Prelude

[Relina Zhan]

Prelude (Above & Beyond)

Location: Palace of St. Clavelle, Gallinore
Time: 1930 hours

Ducha Relina Zhan, finally home after a series of obligations, laid down on her plush bed, having dressed into a purple silk nightgown. She had showered and dried her hair, having brushed it and conditioned it, before binding it neatly in a fine peice of purple silk to lessen knotting as she slept.

Her luxurious bed was a wide square depression set into the floor of a slightly raised dias in the corner of her bedroom with a large foam and gel mattress custom fit for it. The sheets were silken and violet in colour to match the comforter and pillows, which themselves were equally soft. The shape of the dais itself was designed to be as unobtrusive as possible, ultra-modern and artistic in design, with the upper surface tapering along the back wall on the left side. The other side of the Dias connected directly to the balcony and the sliding glass door separating the bedroom from the outside gardens three stories below. it was still bright outside and wouldn't get terribly dark anyway due to the Transitory Mists, a massive, light-years-thick H-II emission nebula that surrounded the Hapes Cluster where Gallinore was located.

The room at large was fairly large with its own bathroom and a walk-in closet. The carpet was plush and softly topped, off-white in colour in contrast to the pure-white of the walls and ceiling. Purple curtains matched the bedding for a splash of colour apart from the items found therein. The Ducha had two large wall-mounted security cases filled with neatly arranged blasters of varying types and holograms on the walls that shifted from one image to another, some animated. One such holo-projection frame was large and rectangular, which functioned as a holovid with a sound system set up unobtrusively. Ultra-modern light fixtures hung from the ceiling among an ionic ceiling fan system in the centre. Finally, gentle electronic music played from an expensive stereo system set into a wall. There were air fresheners attached to nightlights in the closet, bedroom and bathroom, each of which produced a nice floral scent.

The Ducha had sent for her new-hire handmaiden to come and sit with her and to bring with her a glass of fine wine and two glasses. She had one of the rooms on the third floor set up for Quinn, other servants having arranged it for her as part of a welcoming gesture. Relina waited patiently with her datapad, reading files on the planet's present state of affairs.

[member="Quinncolson"]

 

[Eli-Mae Forrest]

Quinn had been getting settled in and was feeling bored when the call from Relina had came. As soon as Quinn had heard her new boss call for her she was ecstatic it was the first time in a long time that she had felt useful, she didn't know what to think as she stopped everything she was doing and got up. She had just gotten leapt into action as quickly as she could. She grabbed her heels and put them on as she sprinted through the door into the lavender scented hallway. She ran down the hall and into the wine cellar which did not smell like most wine cellars, it was clean and dry and well lit not to mention it smelled like a spring day. She very quickly looked through all of the wine, pulling out the oldest bottle of red wine that there was along with two glasses she then took off to the stairs and made her long descent to where her bosses bedroom was. She very quickly knocked and walked in "Sorry it took so long."

[member="Relina Zhan"]

 

[Relina Zhan]

[member="Quinncolson"]

Relina glanced to her left as the doors slide apart to reveal Quinn. Relina smiled. "Come in, Miss Quinn." she said, closing down her datapad for the moment. She'd roll a bit to face her fully, gesturing toward one of the two sectionals in the room. She'd smooth out her nightgown to try and be a bit formal, despite the informal attire meant for relaxing.

"Don't be shy. I trust you approve of your room?" she asked. The rooms her guests and staff used were smaller than this, but there was no lack of luxury put into their design and amenities. It was perhaps like being in a very expensive hotel to one who might not be used to the home of a wealthy noblewoman. "For as long as you stay here, it is yours to decorate as you wish. My home is your home." she added, moving herself into a leaning, sitting position with her legs curled up next to her.

 

[Eli-Mae Forrest]

Quinn took a seat on the a sectional after handing the glasses and bottle of wine to Relina. As she did she looked around at the room which smelled like a fresh rain mixed with a spring day. She looked at Relina and smiled. Her room was very very nice it was a lot nicer than anything Quinn had ever been in, including the Time Bandit her own ship which was pretty nice. She sat up straight and made eye contact with Relina "Yes it is the nicest thing I have ever had the pleasure of living in."

[member="Relina Zhan"]

 

[Relina Zhan]

[member="Quinncolson"]

Relina had to sit up fully to uncork the bottle She'd look at the label after catching a faint waft of the scent of the wine inside. "... Oh, good choice!" she said happily. The bottle was an expensive brand and an older vintage. "C.Y. 4860... this wine is older than me." she added, using the Hapan calendar she was used to. The Hapes Consortium's calendar counted years from the founding of the nation nearly five-thousand years prior to the present time. Relina never used the T.C. calendar that Quinn might have been used to, considering the girl was born long before the iconic Battle Of Yavin and the Treaty of Coruscation wasn't really a major historical thing to the Hapans, nor did she use the B.B.Y or A.B.Y everyone else used, since the Battle of Yavin wasn't terribly significant to the isolated Hapes Consortium.

She'd pour the wine into the glasses up tot he halfway point, then placed the bottle on the floor of the dias her bed was set into. She'd stand up and join Quinn on the sectional, handing her one of the glasses. "Splendid. I take care of my employees. As i said, it is your room to use as you wish. Make it your own." she said encouragingly.

"Oh, and I had your ship brought to Landing Pad Two. If you need to access it, I have assurances that everything was left alone, since nothing illegal was found on board." she added.

 

[Eli-Mae Forrest]

"Thank you my lady." Quinn says taking the wine and taking the drink. She looks over at relina and thought about everything she knew about her which was not much. "So my lady if it's not too much of an issue would you tell me more about yourself? " She asked and then noted that Relina smelled of fresh rain. That was always Quinns favorite scent. She would then bite her lip as she thought of her time training under Master Windu. Relina was becoming more of a sister/friend to Quinn more than a boss but Quinn would continue to treat her with all the respect in the galaxy

[member="Relina Zhan"]

 

[Relina Zhan]

[member="Quinncolson"]

Relina took a sip and chuckled. "A fair request... but what is there to tell?' she asked, sarcastically. She'd sit back, crossing a smooth leg over a knee, flexing her bare toes as she thought of where to start.

"Well, I was born here on Gallinore to Ducha Anastasia the Fifth. I have an identical twin sister, Alessandra, whose room is actually right across the hall and is just as large as this one." she began, pointing to the door. "I went to school at the Clavelle Academy of Military Science where I was effectively brought up around the Royal Navy. My sister, and you shall meet her eventually, had private tutors here at home, brought up by our mother as a politician. However, I was the one who inherited the Duchal title because I was born five minutes before Alessandra." She'd pause to take another sip of her wine.

"I flew my first ship at sixteen and decided to become a pilot for my choice of military career. Upon graduation, I trained to become a combat pilot and eventually found myself deployed in a lengthy armed conflict. My flight lead was a hard man and one I looked up to like a second father, almost. It was Major Jan Sura who drilled the manoeuvres and discipline in me that I now lord over all new recruits...." she trailed off, remembering that fateful day when he was shot down over Terephon during the last war. She STILL had nightmares about it, ones that continued to grow stranger and stranger and ever less relevant to the original emotional trauma. She didn't mention to Quinn that she suffered such things and the prognosis of her therapist of post-traumatic stress. She'd take another sip before continuing.

"Anyway.... I fought in the Second Rim Insurrection 8 years ago. The treasonous Heritage Council, a radical anti-Republic conservative wing, decided to rebel against Her Majesty's policy, overtly seeking to remove her from the throne. Obviously, this is high treason according to our Constitution and an act of war. Conflict was the only way to resolve it, since diplomacy was never an option in the first place. The ultimatum had been issued publicly and it was answered with gunfire. At any rate, I had become a member of the Angel Squadron based right here on Gallinore and was first deployed to Charubah." she recalled. What began as a little bit about her upbringing evolved into war stories. "Part of the Battle of Charubah was a space battle, where I and the Angels of the time had to help gain space supremacy over the planet. Once done, the rest was a suborbital air battle, where we had to fly top cover and air superiority over the city of Esthar... and then we got sent to Stalsenek, which is where things started to heat up."

She'd look at Quinn, hoping she wasn't boring the girl.

 

[Eli-Mae Forrest]

As Relina began to tell her story Quinn sat there eyes wide open hoping that Relina didn't think she was a freak because her bright purple eyes. She would sit there occasionally sipping her wine and pretty soon she would get so comfortable she would want to take her heels off but decides it would be wrong and unprofessional " Please tell me more."

[member="Relina Zhan"]

 

[Relina Zhan]

[member="Quinncolson"]

Relina wouldn't mind if Quinn took her shoes off, but she also didn't realise it was a desire for her overtly. She continued her story. "At Stalsenek, we met the bulk of the Heritage forces. That battle took just over a day to fully resolve." she said, pausing to take another sip. "It took even longer for Command to hash out the consequences of the conflict, but that is another story. Anyway, the Battle of Stalsenek pitted Battle Dragon against Battle Dragon, Nova Cruiser against Nova Cruiser. Of course, by then our Terminus starfighters were being feilded while the enemy still flew Miy'tils." she said with a slight grin. "It was glorious, the superiority of the Terminus against the Miy'til. I killed at least 11 fighters that day."

After another sip, she'd stretch out the leg she had crossed over the other and rolled her ankle absently. it was apparent that Relina was quite dainty and delicate-looking, but one who could sense emotions in the Force could tell she was serious about what she was describing. She simply didn't look like much of a warrior. "And well, there was the Ballerophon. He was a rather large Battle Dragon, larger than the standard size, and the flagship of the Heritage fleet.... Gorgeous piece of machinery, but he belonged to the enemy and with the condition our own forces were in at the time, boarding to seize him wasn't going to happen without great risk. It was decided that it would have been the path of least resistance to simply overwhelm him and break through their line. Every ship within range opened fire on the Ballerophon which broke his shields. However, the return fire was rather heavy and we risked attrition of forces if that series of trading weapon fire was sustained too long." Again she'd puse to take another sip.

"I had one concussion missile left and the Ballerophon was within my strike range. So, I broke left, pulled up, and accelerated. My R9 unit was telling me that I had about a seventy-three percent chance of blacking out if I moved to avoid crashing into the ship's hull at the speed I was going. And well, I fired my last missile at the bridge.... no shielding to speak of protecting him." She'd look again at Quinn. "Can you guess what happened?"

 

[Eli-Mae Forrest]

Quinn brought one foot up and placed it under her and finally gave into her desire and removed her shoes. "You hit him didn't you my lady?" She asks smiling as one foot feels the nice carpet under her on the ground. She looked at Relina who all be it was fragile looking but she reminded Quinn of herself. Quinn smiles and begins to figit with her necklace and hair

[member="Relina Zhan"]

 

[Relina Zhan]

[member="Quinncolson"]

"Yes, the missile hit.... and I blacked out." she said, adding the next part after a pause. "The blood rushed out of my head due to the extreme angle I had to fly at to avoid collision with the Battle Dragon. When I came to, Stalsenek's moon had a new crater in it. That was where was promoted from Lieutenant to Commander. To make a long story short, The end of the war was at Terephon and that was where I lost my flight lead." she continued, finishing her first glass of wine.

"The Queen's forces interdicted the Terephon System, cornering the Heritage fleet there. They had nowhere else to run to and no one able to supply them. Their radicalism knew no bounds and astonishingly, they didn't surrender until their naval forces were either seized or destroyed and their leadership was captured. The battle was brutal to say the least. With Major Sura killed in action while the rest of the Squadron survived under my assumed leadership, Command assigned me as the new flight lead and I was promoted to Major not long after the war and the clean up that followed. I've been in that position ever since." she explained.

Relina picked up the bottle and poured herself another glass of wine. "And jsut when things were starting to feel like they were peaceful and normal again, I return home on shore leave to find Hapan Security locking down the Palace of St. Clavelle and much of the rest of the City of Dimitor beyond." she recalled, gesturing toward her balcony. The city lights could be viewed from beyond the gardens walls. "I learned that my mother had been assassinated and that my father had gone missing. There was no evidence that he was also killed and what little evidence from the crime scene seemed to implicate him as the primary suspect. Our security detail never reported any suspicious activity, which made it unlikely an outside contractor had done it." she said, with a slight edge to her voice. "My father still remains missing to this day."

Relina paused to take a sip from her glass. "My sister and I inherited everything Mother left behind. I took over ownership Paragon Enterprises, exercising a degree of executive accountability over the company as well. My sister, who always had been a better diplomat and politician than I, took on the appropriate role in the planet's government as well as that of the Hapes Consortium. Thus, it is she who deals with the Queen Mother and the rest of her Peerage more than I do. Apart from economics and family business matters, I still handle matters of the Military as both an active participant and as a liaison to my sister. Effectively, she and I co-govern this planet, sharing our power symmetrically." Relina explained. "The only reason we don't share the same noble style is because traditional customs dictate that the eldest daughter is the one to inherit the mother's title. i was born five minutes before Alessandra, so that title fell to me, despite the fact I handle politics poorly. She isn't as well versed in business nor military matters, and so we both find we need each other.... besides, we're twin sisters and are literally a part of each other anyway."

Taking another sip, she'd added as an afterthought, "We can even tell what the other is thinking and can complete each other's sentences.

 

[Eli-Mae Forrest]

As Quinn listened to the Ducha talk she fell in love with the story. She loved learning other people's stories. Before long she pulled out a pad of paper and a pencil "I hope you don't mind if I take notes I am thinking of publishing a collection of stories." She says smiling and removing her beanie. She then wrote down everything she had been told. She felt prideful of the stories she had written down already starting with her own and her latest being the one she wrote at that moment. She would stop every so often and take another drink until her glass was empty.

[member="Relina Zhan"]

 

[Relina Zhan]

[member="Quinncolson"]

"Oh don't bother, dear." she said with an amused smile. "There are many documentaries out there about this war... and many other ones from many centuries, even millennia ago." she explained. "You might be interested in viewing some. It would be to your benefit to learn about our history anyway. I've taken the liberty of setting into motion the process to approve your immigration credentials. It is best that you gain legal rights here as a permanent resident prior to becoming a Hapan subject."

Relina had her bases covered it seemed. "So, once the Ministry of the Interior returns the application, I will have you sign off on it. Not to worry, I am vouching for you." she said and then looked to the beanie. Such a simple hat. She wondered if it was significant to her in some way.

"Tell me, have you ever worn a beret?' she asked.

 

[Eli-Mae Forrest]

"No I have not my lady. And I meant your story itself." Quinn says smiling up at Relina and messing with her necklace and then she thought of her hair and her thoughts of dying it to a ginger color.

"I have a question what would you think of me as a ginger my lady?" She thought and began to think about her beanie the only remaining piece of her history before the carbonite it used to belong to her mother and she had taken it her last night on her home planet, it had been very significant to her because of her.

[member="Relina Zhan"]

 

[Relina Zhan]

[member="Quinncolson"]

Relina gave the girl a long, quiet look-over. The Ducha's ocean-blue eyes probed over the young foreigner's hair and face with scrutiny. "Well, red hair is common among my people. Even my hair has some red in it." she replied, her free hand lifting up a lock of her straight red-blonde hair for Quinn to see. It was freshly washed and treated with a conditioning oil for silky results, but the colour was what was relevant.

"I can have my stylist work with you, but you would have to maintain it." she added as she stood up. She'd walk over to her walk-in closet, revealing a lot of expensive clothes of various kinds and rows of lighted alcoves in the far wall with a pair of shoes in most of them. It would seem Relina preferred sandals, since most of those shoes were of that type. She also seemed to have a lot of dresses among her many outfit options. Of course, she also had her military attire set to a specific part of the closet; her dress blues, her flightsuit, and a set of ACUs with the appropriate boots set aside with them neatly. Perhaps the Ducha was a clean-freak, as even the closet itself was neat and orderly and spotless.

Relina went through her headwear and found a soft beret in a lovely reddish colour in a style that was much more casual than her military beret, which itself was stored with her dress uniform. She'd then leave the closet and tossed it to Quinn. "Here, try this on." she said with a grin. She'd then gesture to her bathroom.

The bathroom was also clean and orderly. What little make-up the Ducha actually used was laid on the vanity counter neatly. Another nightlight was attached to the wall with a pretty glass sconce around it and a scented oil vial that gave a floral scent to the room. The mirror was large and the fog from her recent bath was nearly gone. There was a barstool set aside and out of the way near the large, jacuzzi-like bathtub, which itself had three grated tiles in the ceiling and walls it was attached to. They must be the showerheads, considering the silicone nozzles in the grating. The tub itself was set into a raised dais, similar to Relina's bed, with a large, plush, purple bathmat laid in front of it. The purple towels were hung neatly on a heated rack. Finally, the toilet was in a small watercloset at the back of the room with a sign written in the common cursive brushstroke Hapan calligraphy that translated to something sarcastic and funny... likely bathroom humour of some sort.

 

[Eli-Mae Forrest]

Quinn quickly switches hats and then goes to look at herself in the mirror. She liked the beret and it looked good on her. "I would like to talk to a stylist about it I think I would look good as a redhead." She says before re-entering the room and taking her seat again. While she was in the bathroom she took a moment to stare into her purple eyes looking at them and wondering what they would look like with ginger hair. She then removed the hat and handed it back to relina.

[member="Relina Zhan"]

 

[Relina Zhan]

[member="Quinncolson"]

Relina smiled as she turned off the main lighting and let the door close. She would sip her drink as she sat down again, curling her legs up and together as she leaned on the backrest, facing Quinn. She accepted the beret back and set it down between them. "I noticed something seemed to bother you during the meeting before. I thought for a moment that I detected fear. You can talk to me about anything, you know... in fact, I encourage it. Communication tends to work out better for both of us, in my experience." she said.

It was true that Relina was very much Force Sensitive. She was not trained at all in its use, but she had become aware of what this meant. It was likely why she was such a good pilot apart from her own discipline and experience. Knowing this girl had Jedi training to some degree, she met her gaze, studying her curiously purple eyes. She remembered that Quinn was effectively replacing her last handmaiden, who had been bribed substantially to make an attempt on her life. She hoped this girl wouldn't follow the same trend. Of course, despite this apprehension when the they first met, when they started talking about what she could do while being looked after, Relina felt confident enough in Quinn to give her that chance. Of course, she wasn't going to discuss this with her. Better it was to let her remain excited and enthusiastic than to know why there was an opening for her hire to begin with.

 

[Eli-Mae Forrest]

"It is a long story so allow me to start at the beginning. I was born on Panatha to a poor family but I had an O.K. childhood that was until the other kids began to tease me for my strange eyes and blonde hair, which was rare if not once in a lifetime on Panatha because the Epicanthix are none for their dark hair and Epicanthic folds on their eyes." She points to the slant of her eyes which somewhat slanted. "So being my blonde hair and violet eyes I was the laughing stock of the whole city." She says as she took another sip of her drink before sitting it down as well. "So being that as it were I became a lonely child the outcast, the freak. So I would play by myself all of the time that was until my mother died when I was about 9."

As she said this tears began to well up in her eyes. She would then look down at her empty glass, she felt as empty as the glass was but none the less she continued "It was at this time my father began to drink and drink until he passed out. But before he would pass out he would be cruel and hateful. I learned very quickly to stay out of his way but then master Windu came and found me. He took me to Coruscant and began my training, and then there came a day unlike any other. It was raining outside and Master Windu took me to the senate building with him, this was unusual being as we were hardly ever around there. But we met up with another master by the name of Kit Fisto. As we ventured up I figured out the plan was to arrest the supreme chancellor, this did not go so well however and I was forced to run. I ran for 2 days before the bounty hunters found me and the one that took me had the same kind of gun as your bodyguards." She says as the tears begin to flow

[member="Relina Zhan"]

 

[Relina Zhan]

[member="Quinncolson"]

Relina listened carefully. It was as if she could feel Quinn's emotions more intimately than one normally could. When Relina gave it thought, she recalled that the only time she ever felt for another this strongly was with her sister and Joshua, another guest of her's and a Jedi friend who was... quite close. Was it this Force thing again? She didn't know for sure, but nevertheless, her heart went out to Quinn hearing her story. Incidentally, Relina and Alessandra didn't have a choice but to intimately share emotions. Their bond was strong and open between them and the twin sisters could literally read each others minds.

When she mentioned epicanthic folds, Relina gently touched her own eyelids and thought about the breed she was describing. "ah, so that is what they are called. Epicathic folds aren't that uncommon. I sort of have them myself, but there are those who have more pronounced folds." she said. Her accent elongated the word a bit strangely, but she was trying. Basic wasn't Relina's first language. She continued listening to the rest of the story.

"I see... Well, the Paragon Enterprises Type-55 Individual Infantry Weapon System, otherwise known more commonly as a Hapan Burst Rifle, is a relatively recent innovation. I happen to have one of the first with a low serial number." she said, pointing to her gun collection in the locked display cases on the far wall of the room. "I dont' recall them ever being sold outside of the Hapes Consortium, however... yet."

Relina then realised, of course, that Quinn was referring to a time long before the weapon she was talking about existed. She gave the girl a curious look, but guns typically had a similar shape and concept, albeit with many profile variations. Out of the perhaps millions of different models that have existed in the past eight hundred years, it was highly possible and likely Quinn had seen a gun similar to the ones the Cyborg Warrior escorts carried that day. "I apologise if seeing such a weapon had dredged up a negative memory for you. Cyborgs themselves can be a bit imposing in their own right, but they are very good at their assigned roles."

 

[Eli-Mae Forrest]

"It is fine." Quinn says drying her tears and looking up at Relina before going back to thinking about being ginger. "So when do you think I could talk to this stylist of yours?" She asked excited to get things done. She then begins to twirl her hair and look down at her legs which were shrouded in panty hose. This was the first time in a long time she had worn anything this formal. It felt weird but she kind of liked how it felt.

[member="Relina Zhan"]