Hot Coals

[Lina Ovmar]

She wasn't entirely sure why she was here, but then the last weeks had passed in a haze and she wasn't really sure of anything anymore. Of course, the crew of the Femme Fatal didn't know that, as far as they could see, Calina's rearrangement of their organisation and the subtle yet rapid changes she was making to Apoleia Inc left them in no doubt that Calina knew exactly what she was doing.

But business had always come easily. It was something to do, something to occupy her hands. A necessary task that needed doing for the company to stay afloat, but it was meaningless. Calina didn't even contemplate the consequences of docking the ship at Femme Fatal considering what had occurred the last time this ship had been here, the thought didn't even cross her mind.

She'd come to find Sarge, because perhaps he could help her out of the haze. Maybe he could offer some clarity...Or perhaps all she wanted was a little compassion. She didn't even glance to see if she was being followed, didn't bother to hide. She just moved automatically, catching the next shuttle down to the planets surface, staring at the floor and blinking back tears.

She'd not cried. Not once for Anaya, but she'd cried for herself. Suddenly the galaxy seemed so much bigger than she thought it was, suddenly she was very much alone.

And in need of a friend.

She didn't recall getting off the shuttle, she didn't recall moving through the streets to Omega Tower, but suddenly she was there, standing at the bottom of the steps.

She couldn't quite make herself climb them.

[member="Sarge Potteiger"]

 

[Sarge Potteiger]

In the end, she wouldn't need to climb them. A man in carapace armor approached - or, rather, it was a male Twi'lek, blue skinned, sans helmet. A pistol was set at his hip, attached to a pack on his back by a thick power cable snaking from the cell-well around to his back. It was clear from the flash of flurouescent yellow around his bicep - and the MP stenciled on it - that he was the Pyre version of military police. Stopping in front of her, he brought his left arm up, a screen appearing from a device embedded in the armor of his left forearm.

A flash of light panned over her face, and she'd see a holographic representation of her features coming to life. Various points on her face are highlighted; cheeks, brows, lips, ears, forehead. After a moment, he nods. "Ma'am." His voice was curiously polite. "Sorry," he begins, letting his eyes settle on hers, "just had to make sure it was you. Welcome to Omega Tower. How can I be of assistance?"

She had been logged into a special list, of course, and her clearance override came from the top but... it always helped to be certain before disturbing his boss.

 

[Lina Ovmar]

Calina blinked the light out of her eyes. Ma'am? She couldn't recall ever being called M'a'am' before in her life. Mistress...or Miss, but never ma'am. Anaya had been ma'am, Anaya had been Lady. Someone on the ship had called her 'my lady', she knew it had been an automatic reaction to her instructions, Anaya had been so relentless in her need for boosting her own ego, but that knowledge had not stopped the rage that had flashed across her face, or the fear that had crossed the technicians expression as he spluttered his apologies.

She blinked again, realising she was just staring at the twi'lek, that his explanation and question had fallen on deaf ears. Did it matter? Probably not.

"I need to see Mr Potteiger."

[member="Sarge Potteiger"]

 

[Sarge Potteiger]

The Twi'lek nodded, head-tails twitching as he set the palm of a hand on the grip of his pistol. It wasn't a threatening gesture - he didn't lean on it, nor did he tense as if ready to draw it. Much in the same way one might hook their fingers through a belt, so too did he rest his hand on his weapon. A slow smile spread over his face, and he nodded. "I figured that's what you would say." He didn't elaborate any further, but at the very least he was friendly.

And, perhaps more shockingly, none of it appeared to be for show. It seemed to be quite genuine.

"Come with me." He says, turning to head up the stairs. "He's not exactly a busy man, and I say that because he doesn't get many visitors. He finds things to do, and he has his projects and goals - but in terms of meetings and visitors... not a busy man."

The door slid open for them at the top, bringing them into the security cordon that partitioned off the entrance to the building. There were less scanners in a med-bay than there were here. They passed clean through one, any weapons she may be carrying overridden by Sarge's clearance code. "My suggestion, however," he continues as he leads her towards the elevator, "is that you say what you're going to say, and not beat around the bush. He hates feeling like his time is being wasted, and if you ramble on too long, he may just zone out."

He'd given this speech a few times in the past, that much was clear.

[member="Calina Ovmar"]

 

[Lina Ovmar]

The twi'leks friendly demeanour threw Calina somewhat, it was not something she was used to. Friendly conversations were few and far between for the girl. She eyed his back warily hesitating for a moment before following him up the step and into the lobby, tensing as the scanners ran over her, surprised when no alarms blared at them. She wasn't concealing her lightsaber but she had expected to have it taken off her. Frowning slightly, she stepped into the elevator.

"Rambling isn't in my nature, but thank you for the advice." she replied, her tone slightly icy. It wasn't intentional, it was a default setting for Calina when emotions ran high. Internalise and maintain the outward impression that you don't care. When you spent ten years with a woman who enjoyed pushing people buttons and watching them crack, you learnt to cover your emotions.

Or so she thought. She closed her eyes for a moment as the elevator began to move, swallowing against the lump forming in her throat. The longer she could hold herself together, hold back the tears and the terror, the better.

[member="Sarge Potteiger"]

 

[Sarge Potteiger]

The Twi'lek actually let out a jovial laugh, his lekku twitching with amusement. With the elevator shooting downward, the ride was mercifully short. They likely weren't too far below ground level, but like all military installations, they had backup spaces underground as opposed to built into the giant tower; a giant tower that may as well have a sign hanging from it saying 'blow me up, I'm a giant target.'

Funnily enough, Sarge had made that joke when Omni invaded.

The door slid open on a narrow, spartan corridor of gleaming metal. There wasn't a single piece of cover in sight - the hallway may as well been a single, smooth tube of durasteel aside from the flat expanse of the grating beneath their feet. The only other occupant was presently riding what appeared to be a small repulsor-platform towards them. Clearly, it was a droid of some kind, with it's metal worked into a facsimile of a human's, with glowing purple eyes and the same purple glowing from within it's cheeks.

Two antenna stuck up and back like 'ears,' and it tilted it's head at them while adjusting a cloak. "Archive-9." Says the Twi'lek, and the droid nodded. There was something vaguely familiar about it; it was perhaps a bit shy of six foot, but it walked with a hunch to it's shoulders and a hand on a large pistol at it's hip. It's metal face was a shade of brown the color of stained red oak. Without a word, it pulled it's hood up over it's head, and when it did finally speak as the platform slowed to a halt, the purple of it's mouth lit up in time with the words.

"He's in a good mood, Sergeant."

It stared at [member="Calina Ovmar"] for a few moments, and then the camo-cloak activated, obscuring most of it from sight. "Calina." It's words are sharp, perfunctory, and it's droid voice was only a slightly modulated version of a human male's young baritone.

Stepping into the elevator they had just vacated, he shot upward, and the Sergeant waved for her to step onto the platform with him. Once she did, they shot off. Wherever they were going, it wasn't anywhere close to under the tower.

No one wanted their bunker collapsed on, right?

 

[Lina Ovmar]

"Woah." Calina breathed as she opened her with the lift doors and found herself staring down a seamless tunnel. The surveillance droids her mother had dispatched had never penetrated this deep into the tower, stepping out onto the grate she watched the droid approach, head tilted as she tried to place the familiarity of it. Eyes widened as it spoke and moved past them, the tone unmistakable. She might have laughed under different circumstances. A droid built with the mannerisms and stature of the man she was going to see was definitely worth a giggle or two.

Stepping onto the floating platform she cast a glance over her shoulder as the lift doors closed and it vanished from sight. "That's something you don't see every day." The platfrom shifted beneath her feet and she caught the twi'leks arm to steady herself as it did, before dropping her hand, somewhat embarrassed. Calina had no way of gauging how far out the platform took them, no reference point save perhaps for the lights and looking up to count them was not a wise move when moving at the speed they were.

"Where are we going?"

[member="Sarge Potteiger"]

 

[Sarge Potteiger]

"See what?" He asks, "A shard? They're rather rare, it's true." The Sergeant reached up, stabilizing her as best he could as they shot down that seamless corridor, futuristic even on a planet designed to build starships. They went for awhile, and the flashing lights and gusts of air as they traveled certainly did little to explain distance, but finally, the platform began to slow, and then came to a stop, and the Sergeant stepped down, offering a hand up to her.

"Usually the first ride people get a little... wobbly." He explains, before pulling his glove off to press a palm to a biometric scanner. He winced as it took a blood sample, and after a moment it slid open to another hallway - this one far more normal, as though they'd simply stepped into a military installation from the outside. "We're going to where you wanted to be." He explains, taking the lead once more.

Again, they were alone, and as he walked she'd find them passing a large amount of doors - some with windows, some without. There were the usual classrooms, utility closets, bathrooms and the like, and finally he stopped at a glass door, giving it a tug to open into another walkway. The place, it seemed, was almost a maze, if only because there was no way to tell exactly where you were at any given time.

That walkway fed into a locker room, and he took her through a door to their left once inside, which passed through an armory, a firing range, and then into what appeared to be a command room of some kind. Sarge was standing there, garbed in simple OmegaPyre fatigues, a holographic remote on display in the air before him. A series of displays were hung from the wall above eye level, and all seemed to show helmet footage from a recent training exercise.

As the door opened, though, he paused, turning around. "Welcome, Calina." He says, giving her a soft smile. "To what do I owe the pleasure?"

[member="Calina Ovmar"]

 

[Lina Ovmar]

A shard?! Calina's eyebrows arched. She filed the questions that flashed across her mind under 'ask Sarge later' focusing instead on where they were going. She swayed slightly as the platfrom came to a half, glancing back the way they had come. She could no longer see the lift, smiling slightly she made a note to take a leaf out of Sarge's book should she ever bother to build anything of this magnitude. 'Make the secret bunker far away'.

She accepted the Twi'leks hand, stepping down and finding her legs were indeed slightly unsteady, she shook it off soon enough though, curiosity peaking as she glimpsed nothing of excitement hidden behind the doors with windows. It wasn't the contents of the rooms they passed the made her curious but rather the fact that they were void of anything or anyone. Even the firing range was quiet, how peculiar...

Whatever curiosity did to distract her from what she was doing here, it failed when the door swung open and Sarge turned to smile at her. "Hey." She blinked, and dropped her gaze stepping into the room. She tried for a long moment to find the right words, but for the moment they seemed to fail her. She hooked her thumbs into her belt loop and looked up, blinking hard.

"I'm not sure this is going to be any sort of pleasurable visit." she managed a small smile. "This place is incredible, by the way." she moved past him, sweeping her eyes over the screens, more to avoid looking at him more than anything else, emotions were far easier to hide when she did not feel like someone was piercing her soul.

[member="Sarge Potteiger"]

 

[Sarge Potteiger]

The Sergeant took his leave, stepping outside and leaving the two of them alone. Each screen was now paused, as he had company, and wasn't going to be rude. The flickering blue of his holographic remote had faded from sight, and he paused, tracking her eyes.

All, it seemed, came from footage his own men had taken; she'd likely recognize the blue barrels of the high-powered blasters, and the snub-nosed jaws of the much more lethal bolters. All, however, were scenes of combat, save a few where the recorder was dead, and thus recording a floor or ceiling, or the mission was just ending or starting, and a dropship served as a background to the scene. With a wave of his hand, they blinked off, one by one, leaving the pair alone in the well-lit, circular room, surrounded by screens suspended from armatures like a spider's legs dangle from above.

"Thank you." He says simply, clasping his hands together in the small of his back, shoulders square and spine erect so that he was the picture of martial poise. "What is on your mind?" He asks, head tracking her.

[member="Calina Ovmar"]

 

[Lina Ovmar]

She wished he hadn't done that, she would have liked to delay the matter for as long possible but Sarge was smart enough to see beyond her delaying tactics. She turned slowly to face him, tears blurring her vision.

"Jorus killed my mother." The words were barely louder than a whisper, but in the quiet of the room she might as well have shouted them. She blinked, wiping the tears away as they fell, dropping her gaze down to her hands, hands that should been the ones to kill her. Hands that had failed...

[member="Sarge Potteiger"]

 

[Sarge Potteiger]

The man smiled, then snorted, and then laughed. Perfectly white teeth shone past his lips, and his shoulders heaved with a mirth that lasted only a few chuckles and the space of several heartbeats before he seemed to calm. After a moment, another chuckled emanated from his throat, and then he seemed to calm himself, though he maintained an uncharacteristically wide smirk on his lips. "It's about damn time." He said, letting out a slow breath as he raised his right hand.

A holographic remote appeared once more, and with a few swipes of his hand, he had what amounted to a small data entry holo connected to Force knew what. Hitting a few keys, he nodded to himself, face now back to it's typically neutral cast, though there was no mistaking the gleam in his eye. "One of the two of them was going to die - my money was on Jorus, actually, but the odds were relatively even."

[member="Calina Ovmar"]

 

[Lina Ovmar]

Calina closed her eyes and let his laughter wash over her, biting hard on her tongue and fighting against the anger that flared up before raising her head to glare at him.

"You're a bastard, you know that right?"

[member="Sarge Potteiger"]

 

[Sarge Potteiger]

He knew anger when he saw it, but he'd long since gotten used to putting anger into others. Hell, he was all but married to a woman who had done nothing but spite him for the first few years of them knowing each other. The left corner of his lips curled up a fraction further. "So I've been told." He admits with a tip of his head, both hands going back to the small of his back.

"Why the tears?"

A simple enough question, and one he knew the answer to. But he wanted to hear it. Talking was always the best way to work on healing your own wounds.

 

[Lina Ovmar]

She shook her head and folded her arms. Truty be told had she even been aware of the bet, she night have placed money in herself. But it wasnt the bet that angered, only his lack of compassion. Perhaps she'd set the bar too high on want she expected to get from him...but then she didn't really know what she expected either.

"At first I thought it was because I was angry, took a long flight to the outer rim to go looking for Jorus, didn't find him. Found Mara though...gave her father's lightsaber back to her and got a job in the process." That wasn't a trip the ended the way she had expected either, not when she'd set out on an angry hunt for blood. Time in space did wonders time for that.

"Now..." She shrugged "I've lost my purpose...and I'm alone."

 

[Sarge Potteiger]

He smiled, "My goddaughter is as surprising as I can be." He admits, tilting his head to one side, arms shifting to fold over his chest, causing a crease to form at the shoulders of his fatigues. "Purpose exists where you want it to.

As for the alone, well, that'll take a bit more effort to fix. I'm uncertain as to how to help with either of those, if only because they're intensely personal questions with which to grapple. Might I suggest, however, revolving your life less around hate, and more around what you enjoy."

[member="Calina Ovmar"]

 

[Lina Ovmar]

Calina snorted. "Does killing mandalorians count as something not revolved around hate? Because that's what Mara's hired me to do. And something we'd both enjoy."

 

[Sarge Potteiger]

This time he snorted, then laughed. "Yes, I suppose so. It's a job, is it not? Jobs provide purpose, or, at least, a vehicle for being busy until purpose presents itself."

 

[Lina Ovmar]

Calina shook her head. "I can't get close to them at the moment, too busy killing each other so it's a delayed job. I've two companies to run but that's childs play. I've been managing Anaya's business for years it's not a challenge. I want...more..." She trailed off looking thoughtful for a moment. "I know where I can get it too."

 

[Sarge Potteiger]

"I don't want to know." He says, knowing he actually did - but also having the experience to say plausible deniability is the way to go. "Anaya is dead, and your life has always been more than her. You'd best get to living it now that she's not the focus of your decisions anymore."