Look Down

[Sabetha Tag]

Just hard enough.

"Uh huh," Sabetha said, unconvinced but also not particularly worried.

"Didn't say this would be a walk in the park, but it's less likely to stop ya in your tracks compared to some broken ribs," she said idly. "Way less damage needed to make it believable."

She could feel it coming. Freedom? Maybe. Maybe something else. Over the years Sabetha had come to know when it was the Force subtly pushing. Oh, not on her specifically. Didn't work like that. But something was coming, was going to happen. She hoped it was the plan they were making, that this was simple anticipation of that. The decision to act tomorrow was a good one, she could feel it in her bones. Simply the idea of waiting was anxiety inducing. Besides the obvious of 'no longer than necessary', it reinforced that tomorrow was the right day.

Why?

She didn't know.

But when this sort of thing happened, it was usually pretty obvious once it went down.

Sabetha shrugged to herself. She'd see it when she saw it, she supposed.

"Was gonna ask if there was anything I could do ta keep your mind off of it," she said, smirk growing, "But if that's gonna get you ripping out throats, I dunno if distraction is such a good idea."

[member="Hira Mitsae"]

 

[Hira Mitsae]

[member="Sabetha Tag"]

"Uuuuggghr-" Climb, crawl, FLOP and her voice would suddenly become much more clear as she crawled back onto the bunk.

"Ugh, yeah, yeah, ya right. Very smart, Sabby."

Catty Sabby Two-Years.

When they got out of here free and alive she would make sure that everyone had that name on their lips. It would be amusing and funny. Oh, she would make sure there was something fierce attached to it. Two years of torture at the hands of a crazed Gen'dai. Two years in super-max, before breaking out with 'er bare hands. Nobody else would know, but that didn't matter to Hira.

Was about the point of it as far as she was concerned.

A snort. "Dun think there's much ya could do to distract me from behind t'wall, yah?" More muffled grunting as she tried to turn around in a better spot. "Or inside for da matter I dun think."

"Ya said before ya killed before. How often? Do ya know?"

 

[Sabetha Tag]

"I dunno, you'd be surprised what I could- really? That's what you wanna talk about?"

That.... was not what she'd been angling at. But okay.

Sabetha found her way onto her back, arms crossing back to pillow behind her head.

"Not a lot." She said it without either chagrin or pride. "Did when I had to, avoided if I could. Leaving bodies behind tends to put folks in a bit of a tizzy, ya feel me?"

Sabetha was a thief. Sure she'd killed. But she'd never done it for the sake of doing it.

"I'm a thief, not a murdered. Most people don't play hero- heh- so usually it's take the stuff and go. Every now and then someone thinks they gotta be tough. Usually a good punch or three dissuades them from that pretty quick. Tried to pick my marks with that in mind- no law enforcement, no ex-mil. I was in it fer the money, dig?"

A small frown flickered across her face.

"Not a lot," she repeated, voice a little quieter. "Maybe more than I realized. Can't count the number of rumbles, bar or gang I was involved in where we didn't stick around to see who got up at the end, ya know?"

[member="Hira Mitsae"]

 

[Hira Mitsae]

[member="Sabetha Tag"]

"Why not? Might as well get to know the lady I am gonna be breaking out with."

The lady she was gonna be killing with, because no matter how this was going to swing they weren't going to get out of this prison without shedding blood. Oh, Hira probably could have found a way, but it would have lowered their chances of escape and that was something she didn't think was acceptable. These people... they wanted to take their freedom, hold their freedom and keep them here for the rest of their lives.

They wanted to take their lives.

Well, payback was a right schutta. "S'fair nuff." A careful stretch- it was already less painful, but that was probably the nerves numbing down rather than anything else. "Yah, I know. When I first started dis I kept count."

The tone growing distant just a bit.

"Notches on da sword an' all. More ya cover da edge with crimson, the less those notches start to mean tho." The less the kill started to mean. It became less of a heavy thing, more a part of the job you wanted to take care off as fast as possible. Because it was annoying, people had places to be and there were more important things to do. "I don't avoid it." A shrug. She could take that as she wanted. "Don't seek it out tho. Just- whatever's easier? S'long as it gets the job done anyway, dig?"

Hence bombing the archives rather than trying to slice them in.

 

[Sabetha Tag]

"Well, here's something to know then. Don't really define myself by the people I've had to kill."

Serious, thoughtful. A pause.

"Six, that I know of." She answered the question she'd avoided earlier. "Three of them here. Thought it was worth it if I got out." Hira could almost hear the shrug in her voice.

If there was any doubt that Sabetha would kill to get out of here, it would be put to bed there. No one's life was worth the price of her freedom.

"Hey no judgement here, lady. You do what ya gotta do. Sometimes it's easy and pleasant. Sometimes.... well. Sometimes it ain't."

They fell silent for a moment, each mulling their own thoughts.

"Is this.... not THIS THIS.... but in general..... this the life you woulda picked?"

Voice a little quiet. Little distant.

[member="Hira Mitsae"]

 

[Hira Mitsae]

[member="Sabetha Tag"]

Six.

Practically a virgin by her standards.

But the first one was always the hardest from what Hira could tell. From there on out the hardest part wasn't the killing, it was knowing when to stop and figure out a different approach. Shysa had been there for her in that regard. The straight mind, the clean edge, he had known when it was time to put things to bed and when to start demolishing. Maybe it was because of his death that she was starting to look at things in a different perspective.

Maybe.

Then again she did get captured while smuggling a metric fethton of anti-matter out of Alliance space, so just how much had she really learned?

"Mmmm..." Hira thought about that for a while. "Yes." The answer came smoothly and direct. "Free, unburdened, take what you can... give nothing back. The straight life was never for me. Behind a desk and slaving away nine 'til five." A snort. "Or a good 'yes sir' soldier. A Jedi... naw."

She yawned slightly.

"This was the life for me. Even in this duracrete box I am more free than most are in their entire life."

Free of soul and free of spirit.

"You?"

 

[Sabetha Tag]

"Mmmm, thought I did once. Long time ago."

A little wistful there, but not regret.

Sabetha kicked her feet up, sitting full up on the bunk, back leaning against the wall. It brought her a bit farther from the hole, voice fainter for the distance.

"Found out real fast that it wasn't for me. Too quiet. Too-"

A pause.

The hypocrisy she'd seen. The Jedi, beacons of light. And yet at their very base, cruel. Selfish. The Silver, so focused on the glint of their perceived goodness that they never stopped to think if what they actually were doing day to day was good. Selfish, self absorbed. Wasteful, gods the waste. So much potential for good, doled out instead as if it was a rare resource and only good for those they chose. And those ignored..... those every day wretches. The hungry, the poor. Yes, help those in war torn areas but what of the homeless in their cities, those who were hungry before the wars. When there were people in need on your own door step, you did not go looking for trouble. And yet....

"It's either stupidity or hypocrisy," she said finally. "I'll pass on both thanks. Ain't got no time for people who preach peace while children starve."

Sabetha was no vigilant. No 'steal from the rich and give to the poor'. She took care of herself and her own....

But she was also the person to slip a credit shit or a loaf of bread to someone curled up in an alley when no one else was looking. Because she remembered.

[member="Hira Mitsae"]

 

[Hira Mitsae]

[member="Sabetha Tag"]

A head tilt.

Ow.

Even still the pain didn't make Hira blink less. "Wait, ya was a what? Desk jockey before this?" Then another thought. "Good soldier? Jedi?" She settled back and waited to see what Sabetha would reply, but honestly either which way it made her laugh. That same care-free laugh, chiming and bright, relaxed, at least until it turned into a violent painful coughing fit. "Awh, good feth, dun make me laugh like dat again, plz."

Just the image of Sabby (her voice anyway) sitting behind a desk was amusing.

A shake of the head.

"Wouldn't have figured ya for that, Sabby, but then- just got ya pretty voice to lead me along."

Hira liked her voice, the song had helped her carry along with her task and that was the truth. "Dun worry, I dinnae judge ya for ya past. Still. How did ya go from that to this? Ain't exactly the straightest of paths, dig?"

 

[Sabetha Tag]

"Uh. Jedi."

That she DID admit sheepishly.

"Hey now, I said it was a long time ago!" But she was laughing too.

She didn't know if Hira was easy to talk to because she was, or if it was because she had just been so fething desperate for company. Did it matter? Right now no.

"I was just a kid. Really, can barely call what I did that. Jedi I mean. I was there for two months, on the generous side. Thought.... thought they had some answers. I mean, they did. I just decided I didn't like their answers. Left one day and never went back. So, you don't have to try TOO hard to picture me like that- didn't take much of a chance on it. Honestly, they were just AWFUL, so."

Her voice trailed off.

"Congratulations, you have discovered my biggest regret. Wanna talk about time wasted, huh?"

The regret was only that she'd bothered at all, not that it hadn't worked out.

[member="Hira Mitsae"]

 

[Hira Mitsae]

[member="Sabetha Tag"]

There was some more chuckling here and there.

"Ya I bet. Which Order ya try ya hand at? I 'ear there are as many of 'em as colors on a rainbow." Somewhere the woman knew that if Sabetha was a kid it was wholly possible it hadn't been up to her at that point. The Jedi preached a whole lot of chit, but at the end of the day they didn't mind kidnapping kids from their folks, if that was what it took to add to their numbers. Selfish like that. Only caring about their own, about their image and the power they had to use it.

For the greater good they called it.

Somehow Hira didn't see the Galaxy being all that great from their constant chitting around with the Sith.

"Aight, lemme think of mine then, s'only fair, ya?" In truth Hira had little regret in her life. She lived in the moment, didn't look back and only pushed forward. It was a great way to live it if anyone would ask her. "Mm, guess not being strong enough when I was a kid to protect my folks. They was trade peddlers running the Tingel Arm and da Primeval Crusade burned their convoy down. Nuthin' I could do about it."

Not as funny, but Hira didn't seem to be sad about it.

Just... real.

 

[Sabetha Tag]

"Silvers. Eesh what a mess. Not even like a hot mess, ya know? Just crazy without the benefit of any of the perks that might go along with it."

She shook head head.

"Every year, I waited for news that they'd finally folded up. Cause you wanna talk about a group in the 'last days of civilization' that's them. Something really rotten, right at the core."

Sabetha was quiet as Hira explained. Yeah, wasn't funny (the Jedi thing? That, that was kinda funny she'd admit), and while the other woman couldn't see it, she nodded. Thinking about her own family. Gone too. Galaxy was like that.

Settling back again, her voice louder as she got closer to the hole.

"How old were you?"

[member="Hira Mitsae"]

 

[Hira Mitsae]

[member="Sabetha Tag"]

Hira informed her how the Silver Jedi Order leeroy jenkins'ed their way into Mirial, got their arses handed to them and then abandoned the Tingel Arm without putting up even a single fight. Hundreds of worlds simply abandoned and left in reach of the Sith Empire, now without protection. Her tone didn't have any judgement or feelings behind it. Just... simple facts, tired facts, the facts that only highlighted to Hira that the Jedi were full of chit.

"Hmm, can't really... remember?" She shifted a bit and thought on it. "Think about six maybe. There abouts anyway, the next couple of years were kind of a blur, ya know?"

Living on the streets, running with gangs, the usual.

That was the first taste Hira had gotten for body-ware.

It had become some sort of ritual for her. Every year she would take the cash she had gotten together and upgrade some part of her. Become stronger, faster, more competent and able to deal with the problems the Galaxy handed to her.

Had been good.

"Either way- made me the woman I am today, so it could have been worse, eh?"

 

[Sabetha Tag]

Sabetha let out a low whistle.

"Sweet merciful maw, that- wow. Just up and left? That's a new low. I thought orbitally bombarding a city was bad," well it was but, "That's..... trillions of people they just up and abandoned. Wow."

She shook her head, chuckling but without mirth.

"Shine that light a little brighter folks," she muttered sarcastically.

The redhead fell silent again when Hira answered her question. Huh.

"Around the same age I was then, when I lost my mom. Yeah I dig ya, don't have a lot of memories from that time. Probably for the best."

It wasn't the memories themselves that stuck with you. It was the experiences as a sum total. Things that shaped the way someone responded to certain situations, what tones of voice brought up what reactions, shaped in full the person they'd eventually become. Sabetha knew that all too well.

It wasn't something she thought about often. Not something she dwelled on. She knew it had shaped her, but she liked who she was so why worry over it?

A smile curved on her face slightly.

"Very fine woman ya are too, Miss Mitsae," Sabetha drawled.

[member="Hira Mitsae"]

 

[Hira Mitsae]

[member="Sabetha Tag"]

"Right?"

How in the seven regions they were able to claim being good after that was beyond her. It only served to remind her that some people weren't just hypocrites, but potentially deranged lunatics, because from what Hira could tell they really truly believed that they were on the right side of things. How one can abandon trillions of people to the same nation you were sworn to defend against, only because you decided to assault that nation without a plan or anything --- and then still consider themselves fundamentally good was beyond her.

"Sounds like we got more in common than just the housing accommodation, eh?"

Silence for a while, before Hira snorted again.

"Charmer, eh? That tongue o' ya will get ya in trouble one of these days."

It was odd how much Sabby was flirting with her (oh, yes, she finally figured it out after a bit) when they didn't even know how they looked like. But maybe she was just bored- two years of no time spend with anyone could do that to someone.

Hira wasn't about to take that away from her.

"Whatcha wanna do after, Sab? We get out, demolish dem archives. Ya get ya noms and ya showers, ya drinks, whatcha wanna do after all that?"

 

[Sabetha Tag]

"I find my tongue gets me out of trouble more often than in." She said, eyebrows waggling. "Or into the right kind of trouble." SMIRK.

"Don't forget the laid part. Beyond that though? Gonna make a run by my ex's place. She was keeping some of my stuff before I got arrested. Not combining those two things tho- seriously. Charsi is crazy. Made that mistake once, no more. Well. Okay I might again but not with Cha. Once she got seriously into spice, well. THAT lady is a Hot Mess, we'll leave it at that. Anyway, I want my stuff back. Couple things got confiscated when I got arrested. So by now probably sold off as auction. Couple things I just can't replace. If I can track 'em down I will."

Sabetha was sentimental about some stuff.

"After THAT? Hmmm."

She tilted her head this way and that.

"Haven't thought that far. Depends I guess. Don't got much to go back too, so I guess sky's the limit, yeah? Steal somethin' BIG maybe. Big pay off, live like a queen for a bit. Something FUN tho. You..... you'll probably just go back to doin' what you were doing before huh? I got two years to catch up on but this is just a pit stop for you, isn't it?"

[member="Hira Mitsae"]

 

[Hira Mitsae]

[member="Sabetha Tag"]

"Need more than a clever tongue to get into these bits of trouble." Hira responded smoothly. This was easier, she knew that if they had been on the outside and face-to-face, if Sabetha had pressed then things would have gotten a few inches more awkward.

She... wasn't good at that.

It was the idea of being vulnerable that usually killed it for Hira.

Not a thing that Hira enjoyed doing or did very often. Once, twice, but always after a long period of time. Had to figure a person out, weigh 'em and their souls, find out if they were worth taking that risk for, dig? "Spice feths with the best, yeah." The agreement came easy as she closed her eyes finally, letting her breath come easy and go easier. "Do stims myself sometimes. Mostly when a battle is gon' be long, ya know?"

She reached up and scratched her nose a bit.

Ow.

Ugh the muscles in her side hurt every time a move was made. "I'd rather crash once it is all over than find out my reserves are gone in the middle of it all."

"Nah." A yawn. "Did my time killin' an' mercing through the Galaxy. Got mah list, but I need time to figure out how to get to the name at the top. Figure gonna need money an' more first tho."

 

[Sabetha Tag]

"Oh yeah? What's it take then? I got other skills after all," she said with a smirk. "I can charm a coat or pick even the tightest lock with the best of 'em."

Could be talking about sneak thieving.

Probably wasn't.

"Eh, Charsi wasn't the best BEFORE the spice. And after well. Addict's an addict. You can count on 'em to be an addict, but that's about it. For her sake I hope she cleaned up her chit since then, but."

She didn't finish the sentence, but it was clear she wasn't expecting that.

"Careful with the stims tho, eh? Ya don't need or probably even want my advice but. Eh, yer a big girl, you can take care of yourself. Forget I said anything. That last. Name. What you've got burning you up, hmm?"

[member="Hira Mitsae"]

 

[Hira Mitsae]

[member="Sabetha Tag"]

"Some locks jus' need time an' effort, Sabby. Ain't about da slickness of ya fingers, but about da patience ya show."

The wink could practically be sensed.

"Few folks manage it, maybe she got the force of will." That could practically convey the shrug in it. Hira didn't really much care one way or another, but she enjoyed the sound of Sabby's voice and in the last couple of days she had started to enjoy the woman's company. The fact that she was only in here for a few days? Made it more likely that that was a real feeling and not just the starvation of two years spend in solitude.

"Mhhm."

That did get a smirk out of her.

Catty Sabby Two-Years was getting concerned for her sake and that amused her immensely. "Ahhh, I had a partner. Dumb one, but mine. Mandalorian. Cared far too much about da codes an' the resol'nare an' all dat chit. Got himself killed in da hall of a new Mand'alor."

A shrug. "Some fether launched da first rocket that dropped it all into chaos an' got Kalad, Alor of House Shysa, killed."

"Dat makes a debt, dig?"

 

[Sabetha Tag]

Sabetha smiled. Seemed clear enough to her. There was interest but it'd take some work. She wasn't sure herself if it was just 'gods I haven't talked to someone in half a year' or genuine on her part, so it was just as well really, wasn't it? Wasn't a yes. Wasn't a no. Sounded to her like a 'proceed with caution', which was useful information on its own.

"Gotta choose the right method for the right lock," she agreed congenially, the smile in her voice.

She hummed a few bars of a song absently, before realizing she was even doing it. Now that was a nice change of pace. Music- a way to tell how she was doing. She'd had one person liken it to a cat. Might not realize it was purring itself, but it let everyone else know things were going fine.

Optimistic? You bet. But Sabetha had never let a silly little thing like 'maybe nots'.

Wasn't Hira. Well. Mostly not. Sabetha could almost smell freedom. This was the closest she'd been in too long to having hope in something beyond one smelly room, and it showed.

"Mandos eh? Never had much truck with 'em. Partner with an Alor of a clan tho? That's not nothing." She paused, frowning slightly. She'd never had a partner, not one the way Hira said the word anyway. "I'm sorry. For what it's worth."

[member="Hira Mitsae"]

 

[Hira Mitsae]

[member="Sabetha Tag"]

"Eh, he kept that chit to himself mostly, hence me never feeding him my fist."

You'd never know Kalad was a Mandalorian (not one that cared about thrones, crowns, kings and Mand'alors), until the day came that he had to go. It was about the essence of their souls or something, she hadn't really been listening all too hard, but here they were. Why Kalad had decided that this was the hill he had wanted to die on. For a throne, a crown, or rather to keep it from the child Mand'alor was beyond her.

Didn't matter tho.

"S'allgood, Sabby, dead is dead. The night I found out I had a metric fethton to drink and wrecked my favorite bar on Rishi. All da catharsis one needs." Still though, the fact that a woman like her was still keeping a list and holding onto it?

Definitely meant unresolved issues.

"Appreciate it tho. Either way- revenge comes expensive, so I am probs gonna try an' track down my stashed ship, start hitting places and earning cash for it."