Night Divides the Day

[Caulder Dune]

[member="Spark Finn"]

"I'm terribly sorry to disappoint you." Darth Adekos grumbled.

Suddenly her head bumped into his chest, which really just made him uncomfortable. Either this was the softest headbutt ever endured by a mortal man or Spark was in such blinding pain that he had been mistaken for a reasonable place to rest her head. Whatever the case, at least one of them were going to need to get to the medical bay as fast as possible. Who knew how many of his ribs had been cracked by the impact of her skull into his chest? His life was on the line here now, in addition to his dignity. After a few moments, before Adekos had time to make any biting comments, she came to and jolted away from him. Now that was much less annoying.

"Oh, dear Spark, I'm never wrong." He condescended. "This is just to help you realize."

A door opened up behind them, revealing a pair of two black-and-gold armored Novatroopers.

Adekos commanded both without looking away from Spark. "Gentlemen, if you could escort Ms. Finn to the medical bay and keep her there until I arrive, I would appreciate it."

 

[Spark Finn]

[member="Darth Adekos"]

Pffft, never wrong. What's with adults these days and always thinking...

A twinge of panic rose in her chest as she craned her neck and looked over her shoulder at the two guards. Organic guards. She looked back to Lord Adekos. Her mind wandered for a few precious seconds as the guards drew closer. Just how may people were on this ship? Was there a cafeteria? Were they commuters? How were the droids stored, anyway? Were there moving walkways?

She blinked. "Keep me there?"

Head throbbed, no POUNDED. The percent of original Spark Finn that wanted to figure out just what the gorram was going on seemed to be drowning in the technovirus part that was urging her to run.

Get back to Carach. He'll take care of you. Run Spark, run.

She stepped back, swayed, then tipped her weight to the toes of her feet. She played logic with the voice in her head, 'But there's a Sithish Lord in front of me. And I haven't even seen all the droids this guy has.'

RUN SPARK. Come back. Now.

With one palm still pressed against her aching skull, she bolted to go around Darth Adekos and toward the shuttle.

 

[Caulder Dune]

[member="Spark Finn"]

Spark darted past him and sprinted as fast as she could to the shuttle. Darth Adekos hadn't actually expected her to run away like that. He made no move to stop her, aside from turning around and indicating for the Novatroopers to give chase. They bolted off after her, though Adekos remained where he was. Apparently that technovirus also had the added benefit of giving her a large set of brass balls. Where else could she work up the courage to run off like that? The Novatroopers would probably catch up to Spark and restrain her before she got to her shuttle, but Adekos put a finger to his comlink to radio the hangar bay oversight team.

"I need a tractor beam to lock down the shuttle docked near cargo bay 13."

An OOM unit responded. "Roger roger."

Over the shuttle, the tractor beam engaged. It was invisible to the eye, but the projected beam would prevent the ship from taking off even if the engines were gunned to the fullest extent.

The Novatroopers knew to escort her to the medical bay, so Adekos would begin heading there now. Meanwhile, the technicians would gather up the relevant data from the testing sequence and ship it off to Hegemonic Automaton's headquarters. There it would be processed and implemented into the final design, allowing for substantial improvements before it even hit the market. A hard copy of the report would also be sent to Adekos while he waited in the medical bay, just so he had something to peruse. The impending profits would all be thanks to Spark, so Adekos figured he at least owed her the courtesy of a proper diagnosis of her techno-condition.

 

[Spark Finn]

[member="Darth Adekos"]

If it wasn't for the duality in her emotions bumping up against some 'techno magicka,' the gangly-blond probably could've outrun some seasoned black and gold troopers. She probably could've used technometry to cause some static on Darth Adekos' order for the tractor-beam.

But none of these things happened.

Converse-clad feet carried her to the base of the shuttle ramp when a hot numbing sensation slammed into her back. The effects of the stun-bolt spread through her muscles quickly causing her to collapse on the floor like a pile of overcooked, limp noodles. The last thing she saw was a set of gold-black shin pads halted next to her face.

"Ouch, rude" she grumbled which came more out like, "Bwwwooushh Mffwwwuuu." Stun-bolts had that highly induced drug effect. Just like going to the dentist on Korriban.

Everything went black.

Gray-blue eyes opened some time later to find herself lying on a cot, looking up at bland walls and bland lights of a medbay. A protesting groan left her lips, sounding between a squeak and a growl. Senses immediately extended, searching for anything electronic she could use to her advantage.

"What is going on?" Unfortunately, that sounded more like, "Mooffoo ginnae shaun?"

Powerful stun bolts they were.

 

[Caulder Dune]

[member="Spark Finn"]

Lucrehulks were very large vessels. So it should have come as no surprise that their medical bays also had waiting rooms. It was quite ridiculous, but Lucrehulks were ridiculous vessels. The cot Spark was sprawled on was actually a stretcher, which was left abandoned in the waiting room. There were a dozen or so uncomfortable benches that looked dusty and poorly maintained, accompanied by a few small end tables where piles of flimsiplast magazines older than the Queen of Kuat were piled up. Also dusty. As it turned out, medical bays did not see much use on this vessel, especially not this one which hadn't been touched since Adekos took the ship from Death Watch many years ago.

The doors slid open moments after Spark woke up, and Adekos entered escorted by the Novatroopers from earlier. The one who had hit Spark with the stun bolt oozed a sense of self-satisfaction, while the other one hadn't felt anything in years. Not since his squad had perished on Manaan. He'd been promoted after the battle, sure, but at what cost?

Not that anyone cared about them anyway.

"Miss Finn. You're awake. I'm afraid the tests we ran were conclusive." Adekos said grimly. "You're pregnant. And Carach is the father."

 

[Spark Finn]

[member="Darth Adekos"]

Fogged-mind grasped at Lord Adekos' words. Lips pursed into an extreme pout, tugging her entire face into a thoughtful-frown. Gray-blue eyes narrowed slightly at the gold and black clad troopers. Whether it was a glare at them or the reflection of poor lighting off her glasses was hard to say.

She rose slowly on the stretcher.

The movement still caused the base of the stretcher to slip off a stack of old Sith Lord Weeklys, Kaine's Digest, and Time with an article featuring someone named Reverance on the cover, sending a cloud of dust in the air. With a loud sneeze, she slid down the now, angled stretcher, landing on the ground with a soft kerplunk.

"Say what?"

 

[Caulder Dune]

[member="Spark Finn"]

"In a manner of speaking." Adekos clarified, rolling his eyes as Spark slid to the floor. "Though, I suppose that's a stretch."

Darth Adekos waved away the cloud of dust with one hand, coughing lightly into the other. The Novatroopers were not phased by the cloud, partially because of the air filtration systems in their helmets and partially because one of them was presently having a flashback to Manaan. So many good people died when that city sank. There were no bodies to recover, all washed into the ocean to become food for the monstrosities that lurked in the deep. He'd only gotten out by sheer luck. Why? Why him? There were better people down there; people that could have made a difference.

In any event, the Umbaran produced a folder from the folds of his robes, handing the contents to Spark. Contained within was a moderate amount of flimsiplast sheets with medical information imprinted upon them, including a few close-up shots of blood cells. The blood cells were not alone, but were accompanied by what could only be described as tiny metallic microorganisms. Nanobots, but they looked rather menacing.

"We ran a blood test. You're carrying a strain of the technovirus, as I suspected. Strange that you haven't been turned into a technobeast, though. Carach must have altered the strain to your benefit."

 

[Spark Finn]

[member="Darth Adekos"]

"A techno-what?!" She shot to her feet and snatched the offered medical-file from the sithish lord's hand. Eager fingers flipped frantically through the charts and readings. She looked from the readout to Adekos to the readout and back to Adekos.

"You're trying to tell me that I have these little things all inside my body and that Carach...he...," voice trailed off. "Let's just say I believed you. Why would he do that? Also...when the kriff did you take my blood?"

Arms folded across her chest.

"I did not sign a medical release for this. What if you're just lying about all of this to get me to confront Carach and to question what his intentions are?" She shifted uncomfortably between each foot, suddenly feeling claustrophobic in this room.

 

[Caulder Dune]

[member="Spark Finn"]

"Oh, please. Do you have any idea how difficult it would be to forge a medical report?"

This was mostly his fault. Maybe if he hadn't been a dirty, lying Umbaran people would actually believe him when he spoke the truth. Never mind the fact that he was also someone who used the Dark Side of the Force. Certainly it was wrong to generalize, but in Adekos' experience most Dark Siders weren't a trustworthy bunch, least of all him. But really, now she was asking all sorts of obvious questions. It was almost like she hadn't been living with Darth Carach, or wasn't paying attention to the actions of her fool of a master.

"Do you always ask such stupid questions? He is a Sith, Spark. He desires control over you." Adekos explained with no shortage of condescension. "So of course he would infect you with a virus that renders you a willing subject. You probably would have run off long ago if he hadn't exposed you to it. What if I'm lying? What if you're deluding yourself? You have a technovirus that gives you migraines when you question Carach."

 

[Spark Finn]

[member="Darth Adekos"]

As if on cue, the steady-throbbing was there.

Color began to creep into her pale, face. It started out as pink, quickly turning to a strawberry-red. Frustration and anger spiked on her emotionalometer. Her head throbbed but she didn't wince. Arms came down at her sides, lithe-fingers curling into tight fists. One begrudgingly, toned word summed-up her acceptance.

"Fine."

Pain and anger filled eyes flicked to Adekos and the two guards as she took a step forward.

"Move. Please. I'm going to take care of this."

Back-straightened to her entire unassuming height.

 

[Caulder Dune]

[member="Spark Finn"]

The Novatroopers stepped forward as if to stop Spark, but a hand held up by Darth Adekos stopped them in their tracks.

"And just what do you intend to do?" He asked.

Adekos smirked and folded his arms as he waited for an answer. This entire situation would be terribly inconvenient for Carach. Almost as inconvenient as shagging someone else's apprentice and thus contributing directly to their already abominable behavior. And trapeezing around Coruscant's underlevels for three days in a drug-induced orgy instead of returning his apprentice back into his custody like a well-meaning colleague would.

 

[Spark Finn]

[member="Darth Adekos"]

The breathing systems within the suits of the troopers began to falter and their internal comms began to crackle as mechu-deru vitae emanated from Spark Finn. Even without the guy who signed their pay-checks hand wave, the warning was clear from the petite-blond. Don't.

"That's none of your concern."

She stepped closer, unflinching with a serious set of gumption and brass balls.

"Step aside Lord Adekos."

 

[Caulder Dune]

[member="Spark Finn"]

The smirk ran away from his face. She was serious. Suddenly this wasn't as amusing to him any more. Both eyebrows raised as he could hear the cackling in the Novatrooper's armor. It looked like this was the straw that broke the nerf's back. Spark was going to have a bone to pick with Carach and it was going to be quite hilarious. Maybe he should just let her get to it.

"Step aside, gentlemen, this young lady's on a mission." With a sweep of his hand, both Adekos and the Novatroopers siddled out of her way.

Wait, he had almost forgotten the important Dark Side lesson to instil. He cleared his throat as she walked on by, dispensing one last nugget of Adekosian wisdom before she was out of ear shot.

"Don't forget to give into your anger, embrace your hatred, et cetera."

He briefly wondered if she could actually find her way from here to the hangar bay. Her problem, really.

 

[Spark Finn]

[member="Darth Adekos"]

She huffed by the towering sithish lord and those garishly colored uniforms of his lackeys. Heartbeat echoed in her ears and pulsed in her fingertips. She had an internal compass drawing her back to Carach and she certainly had more than a bone to pick with him - more than a circuit to rewire. She clutched the medical documents as she quickly took her leave from the doughnut-shaped ship.

She was angry.