Private Into the Ice Belt

[Dani Stellaris]

Maybe getting her off world for a spell would help. Dani knew that the stars always helped clear her mind. But maybe that was just part of who she was, being from the companion galaxy and having taken to flight better than her brother, or really, anyone in her family. Didn't matter. What she was hoping for was just to get Zenie out there and show that there was some gray in the world. Yes, some wanted to do nothing more than help, others wanted to see things burn, but there were the vast, and overwhelming majority that didn't care one way or the other, so long as they could keep surviving.

It could go one way or another, but Dani had put out some feelers in the local suburbs of Belazura as she knew one thing that wasn't going to be free, was water. And for her? Getting water meant the stores in space. Through a contact with the Corellian trade union, she found a few people who specialized in harvesting of space ice. Loading up the Pick Up and heading out, the flight was getting Zenie familiar with the ship and a ship's controls.

"So, what we're doing is were gonna take her out to Motexx. There is a small ice belt out there that seems like its not under the local Corporate hands." Dani explained. "I sent a few messages ahead of us so they're expecting a small trade. Got some winnings from a pod race and we can use it at least start a new system of clean water… And the water we can't purify, well we can use for crops." She shrugged.

The challenge was getting the ice to somewhere off the grid from the corpos to process it properly.

"I've got the system plugged in, we're not in any hurry, so do you wanna try to fly her a bit?" Dani smiled as she spun to the controls, tapping a few keys and a few holographic paths popped up on the main viewport. A few jukes and jives, just to get Zenie warmed up.

They'd have plenty of time to decide the next move later on.

Zenitha Chuma

 

[Kadora'Tra]

Kadora'Tra did not think about the past and lived strictly in the moment. Still, the past had a nasty habit of crawling its way under her skin.

She tried to ignore it as she wriggled into a more comfortable position within the confines of a maintenance shaft--or what appeared to be one--above the corridor leading into the cockpit. Filtering out the hum of stellar machinery, she listened to the muffled conversations. Memories tried to surface of a void where sourceless voices split her head. Instead, she was comforted by the vibration of metal, ceramic, and plastic tight against the hairs of her body and faint muffled sounds from two distinct speakers who were not herself.

To almost anyone else, this would be claustrophobic, but like the animal she realized she always was, she was at home in this tight space few humanoids could fit in. After an immeasurable time imprisoned in isolation, deprived of her senses, it provided comfort. An anchor to reality separate from herself.

"...Corporate..."

"...inning..."

"...new system..."

Kadora'Tra followed the rise and fall of conversation, and keywords or words she thought she heard led her mind astray. This is a trap. Her hair stood straight on her back for a few moments... and she let the wave of fear wash over her until it passed. The starship began to rock and jerk in different directions, and Kadora'Tra felt as though she were being carried instead.

A hazy sleepiness overcame her in this cozy hideyhole.

Zenitha Chuma Dani Stellaris

 

[Zenitha Chuma]

She couldn't tell if the butterflies in her stomach were from the excitement or unease.

The starship was huge, a fact the Belazuran girl hadn't quite fully gasped the last time she stepped foot on it. Driven by her personal quest and stymied by watchful eyes, there had been little time to spend her gaze on anything but Dani's shapely racer craft stored inside her ship's hold. It might have occurred to her then, a ship that large could do far more than ferry a lone racer to and fro from the stars. Standing in front of its spacious controls, Zenie was struck by just what the behemoth could be truly capable of.

Could she really learn how to handle it all by herself?

"You really want me to fly your ship?" The young heiress took stock of the racer woman, now a full-fledged member of her activism group. A Z-Runner, as she'd named them, and ordinarily they would handle these kinds of missions on their own without her. Zenitha was expected to stay behind, Zenitha was best utilized when making appearances or treating with potential donors or a myriad of other duties the ZINO executives pretended to grant her as duties. Zenitha hadn't begged to go along on this mission, or even asked, this time she had told them she was going.

After her restoration the Tioli Center, even Ms. Sun seemed to consider her more capable.

That meant the teen heiress had another benefit dinner to look forward to when she returned. It would be worth it, Zenie was sure of that, to get offworld for a spell. Out here there were no finer points of diplomacy to keep in mind or a need to walk like holo-cams were always in view of her. If not for the absence of a walking carpet named Tawrrowaldr, Zenie might have almost mistaken the carefree feeling for her halcyon days on Denon. She could be anonymous there in ways that Belazura would never allow, even if her guardians in ZINO might.

Zenie felt her braids bounce against her shoulders, joining in the cheer she felt etched on her face. Her feet took a step forward, and then another, maneuvering her way into the seat set before the controls. Holograms danced in front of her hands, dazzling the eyes of the Belazuran girl. No stranger to technology, even she found it daunting to measure all the options and displays available to the pilot's controls.

"All this makes sense to you?" Zenie asked, pure wonder underlying her words. A newfound respect for the woman entered her view, though Dani had done nothing but impress the young heiress since the moment they had met. Pilot, racer, negotiator, advisor...of course someone like this could handle the starship's complex systems with few problems. The idea of learning it all, as hard as the teen knew it might be, somehow seemed easier just knowing Dani already had. "I wouldn't even know where to start..."

Her hands hovered in front of the controls, hardly daring to touch them. She looked back to the woman guiding her instruction, "If I learn it all by Motexx, do you think I could fly to the ice belt there?"

The broad grin on the young teen's face spelled out her desire simply enough.

Dani Stellaris Kadora'Tra​

 

[Dani Stellaris]

Flying for Dani was all but second nature. Her family had a few ships when she was growing up, all the way in Firefist. She was flying from such an early age, it wasn't hard for her to tell the false truths in this galaxy that she was from Corellia, or even Pamarthe. Rolas was one of those worlds with small but dense population centers, and a rugged and varied natural world. She'd taken to using many vehicles, but preferred the ones that ran on natural sources, wind, solar, hydro power. But her ships?

They were always top of the line. Space was one thing where as long as it wasn't a huge drain on a natural planetary resource it was fine, and encouraged to improve what was built.

When she got to the main galaxy she hid her ship on an Outer Rim world and headed into the interior, falsified documents and joined up in the Alliance. But her own upbringing was coming to light and was hard to push down.

"Why shouldn't you fly? We're in space, there isn't much to hit." She looked through the cockpit. She even got Zeni away from asteroids, and well, she wasn't about to authorize any hyperspace jumps. "Its not like you have a bad flight record." The blonde winked. Bad and non-existent were two different things.

As she watched Zenie looking at the controls, Dani couldn't help but smile. She tapped a few controls on her side, and the manual piloting yolk came out. A much more archaic style of flying but definitely more the 'manual controls' that she preferred in combat. "Here, this is a more intuitive way. Its more combat flight styles. You've got pedals at your feet for rolling the ship left and right, the controls help with turning the nose, and on your right is the throttle. The Pick Up is a bit bigger so she's not gonna move like a fighter will, but she'll respond."

"We'll see about the ice belt." Another stroke of the controls and a holographic location popped up. "Get us there, that's where we'll hit hyperspace."

Zenitha Chuma Kadora'Tra

 

[Kadora'Tra]

She dreamed of a fanged man, beautiful people, and huge mountains falling into a world.

The fanged man was familiar to her. The indistinct wordless voice of authority and consequence rang through the muddied haze of unconsciousness. Except the familiarity was exaggerated, lengthened, and dramatized to a ghoulish caricature. His figure took on a shimmering blue feature like he was on an old holomovie display. Looking at him, she felt she couldn't breathe, as if those gnashing fangs were eating the air itself as they echoed their toxic sounds.

She fell without warning. At first, she assumed into unconsciousness, but of course, sound asleep, she could not twice sleep. As she rose, finally able to breathe, all around her was bright, growing greenery where people began to fall out of. Beautiful people, people she couldn't recognize; their faces may as well have been blank, yet gorgeous all the same. One loomed large like a grandmother oak, casting shade on the others, and the longer she gazed, the more it hurts to recognize who it was. Like gazing into a sun.

Trying to find refuge in the shadows of the forest, she pushed past the empty beautiful people, and found herself in an open field where in the sky, hung massive glittering mountains...

Zenitha Chuma Dani Stellaris

 

[Zenitha Chuma]

The woman's casual demeanor still set Zenitha at alert, wondering what made her so easygoing. Lack of structure, she had heard Ms. Sun say once, informality comes from a lack of structure in one's life. The teen heiress had known little but schedules and agendas since taking on the media celebrity's tutelage. If she was honest with herself, she had expected much more of it onboard Dani's starship. With such a large ship, and only one person flying, Zenitha imagined far more to do on the Pick Up than relax in idle luxury.

It took her a while to stop fidgeting and just accept the abundance of time on her hands.

She shouldn't have found herself surprised at Dani's response then, or her pragmatic attitude. It brought a smile to her lips, cracking it with a giggle when the woman pointed out her flight record so far. "I actually have a pristine flight record," the young heiress intoned, enunciating her words as clearly as she might to a donor or dignitary. Those were one of the little games played in high society, and she had been practicing with Ms. Sun's guidance. An ability to mock her own shortcomings was a surprisingly useful tactic when Zenitha's lineage or well-rehearsed pitch didn't open pocketbooks, at least among the Belazuran —and visiting— elites.

At once, the Belazuran girl regretted the tone she had taken with the racer woman. "I mean, 'thank you.'"

Zenie stared at the new set of controls to avoid turning her warm cheeks back up at Dani, or admitting to the faux pas she might have made just then. She didn't think it was wrong, exactly, and part of her was certain the woman would simply laugh it off. Focused on the controls, the Belazuran girl gripped the flight yoke with both hands, scooting ahead until her feet could reach the pedals. She could show Dani that she was taking it seriously even if she didn't have the right words for it. "Okay, now..."

A quick bob of her head left her braids in place, and the young heiress tightening her grip on the control column. It was like a holo-game she had seen played before, but only seen. Zenie tilted the yoke to the side, careening it wide more like speeder controls she had more often witnessed, and nearly fell out of her chair! The stars in her viewport spun hard, and the gravity plating took a split second to catch up. With a gasp, the young heiress quickly let go of the stick, backing up in her seat as the stars continued to spin without any contradictory input.

"Oh no!" Helpless eyes looked up at Dani, imploring her to step in. The teen's well-practiced lips were twisted into a plaintive appeal, horror etched on her face at what she had done. "How do I stop it?!"

Dani Stellaris Kadora'Tra​

 

[Dani Stellaris]

Dani was doing her best to pay attention to everything in her ship, but her primary focus was on, of course, Zenie. The traveler that Dani was had to find a purpose in this galaxy, and recently, with Belazura and that crowd, she felt she had. Dani was a wayfinder of her people, and being aboard a ship was second to finding a way to better her people. It seemed to mean more on Ralos than here in the main galaxy, but still… She found her purpose now.

Today just had an extra lesson in it. One of flying for Zenie and a bit of patience for Dani. She was used to people who knew how to fly, and throwing that on a teen? She knew it was incorrect. "I'm sure you do, kid. No real chances to fly on Belazura then?" A soft, but playful grin from Dani. The woman knew what she was getting into, but she was still going to taunt and tease a fair bit. Meant that they weren't taking things too seriously, and flying Pick Up as opposed to a fighter? Two very different ships and styles.

Buckled in, Dani was waiting for things to go belly up, but was still a bit shocked with the turn that Zenie decided on. Letting the ship do a roll, as Dani was fairly convinced there wasn't much that could be knocked aside from this style of flying, not yet at least she merely laughed. A few seconds after, the older woman took the controls and leveled the ship out. "Just need to counter. Grab the controls and go in the other direction. But Pick Up has controls to level itself out, if the inertial dampeners don't kick in."

Zenitha Chuma Kadora'Tra

 

[Zenitha Chuma]

It took the steady hands of Dani to right the world spinning around her. Only it wasn't the world at all, instead the expanse of stars were tiny pinpricks of light that barely moved as she spun. Space was odd, Zenie was sure of that now. Relief warmed on her face as she looked over to the racer woman, with her simple instructions to fix the easy mess. She cast her calm over the Belazuran girl, who visibly relaxed, thinking how silly it was to have missed such an easy fix.

"Oh, duh," the young teen remarked, a tongue pushing out one side of her cheeks. Setting her hands back on the controls, Zenie memorized their contours on her skin, taking the sensation with her when she pulled them away. Mimicking the manner in which she'd sent them spiraling into trouble, she moved them in the other direction. Counter it, Zenie told herself, committing the movement to memory. "Counter it," she repeated aloud, taking back hold of the controls again. "I can do that."

It was as much a promise as a reassurance to Dani, to let her fly freely again. Zenie took a moment to ensure the ship could fly peaceably under her command now, feeling a little more willing to trust it in return. This wasn't anything like she had practiced for ZINO before, short of the brief-but-rigorous week that Ms. Sun had spent on her deportment. Just thinking of it straightened her back reflexively. The young heiress felt suddenly self-conscious, wondering if Dani had been noticing her slouching all along now.

"I didn't learn anything like this back home," she mentioned, shifting the subject back to the woman's line of earlier curiosity. If there was something Zenitha was better at than her body's spatial awareness, it was steering the conversation. It came far more easily to the teen heiress, letting her focus more on what Dani had tasked her with.

Zenie did nothing so foolhardy as to treat the ship's controls as a holo-game this time. She studied the ice belt on the displays, making her movements more carefully this time. More and more steadily, she felt the ship responding to what she wanted it to do, finding an eager grin creeping in to replace her stern concentration. "My dad just wanted me to be a kid, he always said he never had a childhood so he was making sure I did. But I still learned a lot, I had lessons in reading, maths, history, stellar cartography, cultures on other planets...actually, it was a lot."

The young heiress felt a chill slip down her spine, her blood running cold for a moment. Her progress on the navigation screen had the ship zeroed in toward the ice belt, though Zenie wasn't thinking of that. She took a deep breath, and after that it was easier to talk about him. "My dad said he was going to teach me to fly someday, when I was older."

Well, Zenie was older now.

Dani Stellaris Kadora'Tra​

​

​

 

[Dani Stellaris]

Dani was more than familiar with space. It was her home for a while. She preferred a world, that was no lie. Rolas, and even Belazura gave her something to ground herself to, to anchor with. But when she was in space? Well, the Pick Up was how she grounded. Smiling to herself, and hoping it didn't carry outwardly to Zenie, Dani did her best to right the ship and get it following a more organized path. The Firefist Transplant looked over at Zenie as she was trying to coach.

Maybe some of what Dani was saying made sense, maybe not all of it. She wanted to make sure that Zenie could pilot, there may come a time in the future where she would need to. Doubted that the Princess of Belazura, as Dani saw her, was going to need to be a combat pilot, but if it came to it, there was a racer that could double as a fighter craft.

"Sometimes it'll help to learn new skills, especially if they don't quite make sense. Flying a ship like this will help when its time for some cargo transport." And on Belazura, that was a clear necessity. The whole of flying required a lot more mental capacity than many people gave it credit for. As Zenie mentioned her father, all Dani could do was nod. "I know that feeling. My parents had put out a lot for me, to work on schooling. He sounds like he was preparing you for leadership!" She offered a smile and nodded.

"And how long ago was that? Look at you now, you're flying! I'll hold the controls on my side for a bit, let you try the hand in the ice belt? Our contacts should be reaching out soon.

Zenitha Chuma Kadora'Tra

 

[Kadora'Tra]

In the distance, she saw mountains being pulled into the sky to join their glittering cousins in orbit, and the faceless beautiful people pointed and laughed at a small hamlet built beside a waterfall. The water began to flow in the wrong direction, and the ground quaked softly under her feet as the hamlet's cliff rained upward, leaving behind a crater. She couldn't understand why they were laughing, and while watching the hamlet's ascent, she became aware that she was crying as tears floated away to join the stars. Hands gripped her shoulders, sending her hair on end.

As she looked up into the bright facelessness of the grandmother oak, she heard and felt the forest she was in begin to join the rest of the land. The air grew colder, and the bright silhouette of her captor dimmed. There was a moment of weightlessness as she witnessed Luminous Sun with Kadora'Tra's face grinning broadly with consuming desire.

Then, free fall. Everything, all at once, began to repeat how the dream started. The world turned into a blaze as all the floating mountains returned to their homes catastrophically along with her, except this time, she remained awake for the descent, seeing and feeling herself burn up with the rest of the forest.

That was when she realized she was actually burning.

"Yeow!" Kadora'Tra let out a yowling yell as the momentary lapse in the gravity plates coinciding with Zenie's spin had pressed the sleeping stowaway against a hot pipe above her before pulling her violently back into place in her small maintenance shaft. Fully awake now, her claws clung to the metallic grating, and she kept herself from loudly cussing out the pilot by intensely biting the collar of her jacket she had laid down as bedding. Her vision was blurring with tears and pain. Careful to retract her claws, she tried to reach the point on her back that hit the pipe. It was difficult to reach that angle, requiring a bit of uncomfortable contortion to even place the pad of her fingers on. It stung like hell against what should not have been raw skin, and pulling her hand back, she felt moist stickiness.

"Crap, crap, crap," She whined as quietly as she could. Why did she choose this spot? It was warm and cozy and comfortable, and now she was hurt where she couldn't reach. If it had been her arm, she could at least treat herself, possibly without suspicion. Not like this, however. Her nose twitched as that awful burnt smell wafted her way. How was she supposed to hide in this condition?

"Dank ferrick," She cursed and accepted defeat. Crawling backward and hunkering down as far away from the offensive pipe as possible, she extracted herself from the maintenance shaft.

"I know you heard me, I'm sorry, but I need- I need some, kark, I need some help..." She begrudgingly stated out loud, clear enough to be heard, before she made it to the cockpit.

Dani Stellaris Zenitha Chuma

 

[Zenitha Chuma]

Zenitha considered that suggestion with the tip of her head. She had never thought about why her dad had insisted on so much schooling, too. Like any kid there were times she didn't want to do it, she had begged to get out of lessons at times or lied about finishing her work, just to do something more fun instead. A younger Zenie had reasoned if she was supposed to have such a childhood, then why would she need to spend most of it learning? "I guess he was..."

The quiet conclusion she reached tossed her short braids in a nod. Her dad had been preparing her for something like this all along, and now it was her turn to take the lead. Just like with Belazura, this was a way the young heiress could carry on her father's work. To really fill the shoes of his legacy. "It was years ago, when I was ten or eleven." Zenie sat up straighter in the chair, leaning forward to adjust her grip on the controls. "I don't think I could even see over the console then, or maybe just."

She snickered at that admission, and glanced over to the racer woman. Dani had a hold of the controls on her side, ready to take over for her. Zenie let go of her side, physically acknowledging the offer. She placed her hands in her lap again, uncertain of what to do with herself now. It joined the nagging feeling that had been with the teen heiress since their mission began.

Zenie wasn't a pilot or mechanic, she had little business as a starship's crew. For as big as the Pick Up was, Dani herself seemed more than capable of running it solo and it was her contacts they were meeting out here in space. Zenie thought she wanted to get away to prove that she could pull her own weight, and now she was no better than a passenger.

The loud sound from somewhere above the ship's cockpit made the Belazuran girl start and clutch her chest, her wide eyes darting about in search of the noisemaker. She turned around in time to see a felinoid being crawling into the cockpit from a small hidey-hole, far larger than any cat Zenie would have brought on a starship. Its fur looked wild from the static inside the cramped maintenance shaft, and an awful smell wafted into her nose. The felinoid's appearance and cursing matched everything Zenie had etched in her mind about space pirates, and the Belazuran girl did the only thing that seemed sensible at the time.

She screamed.

Dani Stellaris Kadora'Tra​

 

[Dani Stellaris]

Letting others fly one's ship may be one of the biggest measures of trust in the galaxy. Some people got married before they let the other fly the ship. She knew a few people like that. Probably one of her teachers back in school. But back in Firefist? On Ralos, many youths had training vessels, but they were more equal to courier vessels of this galaxy, starfighters without the fight, as it were. She remembered hers and the Slice Hound, her gunmetal and white fighter, was very reminiscent of that first ship.

Though her new one was more set up for work in this galaxy and away from the safety of Ralos.

Being raised to fly, and to race translated to her love for the larger vessels, and why the Pick Up wasn't so bad for her. Sure, she could use the extra hands but enough automated work made it not-so-awful to do on her own.

"Its why on my homeworld we created small ships for the younglings to learn on. Mostly to run errands, move goods, or have a sense of freedom…" That was when she heard the thud. Her hands locked into a position as she looked over her shoulder. Had her droid been plugged in, she'd have turned right around to see the new comer, but even then, it only took Mack a second to plug into the ship's controls from his programmed location in the navigator's spot.

"Who are you?" Dani shouted, not reaching for a sidearm, but definitely reaching for the Force..

Zenitha Chuma Kadora'Tra

 

[Kadora'Tra]

"I'm in pain," Kadora'Tra stated incredulously as she tried to avoid straightening her back. The kid's scream caused her ears to flick behind her. The combination of her hunched, wounded posture, and her ears flicked back probably gave her a far more aggressive appearance than she wanted to be right now.

"I'm supposed to watch the kid." She relinquished that information, which she hoped helped her case, even if it wasn't her identity... whatever that was supposed to be right now.

"Sorry," She offered as genuinely plaintive as she could sound in her circumstance. Keeping her eyes on the floor to the cockpit, she actively avoided as much direct aggression as possible, her tail clinging closely to her legs.

Dani Stellaris Zenitha Chuma

 

[Zenitha Chuma]

If shock had overridden Zenie's compassion, it was only for a moment. She wasn't the kind of girl who cowered in fear or let it paralyze her, not anymore. Not since the day she had let a bounty hunter steal from her, on that fateful day years ago. The young heiress was out of her seat in a moment, halfway to the medical kit stored prominently in the cockpit. The felinoid's scorched fur and blood had given her a ragged, horrifying appearance, but it was only temporary. Once healed and cleaned up, she was sure the strange kitty would look just fine, and not like the terrifying intruder she was now.

Besides, Dani seemed to be handling the intruder part of it.

"Oh, you poor thing!" The Belazuran girl couldn't help feeling sorry for her. The felinoid's dark coloring and hunched posture hid a lustre of beauty underneath. Crouching down herself, Zenie spared a look back to her, unable to resist the urge to find it. The pair of differently-colored eyes that peered out from the strange kitty's face brought a smile to Zenie's, enough to spur her to find the right tools to help the injured stranger.

Zenie carried back the whole medkit, unsure of what pieces would be useful on a furred being. It had gauze and bandages, and some kinds of sprays, plus an assortment of tools the teen heiress didn't recognize. She nearly dropped it when the felinoid dropped her purpose as a stowaway, a deep hurt staring out from hazel eyes. "Why would anyone want to watch me? I'm just a—" Then it hit her again.

Sometimes she forgot that she was Zenitha Chuma, the Rightful Heir to Belazura, to everyone else as well.

"Did Tanja send you?" That didn't sound right to her. Tanja wouldn't go behind her back, after she had agreed to let Zenie go on her own with Dani. After all, Zenie trusted the new Z-Runner, and she was the face of ZINO itself. That was supposed to mean something to them, especially those like Tanja or Maylon whom she worked closest with. The young heiress took a step back, toward Dani near the controls again, a sudden thought of clarity propelling her to some measure of safety.

"Wait..." The girl's voice was low when she asked, as if it was a betrayal just to say the name itself. "Was it him?"

Hadn't she seen the felinoid before, all decked out in her red-and-blacks? And wielding an authority that came straight from the top of the planet?

The place where her dad should still be.

"Manfloon?"

Dani Stellaris Kadora'Tra​

 

[Kadora'Tra]

"Oh, you poor thing!"

Some of her objected to her categorization as poor, and the other two-thirds accepted it with unresolved shame. What a pitiful thing she had become, indeed.

"Why would anyone want to watch me? I'm just a—"

Pawn? Fugitive royalty? The most politically influential child on this side of the Hydian Way?

"Did Tanja send you?"

The name sounded familiar, and a face popped up in her memory. It wasn't a detail she was tasked with committing to memory. Just the girl, and that her organization existed. Truly, none of it was new information. Belazura had been a primary responsibility for her to keep tabs on and oversee on regular occasions. There were very few things on Belazura that she hadn't become aware of us in the interest of security optimization.

"Wait... Was it him? Manfloon?" Kadora'Tra chuckled through the pain.

"Manfloon wishes he could have put me here. That stiff couldn't shut up about tying up 'bothersome loose ends.'" As soon as the venom left her mouth, she realized this probably wasn't as ingratiating as she probably ought to be.

"I guess we both got a guardian angel kid because now he's got two to deal with. I'm just not as good at my new job as you are."

Zenitha Chuma Dani Stellaris