"He's polite the way a Warden is polite to a Death Row inmate, asking what they want for their last meal." Nathan answered back dryly. "But the point stands. I'll go look around a bit, see what else is up here before joining you."
Once Miri was off to the party, Nathan went through the old chapterhouse, looking for anything out of place. He came across many old Jedi artifacts, each with a different whisper. He refused to listen to any of it, however much they pounded on the walls of his mind.
Nathan came across an old meditation chamber and stopped a moment, surveying it. He wasn't sure why he had stopped here.
He stepped in, hesitantly. He remembered the long hours of trying to center himself in them.
He paced the circular edge of the chamber, in spite of himself.
He had walked in to find her meditating in the chamber. She was radiant looking to him. Her features delicate, skin as pale as snow, hinting at her Nagai heritage.
His black clad figure strode up to Lysandra, analyzing her beauty, always trying to commit each second of her to memory. His archaic discipline for centering his mind made it difficult for him to communicate how he felt fully. But she knew.
An arm reached out. A thumb stroking her cheek. His face had barely softened enough. Even without the archaic discipline, the life he led made it difficult for him to smile. There was so little to smile about.
He knew all things were the will of the Force...yet he often found himself questioning why it had willed this hellish suffering on the whole Galaxy in the form of disease, constant curfews and quarantine. And bodies being burned in pits in the streets. Psychos running about, committing every foul crime under the sun. Total Mad Max chit, 24/007.
Nathan managed a faint smile as Lysandra Crownwraithe, who looked pretty much exactly like Laertia Io, smiled slightly more.
Fingers spread across her dark hair as their eyes locked.
"How are you feeling?" Nathan asked.
"Better. Nausea's gone."
"What caused it?" Nathan asked.
Due to a broken mind, he couldn't remember the next words that came from her lips.
But the words hit harder than a boxer's fist.
"Are..." His mouth fell open, his expression one of actual, total surprise.
"Are you sure?"
Lysandra smiled and nodded. She giggled that sweet giggle that had once caught his attention long ago.
An actual, genuine smile hesitantly started to spread across his face, struggling to express the joy that threatened to burst from him.
"I...I..."
Lysandra put a finger over his lips.
"Shhh..." she said, kissing him.
What had they been so happy about? He had struggled to put it together, but not only was his mind broken, but a part of him was in denial.
As he leaned back against a wall, he accidentally, touched a switch that had been cleverly concealed in a light fixture...and a wall to the side depressurized... revealing a hidden door with a biometric hand lock and a strange
red symbol on the door.
"No..." Nathan said in a hiss to himself. "It can't be..."
He stepped close to it, hesitantly placing his hand on the pad. The ancient pad lit up, scanning his DNA.
"Welcome, Bloodscrawl..." the computer voice announced. The door swung open with an audible click.
A
hidden chamber with a Bacta Tank at the end of it greeted him.
"You're
kidding..." he mumbled to himself.
Of all the places to find one of these, and by accident no less.
Nathan walked in, noting a mummified corpse of a woman in the same silver catsuit he had sold off to the merchant earlier, clutching a Lightsaber. He dragged the corpse out, but didn't dare touch the Lightsaber and went inside to check on the equipment. Still running. It's fusion generator had been built to last.
A twinge in his stomach made him worry that he had forgotten something but he couldn't figure out what it was, too distracted by the old
grenade launcher laying at the side of the pod holding the Astromedic. He picked it up, snapped open the breach lock. One live 40mm round. He snapped it shut.
He gave the corpse a wide berth as he walked back out, intending to tell
Miri Nimdok what he had found...
Meanwhile...
Moonclaw smiled as all the ancient artifacts were lit on display, the crowd present having all settled in.
"Tonight, this exhibition will show case a variety of artifacts that are rarely seen together in one place. For our first exhibit, I'd like everyone to gather around for this wonderful example of an old republic era Echani Shield Suit..."
The first display was that of a brilliant red armor, and the crowd Ood and ahhd at it.
"It's remarkably well intact for it's age. If I'm not mistaken, those markings are Onderonian, aren't they?" asked a man whose height did not go above Miri's knees. He wore a silver business suit of an antique style, and a top hat.
"You are correct, Doctor Julian..." Moonclaw praised. "This was recovered in the searching of an ancient Flagship, it's destination is a Historical Preservation Society in the SJC. It was taken weeks before the Maw set foot on the world and destroyed everything."
"A most unfortunate business, that..." Doctor Julian remarked.
Nathan walked in quietly, subtly hand signaling Miri to come talk to him.
