tuffs of hair that would curl alongside the nape of his neck. Dark forelocks were still flopping over his brow, that if Kaile were honest with herself, she’d want to gently brush aside.

His profile was just as pretty as before, but he’d grown up some. Just like I thought he would. A little bit fuller, older. With a few tiny scars here and there. There was no missing the tiny laugh lines at the corner of his eyes.

This time, her fingers curled tight against the blanket, but it wasn’t in nervousness. It was due to her itching need to reach out and touch his face. To hold him close. For a moment, there was an expression of longing on Kaile’s constance. One she quickly attempted to hide when Asmus managed to turn back to look at her.