Private Hair-Trigger

[Zaavik Perl]

「Hair-Trigger」
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Hyperspace, Sith-Imperial Borderspace
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Stars on the void beyond the cockpit's transparisteel viewport began to extend into hair-thin lines. The muted boom of the inerial compensators reverberated through the ship as the craft slipped into hyperspace. Sudden turbulence died down to a stillness that contrasted with the rapid passing of off-blue swirls beyond the cockpit. From the co-pilot seat, Zaavik flipped several switched and managed various controls until every notice light had shut off with the completion of post-hyperspace procedures.

He slumped back and sank into the seat with a exhale. It was silent. Silent, aside from the sustained oceanic droning of a ship tearing through hyperspace and the various chimes and tolls of the control console in front of the pilot seats. It may as well have been white noise. He'd expected Aradia to get up and move elsewhere in the ship once they were in hyperspace, giving him a place to brood. She didn't. His regard stayed in the middle distance between the dangerous, hypnotic lightshow of hyperspace and the miscellaneous knobs and blinking lights of the console.

He nearly zoned out.

A sudden, small turbulences brought him back from the brink. She still there? Go figure. Might as well say something then, right? They'd already made an agreement, though unsteady, to work together. Zaavik was still uncertain of his 'partner'. When considering his disposition toward her, it was muddled and abstruse. In any case, wouldn't it be beneficial to make things a little less turbulent? Just needed an icebreaker, an opener, something-

"So, your Mom's a Sith Lord?"

Impulse.

Nailed it.

"And one I've met? I guess the first part's not that surprising since you're a Sith too, I guess, but-" Zaavik scratched the back of his head, tittering wryly. "You never really came off as the privileged, snooty child of a Lord to me."

Darth Daiara ​

 

[Darth Daiara]

Aradia didn't stand up and go. Why should she? This was her ship. The pilot seat had finally molded its leathers to her back. She was comfortable, and with two days of hyperspace on the horizon, she had no where to be.

She was completely content to see in that chair and stare at the panels, and as long as he chose to occupy this room, she would. She still didn't trust him. Not the way she should. Not fully. Sure he hadn't stabbed her through when he had a chance, but he was still acting like had everything to lose and nothing to gain with her.

As long as that remained, he and his brainwashed training were a danger to them both. If he changed his mind...

Well, then she'd deal with him.



His attempt at small talk startled her. They had never been one for it before.

"She's not. I'm... not," Aradia answered, not bothering to clarify just which assumption she had negated there. Kaalia was neither her real mother nor a sith lord anymore, but one of those were a secret worth keeping.

Intel was intel, yanno?

"I was born a slave. She bought me at 13. I only saw her when we trained. I earned my stripes. No favoritism," she said pointedly, giving him a look that said that was that.

"The mother thing is.... recent," she grumbled, crossing her arms over her chest.

 

[Zaavik Perl]

"Oh."

Somehow her bluntness could still catch him off guard. Somehow her vague clarifications weren't nearly as provoking as laying her background on the table so plainly. He'd always had the suspicion that few were Sith by choice, though he'd be lying if he claimed he was an expert on Sith Anthropology, if such a field even existed. The mention of her having been bought and trained may have played the tune of affirmation if he were so naive to take one anecdote as the norm.

For all her hard work, she gets- adopted? If he drew any affirmation from her divulgence, it was that his eye that doubted their blood relation was of sound vision. It all, if not shed totally new light, at the very least applied a newer, slightly brighter coat of paint to the older woman he'd come to know as her mother. It almost felt wrong to look at it the way he'd quickly managed to frame it, that at least she made something of Aradia rather than just treating her like most slaves.

It felt insensitive, but it was reality, and had to be a testament to the older woman's character. Uplifting someone rather than treating them like property? Commendable even despite the implications. He'd been on the less desirable end of that spectrum himself. He almost envied her.

Empathy paused only just long enough for him to process it all before it came on suddenly like a freight-speeder. He felt her grumble into arm crossing a lot closer to home than he was used to.

If she was throwing everything out there, what better show of desired good faith was there better than him to do the same? Worst case scenario, she won't be bothered to care, and nothing changes. Best case, maybe she'd think him a little more human.

"A crime syndicate took me in when I was really young. So young I can hardly remember the early days. Allyson got me out of that. Becoming a Jedi was my golden ticket." The usual hard-faced glare he'd usually wall her off with was broken by a reflective empathy.

"I didn't have any real family until recently. So- I uh- I think I know how you feel. With the whole 'Mom' thing, I mean."

Still so quick to extend a hand. Like a child who couldn't feel the stove burning their fingers.

There was an extended period of nothing said before he clarified.

"Like an imposter. Undeserving."

 

[Darth Daiara]

Her eyes snapped up when he mentioned Allyson, full of that bubbling interest. She had claimed to barely know the woman that encounter half a year ago, and in truth it was an accurate statement.

But she wanted to know the woman who had once been her partner. Of all the things she endured, she regretted how she use to snub those that offered help.

Help felt so rare now a days.

And a smile? Like a dream.


She swallowed hard at that look of empathy he gave her, her arms tightening. "Yeah. Something like that," she confirmed, barely audible. She squirmed and looked away, trying to force her attention to go fuzzy on the console. The tension in the room grew thick, a brooding question growing in between the silence as she weighed her curiosity against his caustic responses.

Eventually, her need to know won out.

"Is she still around?"

 

[Zaavik Perl]

"Around? Yeah- Somewhere."

They hadn't spoken since they met on Corellia shortly after his Knighting. Where she was now? Zaavik had not the faintest idea. Was she on Ziost? Or elsewhere? MIA was normal for her, and he'd had plenty of time to get used to it. Was he anyone else, he might have worried, but he knew better. It was one of the few things he actually put any faith in.

Come to think of it, MIA was starting to become normal for him too. At least he had a clear picture of where he got it from. One could suppose it should be expected. She was the closest thing he had to a mother figure, let alone family, for at least half his life. If he hadn't inherited at least one of her flaws, it might have reflected poorly on their pseudo-familial relationship.

"You never explained how you knew each other. You knew my Master, and I knew yours. Kind of. Briefly. Weird how that works, huh?"

 

[Darth Daiara]

"Weird," she confirmed, taking a lot time to decide if she wanted to answer his question. He of course knew that Aradia and Allyson had worked together, apparently in her triple agent status Allyson was saying she was 'assigned' to work with the sith.

But all of those semantics were neither here nor there now. Aradia already bore the scars of that conversation. Her fingers twitched at the reminder. There was nothing further for him to get out of her, Aradia had well and truly been kept in the dark.

Expect, well... for the personal.

She hesitated, then answered, "She saved my life." The rest of the story caught on the tip of her tongue. She didn't know why, part of her really wanted to let it out. She yearned to let the events on Gree fill the silence of the small cabin. Who would understand more than the true apprentice?

No one. It was all the more reason to not speak. She still couldn't trust him.

She couldn't.



"I heard my Master whipped your ass."

 

[Zaavik Perl]

"She saved my life."

Well, didn't that sound familiar? "Yours too, huh?" he shot back. Zeltros, Foerost, Korriban, the list went on. Had it not been for Allyson, Zaavik would have been dead years ago. He wasn't her responsibility anymore, though. Their last conversation seemed to convey she was confident he wouldn't need her around to save him anymore. Maybe she was right, given that he'd made it off Ziost without her?

Close calls were as common as a cold. The edge of persistence and certain demise was the tightrope domain Zaavik always found himself in. Poor decisions and a reckless desire to feel alive were a one-way street in that regard.

"I heard my Master whipped your ass."

There it is. That was bound to come up eventually. Zaavik rolled his eyes. "Yeah?" he quizzed. "She brag about it like it was some kind of accomplishment?"

 

[Darth Daiara]

"No. I just added the embellishment to make me feel better." She glanced at him, her lips twitching into a sly grin. Embellishment. Now there was a word that hadn't been in her vocabulary five years ago. It struck her then how different she had become. Take away the most obvious changes-- her freedom, her power, the fact that owned a ship.

She was looking him in the eye. She was making jokes. She felt... competent.

The smile faltered as she looked quickly away.

"Kaalia discourages bragging."

 

[Zaavik Perl]

Eye-contact. The corners of his mouth flickered against his scowl, trying to break it into a grin. He didn't let them. Zaavik bit the inside of his cheek and looked away, a slight mirthful grin at his own expense offered to nothing he turned towards. It was humorous, couldn't take that away from her.

She had jokes now. Good. A good sign despite the friction. An attempt to get along was enough to wonders for the morale.

The eyebrow closest to Aradia crept upward as he gave her a glance at the ego remark. "Huh," he articulated thoughtfully. "She did seem pretty light on the superiority complex as far as Sith go."

"N-no offense."

 

[Darth Daiara]

Aradia rolled her eyes, relaxing a little more into her chair. "You mean as far as people go." She let her head lull to the side, gazing out the window. "I've seen plenty of egos. Sith, Doctors, shop owners, Jedi."

Her eyes caught his in the window's reflection. A beat, then she looked away. "Everyone's a dick. Just makes it easier to kill us if you blame our Temple's for it."

It was a concept she had spent a lot of time thinking about, back when she was still obsessing over the 'whys'. The truth she had come out to was hardly a pretty one-- hardly clean, and most definitely didn't seem fair or made sense.

"They're not so different-- your master and mine."

 

[Zaavik Perl]

"No, that's not what I meant, but-" His expression twisted as he considered her whole sentiment. "-you have a point."

"They're not so different-- your master and mine."

Zaavik turned, showing confusion. Were they? "I can't really say I know yours like you know mine," he expressed. What was one fight compared to whatever Aradia and Allyson had? Surely it was more than that. Enough that his master had gifted her a memento. The only thing Kaalia had given him was a cracked rib or three.

"How do you mean?"

 

[Darth Daiara]

"I mean whatever horrible expectation you had for my master, you can shove it up your ass. She's a good person. Most of us are." He had been practically spitting venom at the woman. Even raised his saber to her. It wasn't like Aradia to go about defending someone's honor besides her own, but he had managed to snuff at one of the only person she would toss herself on a blade for. After all the spite they had formed for the powers to be around them, that was saying something.

"Being a sith doesn't inherently make you bad. I thought by now you were seeing that." So said the girl that barely understood it herself. Whatever the truth was to the paths they had both chosen to walk, this was her take on it.

"I mean, how many sith do you actually know, anyway?" She instigated, unable to let it go.

 

[Zaavik Perl]

"Yeah, excuse me for having a bad expectation of someone who kicks me into the dirt going after something I'm supposed to be protecting." He raised his voice, a harsh tonal shift coming up with it. "I didn't fething sit down with her over a caf and have a discussion about every nuance of her worldview. I only have the one, painful impression to go off of, you know!?" Is it wise not to raise your saber to an unexpected visitor who'd previously given you a beatdown?

Zaavik certainly didn't think so.

He'd cooled rather quickly when the words came, anyhow. It wasn't like he spent the whole time waving his saber around with hostile intent. So what if he didn't have anything nice to say? 'Yes, Hello again, thank you for beating my ass.' Please.

"All I did was ask how they were similar. I don't know her, so how was I supposed to agree?"

"Being a sith doesn't inherently make you bad. I thought by now you were seeing that."

"Plus, I w-!"

Words stifled to sputter, then died unceremoniously. Frustrated, he threw his arms over his chest and threw himself back into the chair, staring down at his boots. "I never said it did," he muttered quietly. Didn't it though, really? He was still trying to figure that out. It'd be a lie if he said she hadn't given him a new perspective on things, but it only did so much compared to the rest of what he'd experienced.

"I mean, how many sith do you actually know, anyway?"

A narrow, sideways glance stabbed abruptly in her direction.

"Enough," he divulged vaguely.

 

[Darth Daiara]

"I don't count," she shot back, practically picking for a fight. It might be obvious in that moment. They had gone from calm and vulnerable to her spiting fire over words that hadn't even been said. She didn't realize that she was lashing out. She didn't see this as anything other than justified anger.

But she was shoving at him. Ever since he had given her that look of understanding, she had start pushing him back away.



"And you can't say the Emperor, cause I'm betting you haven't even met him. I have." Goosebumps rose over her flesh at the reminder of that day.

It was when Allyson had given her the coin, actually. And when she had made a fool of herself... Her stomach twisted. She shrunk deeper into her seat.

"He doesn't count either."

 

[Zaavik Perl]

"I don't count."

"Obviously," he retorted combatively. His regard had strayed since his last reply, and he didn't do her the dignity of looking at her while she lashed at him. In an act of wordless retaliation, he kicked his boots up onto the console with a disregard for the state of her property.

"Fine, sure. Not counting you or the Emperor? Still enough, because I didn't count either of you in the first place, genius."

He groaned, shaking his head at the tension. "Can you just fething relax? You really like jumping to conclusions about chit I didn't even say. All I did was ask you a question. My bad for maybe trying to get along with you."

 

[Darth Daiara]

Aradia snuffed.

"Oh yeah? Then who," she continued to instigate, as if he hadn't spoke reason a moment before. "And feet-- off." The force tugged at his boot strings, yanking them back off her console.

 

[Zaavik Perl]

Zaavik's boots snapped a hollow thud as they met the ground.

"Why's it matter? Huh? All Sith know each other?" He deflected again. Indignation bred beligerence. Feet kicked back up onto the console again.

"Or do you wanna make sure they still count?"

 

[Darth Daiara]

Aradia glared at him, the debate to light him on fire practically playing across her eyes. Then tension drew out, then exploded in a dismissive huff.

"You don't know anyone." She dismissed.

The force tugged again, harmless but insistant. Like siblings whapping pillows at each other. " Stinky jedi feet stay on the ground. I just scrubbed down that thing. Don't make me make my master beat you again." She sounded twelve. She didn't care. She sat up straight, facing him off as she laid out her threat.

 

[Zaavik Perl]

"You don't know anyone."

"Yeah, and that's enough!" he asserted. Could he complain about knowing no other Sith aside from her? No, not really. Zero had been more than enough. One, at first, was too many. Now? Enough, fine, acceptable. Even if that one was so difficult to even be around. Most of the time, at least. The small hits of tolerable comradery were enough to make him occasionally wish they could be friends.

Nothing would ever make him admit that, though, and this certainly wasn't one of those occasions.

Boots slapped against the floor again. "Awww, yeah, go ahead, call your mommy," he mocked. "Have her come and save you because you can't handle what you started!" Either hand claw-gripped to the armrests of the co-pilot seat, he leaned forward to meet her upright posture as he shot back.

 

[Darth Daiara]

The moment turned deadly in an instant, her indignation turning to simmering fury. Instead of quipping back with something equally childish she merely glared.

And continued to glare, the crossed line being drawn as clear as day.

Not even idiot jedi could miss it.

"She is only. My master." She uttered, each word spoken with deadly intention. "Call her that again and I'll slap that pretty pink skin of yours till it's red. Got it?" She leaned back, only to burst forward and snapped.

"And knowing none isn't knowing any! Feth-- I bet they teach you from outdated text books."