Still The Same, But Different

[Connor Harrison]

Rolling a boot back and forward, Connor leant on his arms and casually listened to Taeli as she worked and spoke. It was so natural to her, more than anyone else he’d seen work on ships. From what he remembered of her from Lorrd, it was always sport that took her fancy.

He gestured with a hand towards the cockpit – this was her project, not his. He looked down at the rusted wiper, feeling a little nostalgic seeing it go. It was still part of his ship…well, HAD been part of his ship.

"Since when did you become such a handywoman with tools and knowing your way around a ship, hm? I thought fencing was your thing – or do the Sith force you to servie your owns ships when not out hunting handsome Jedi?"

He stifled a grin, finding it hard when it was so easy to wind her up, especially as she was working away on HIS ship. That was a worry; she could easily snap something off in spite.

"Be careful in there, ok?"

[member="Taeli Raaf"]

 

[Taeli Raaf]

[member="Connor Harrison"]

"I run a shipbuilding company, Connor," Taeli answered as she pried the panel open and started rooting around in the electronics. "If I'm presented with something new to learn, I learn everything about it. That includes getting down and dirty in designing and building and fixing ships, but then you probably like that image of me covered in grease and sweat, my clothes being a little more clingy... ah here we go."

Two could play the teasing game after all.

"The wiring in here is positively ancient," she said, her head and arms down in the electronics panel, the rest of her lying prone on the hull of his ship. "The feth did you do in here last time? Patched the wiring with tape and glue? Dear Force!"

Splicing wires in here would be a problem, but needed to be done.

 

[Connor Harrison]

Connor dismissed her teasing with a wave of his hand, not that she could see him anyway with her head in the ship. He tapped his boots on the ground and looked over at the other business in the hangar – ships being fixed, ships being launched, ships being dismantled. Droids carrying parts back and forward. Engineers and pilots talking and walking. The Jedi were but a small part of what carried the Silvers forward.

He looked back over a fussing, near upside-down Taeli.

"I just use the Force to hold it all together. If I get distracted when flying it all comes apart around me, so I need to be careful. Real skill. None of this auto-pilot rubbish."

[member="Taeli Raaf"]

 

[Taeli Raaf]

[member="Connor Harrison"]

"You use the Force to hold this together?" she asked incredulously, her head coming back out of the ship for a moment to look at him wide eyed. "Do you have a death wish or something? If this comes apart mid-flight, you're sucking vacuum. Honestly, men sometimes."

Going back to work, she used the Force to call more tools and several poaches of new wiring to her so they would float next to her while she worked. Individual parts would float down into her little work space as she focused on both replacing the wiring and integrating the electrostatic repeller into the systems. Just for good measure, every time she pulled out a wire that was being held together by nothing more than tape or good faith, she tossed it at his feet.

"For someone who likes working on their ship, you seem to skip certain things that should always be checked," she said, her tone teasing. Looking around on the inside, she summoned a tool to her so she optimize the power supply to the next system ... and to the rest of his ship. Checking the new power feeds, she pulled her head out of the panel and closed it with a sigh.

"Anything else I should know about with your ship?" she asked, some grease on her forehead. "Like do I need to replace the engine coolant lines? Fix the engines themselves?"

 

[Connor Harrison]

Connor waved away a bemused technician coming over with a pack of tools, indicating the awkward looking Taeli rooting around. He just rested on the wing, watching the bits come out down to the ground and had a satisfied smirk on his face, seeing her in a total comfort zone. He even gave a second to cock his head sideways at her derrière as she fumbled. Chuckling to himself at the view, he turned his head and watched over the hangar as he talked.

"I’m not that much of a fool – it’s a secure ship and held together by solid, reliable workmanship."

Smiling at her as she appeared from the panel, he nodded to the engine panel again.

"I don’t think coolant is needed yet – hell, I don’t know, I thought that think was done whenever it got touched up after a long flight by the guys. I just like to tinker on the little things; I’m not a mechanic remember."

He pointed at her brow.

"You got grease on you."

[member="Taeli Raaf"]

 

[Taeli Raaf]

[member="Connor Harrison"]

"Were you checking me out earlier?" Taeli asked, seeing that look in his eye. Not that she really minded, it was flattering that he still found her attractive after all.

"You should always check these things yourself too," Taeli said, in a more teasing sort of scolding. As he mentioned that she had grease on her, she looked at her hands to see plenty of it on there. Oh well ... it was on her face, wasn't it?

"Well, I'm not the only one," she said, a mischievous smile on her face before she slid her grease covered hands across his face and then chest. Laughing a little bit, she sat down on the wing of his ship and just looked around the hanger bay.

"Not a bad place you all have here, not bad at all," she said, still smiling.

 

[Connor Harrison]

With a shocked look, near painful, Connor touched his chest as if offended by her accusation. It was true, but he knew 99% of the males in the hangar would have done the same. Before he could even get a response out, Taeli was on him with the grease covered hands.

Closing his eyes and mouth, the thick, warm grease stuck to his skin and then seeped through his vest, and it felt horrid. With a sigh, he wiped two hands down his eyes and mouth, pulling away the thick, copper-coloured substance, leaving more on his hands to do little with.

As she helped herself to sit on his E-wing, Connor looked for a rag – in a hangar, there was surprisingly few dotted around, but around his ship on the floor there was a set of 2 hooked over a toolbox.

"It’s good isn’t it. Always alive, always in operation pretty much. I’ve always loved watching the ships and fighters come in and out, both in the hangar and above the planet itself. It’s a solid community here."

Wiping his hands on the now stained rag, he threw it to Taeli’s face.

"Don’t mess up my antique, please."

[member="Taeli Raaf"]

 

[Taeli Raaf]

[member="Connor Harrison"]

"I wouldn't dream of doing anything to mess up this piece of history, just improve it," Taeli said, taking the rag and wiping her hands and face. It more smeared the grease than anything else, but she didn't really mind right now.

"One of these days you should visit Saleucami again, some things have changed since you were last there," she said, her feet swinging off the wing. "We've developed the place into a powerhouse of industry, multiple shipyards, several droid and weapon facilities, some research labs, the capital city is actually thriving again. It's amazing what Aurora has been able to do for those people."

She casually summoned another rag to her and continued to try and wipe away the grease on her hands.

"Might even give you a few toys you might like," she continued, smiling. "Got some things you've never seen in development right now."

 

[Connor Harrison]

Connor looked around and nodded.

"Yeah. One day."

He pushed up from the wing and walked around to the greaser.

"Arms and weapons aren’t my thing, but I’m sure others could benefit and I’ll be sure to keep that in mind. And I still want first dibs on that bracelet blade thing – which reminds me that’s still here."

[member="Taeli Raaf"]

 

[Taeli Raaf]

[member="Connor Harrison"]

"Who said the projects are arms and weapons?" Taeli asked, smiling slyly. "We do other work too Connor, develop ... specialty items when the time asks for it. But yes, I would sort of like my hidden blade back. It might be a reminder of back then, but it's a useful thing and I need it for study and so on and so forth."

She finished wiping the grease off of her, as best she could anyways and she knew she would need a shower, and her smile went from sly to full. It was nice to spend time with him, even if their encounter today had been up and down.

 

[Connor Harrison]

With a roll of the eyes, seeing her predicament, he inhaled deeply and indicated back the way they would have come.

"Go back to my quarters. Freshen up and get your blade."

He gestured forward and started a slow walk away from the ship, leading her.

"I’ll tidy up here, and give you some time. When you’re done, come on back and I’ll be here. Ok?"

Connor smiled – it’s easy to get angry at people, but Taeli understood him, and had patience for him, and that meant a lot.

[member="Taeli Raaf"]

 

[Taeli Raaf]

[member="Connor Harrison"]

"Sounds like a plan," Taeli replied, stretching a bit before walking off towards his room. While she walked, she thought about what exactly this would mean for them in the future. Connor was enamored with his Padawan, she knew that, but she just a had a feeling something wasn't going to end well there. Some nagging feeling back in her head, but if she made him happy, she couldn't argue ... too much.

Reaching his room, she slipped inside and immediately commandeered the shower, and while she was tempted to leave the door open a crack, she refrained from teasing him too much if he came back to his room. Humming rather loudly to herself, she just let the water relax her and she couldn't stop herself from singing to the music playing in her head.

 

[Connor Harrison]

Connor bowed his head as he let Taeli move across the hangar, and caught her glance back just once with a gentle wave, before turning back to his ship and sighing. He held out his hand and pulled an already half-dirty rag to his hand and wiped it across his forehead before discarding it on the side on a bunch of tools.

He took a small walk around the E-wing. The long nose of the craft raised to the cockpit, and Connor ran his hand across the right wing, the deactivated weaponry skirted over, and one large engine. And then around the back to the other side. Taeli was a one-off, and he still didn’t understand their relationship. At one point he had wanted to be with her, but on the other hand he also had wanted to be with her as a follower of the Dark to serve her rule as Arcanix.

Both sides of the woman intrigued him greatly, and he did miss Arcanix, he wasn’t going to lie. But with a smack of the lips, he busied himself tidying up the old pieces of his ship before the protocol droids started to complain again.

Now Chastity was on the scene and a total distraction from everything, not to mention taking up so much of his time, Taeli probably felt…shunned? No, as he never REALLY promised anything. Fate just took them in different directions and they had moved on. Moved on? He didn’t know.

A hydrospanner fell to the floor, fumbling out of his grip. He left it there. Instead he stood beside the wing and leant on it. To follow her would tempt fate and right now none of them needed that.

[member="Taeli Raaf"]

 

[Taeli Raaf]

[member="Connor Harrison"]

She finished up her shower and quickly got dressed in some extra clothes she had in her satchel, just something comfy. Stretching, she looked around his room and noted things she hadn't seen before. It wasn't her place to pry though, so she quickly left the room to see if Connor was still in the hanger bay.

As she walked, she reflected on where they stood. They were definitely friends ... but everything beyond that was murky. She was there for him, waiting for him patiently ... but she still wanted to be with him now. No promises had been given beyond a few kisses and hugs, but to her, they had been enough to show her he did have feelings for her. Maybe she was projecting the upright Jedi side too much for him? Possibly? She wasn't sure.

"Well, I guess the least you could do is clean up," she said, coming back into the hanger where she could see him slowly walking around his E-Wing. "So, did you want to see some of the new books and stuff I have on my ship?"

 

[Connor Harrison]

Looking out towards the main blast doors of the hangar, where all ships would enter and exit, he could see Taeli’s vessel on the pad outside. While he had to check back with the medical team before the day was out, he could at least help see her off and have a nosey.

”Of course. Always happy to see what’s going on.”

Connor led the walk along the side of the vast hangar and tried his best to sound like he knew what he was talking about regarding the Ranger ships and other Silver fighters dotted around. He knew a few interesting facts but nothing she probably didn’t already know, and nothing very intricate.

”You’ve probably even been refuelled if you’ve caught the team on a good day, so check your read-outs when you get in.”

Hands behind his back, he broke out into the afternoon sun and squinted gently against the light, soon for it to blotted out by the large ship, actually looking bigger than he remembered.

”This ship is far too big for just one lone Jedi. An E-wing does the job and saves so much time.”

[member="Taeli Raaf"]

 

[Taeli Raaf]

"An E-Wing also doesn't have living quarters, a place to store books, storeroom for long missions, a stygium cloaking device, a weapon system or shielding or armoring like this," she countered, smiling at him. "I would hope they refueled my ship, it's common courtesy after all to refuel visitor ships."

Lowering the ramp, she gestured for him to proceed up and she would follow behind him as he did. She cringed a little when they entered the main room as books and clothes were strewn all about the place.

"Sorry about the mess," she said, giving a nervous chuckle. "I was in the middle of research, then I didn't know what to wear when I got here so it's a little cluttered right now."

One particular article of clothing would look very familiar to Connor, a certain black and violet dress was hanging off the back of a chair next to a pile of datapads and a book two inches tall.

 

[Connor Harrison]

Connor rolled his eyes at her snappy reply which, as usual, was always right and made more sense than his initial response. Watching the ramp lower, the Jedi nodded as he led the way in and slowly entered, standing to the side as one would not wanting to start wandering around another’s ship – or quarters.

”That’s alright. You’ve got a lot of space to fill so just helps spread everything out.”

Arms behind his back, and took in the room, parts familiar to him and others different, and in a wide arc he came to rest upon a dress that he recognised with the colouring and detail, and his complacent expression dropped a little in curiosity.

Stepping forward casually, he reached and lifted a section of the dress that had been worn before when they had lived, what he thought, previous lives.

”I recognize this.”

He slowly turned to her, dress in his fingers.

”Reminiscing about the past are we?”

[member="Taeli Raaf"]

 

[Taeli Raaf]

[member="Connor Harrison"]

"I don't throw things away, Connor," Taeli said, looking at the dress he was holding. It had been her primary garb when a Sith, and truth be told, it was still a nice dress. She didn't wear it now ... but one never knew when one needed something for a disguise. The dark side was clinging to the garment though, not surprising in the least.

"You never know when you might need something again," she continued. "Just like how I still have these..."

Slowly, the tattoos around her eyes reappeared, the ones that were Sith in nature. They had never been removed when she joined the Jedi, and she just went about hiding them. Like with the dress, if one needed an adequate disguise, you never got rid of things from the past. The tattoos faded away again as she sighed a little.

"Hidden pocket on the dress also has yellow colored contacts," she admitted. No point in hiding that at all. "I have everything I need to disguise myself as Arcanix again, or whatever name I would choose if I decided to go undercover on some mission or other."

 

[Connor Harrison]

Connor looked between Taeli and the dress, weighing it up in his hand and remembering the sight of the Sith who wore it and brought him so much pain, and in turn he had tried to give back. The next time he looked, the tattoos on her face had come back into view.

For a second he wanted to step back, but he controlled his surprise and assumptions she was about to attack him and looked in awe at them, how they were there as clear as day over her pretty face, symbolizing a corruption that was never going to truly leave. As they faded, Connor exhaled, now aware of the Force manipulation that hid them and showing her power over others.

”I was willing to serve Arcanix you know. To give up everything to be by her side.”

Letting the dress fall, he looked back to it a little absently.

[member="Taeli Raaf"]

 

[Taeli Raaf]

[member="Connor Harrison"]

"I know," Taeli said quietly, using the Force to call the dress over to her from he had dropped it. Turning to drape it over a nearby chair, she continued speaking but didn't face him yet. "I dream about that time sometimes, you know, and the damage I caused. If ... if Corvus hadn't met me after I ... killed my parents ... a very different woman might be standing here right now. I would have had no qualms about turning you on Saleucami, no qualms about anything really."

She turned back to face him, her head bowed a bit.

"I would have fallen very far ... very quickly ... I'd have become a monster and brought you along for the ride. But ..." she looked up now, her eyes full of resolve, "that didn't happen, I became me again. Corvus was my wake up call, my saving grace ... and I never want to see someone I care about go through the same things I did. I'm still ... scarred I guess from that time, always will be. I'm not a perfect Jedi, even if I project that front. I know that other measures need to be taken, some my sister would never agree to."