Private Sugar and Spice

[Damsy Callat]

|| Naneti Sso Jri Qorit, Kesh ||

As the Reef shrunk, the Stronghold grew. Damsy didn’t once see a familiar face from Coruscant, which was probably for the best for long-term longevity of this new outfit. What, however, was emphatically not were the cases of poison that the recently cropped up throughout the newborn city. They had been few and far between over the last few months and had caused little more than stomach problems for those Sithspawn or Sith refugees that had stomachs, singular or plural, but now, though they were still isolated, they had begun claiming lives. What’s more, they had recently had a perfect batting average—one that Damsy was all too antsy to break.

But how did a Sith cut the arms off an unknown pathogen to interrupt its swing?

The answer came to her when meditating in the qabbrat spire one evening.

Retreating even more moodily than normal to her chambers of exile, she wrote out a message to one Jedi Knight Finley Dawson of the Silver Jedi Concord. He wouldn’t recognize her communication frequency for she had changed it after leaving the NJO but with any luck signing her name would ring the right bells even after all this time.

If it did, leaving out the Padawan title would probably ring the wrong ones too.

No matter.

Seek help now.

Answer questions later.

 

[Finley Dawson]

The journey of the message took several days to reach Finley as it initially carried by relay of several skip drones through Wild Space, most of the region lacking a true Holonet infrastructure of its own on account of being well, Wild. However, upon the last relay into Concord space proper, the message traveled instantaneously through the pipelines of comm buoys and satellites right to Finley's datapad.

The datapad, in turn, pinged Finley's wireless uplink as he sat hunched over a workbench. He hated being a cyborg, but his new development came with some perks, like having direct feeds from common electronics directly to his mind. It wasn't all that different from telepathy honestly, except remotely communicating with machines rather than people.

The latest notification was for a priority message from a Damsy Callat of Kesh.

The former Explorer Corps member recognized the name Kesh before the former. An isolated planet on the very fringes of galaxy, giving rise to a peculiar band of Sith that caused a headache in the greater galaxy once upon a time.

A minute later, he finally recalled Damsy. Years ago, he had worked with the then Padawan on a system spanning case during his days in the Core. She was different from many other Padawan he had encountered, as she had apparently come into the Jedi fold as some kind of veteran, older than him actually. He found her capable, but also good company and an even better cook.

Back then, their case had involved investigating the source of a dangerous fungal agent, and judging by the contents of her message, she needed his help on a similar issue involving a mysterious pathogen.

It was odd to find Damsy on Kesh of all places, so far from Alliance space and their war with the Maw on the opposite side of the galaxy, but he didn't hesitate to lend a hand to his former comrade.

Help was on the way.

PS: I missed your panfry. Let's do lunch sometime.

A day later, a squadron of gunships would drop out of hyperspace over Kesh, squawking known Silver codes over IFF. The Silver Jedi Order was still reeling from a recent attack on the Silver Rest, straining their manpower, but it was still an easy sell to requisition a small investigative team for the purposes of researching a lethal biological agent in aid to another Jedi. A couple Council members were also interested in surveillance of Kesh in general given it was home to large concentrations of Force Users.

Indeed, as Finley contracted Damsy for a landing zone, the gunships began to deploy a few sensor drones in orbit to cover the entire globe.

Damsy Callat

 

[Damsy Callat]

A laugh light and frothy like beach waves washed through Naneti, bringing refreshing salt throughout the halls. It weathered the paint and the stone pillars in tafoni shapes in which hope takes hold of even the harshest pessimism.

PS: I missed your panfry. Let's do lunch sometime.

Okay.

**

Damsy had spent the time that it had taken for Finley to put together his exploration team at market, buying ingredients. She had another recipe than the fish that she had made for him last time, aboard his ship, in mind for this meeting—but of course it would still involve frying. Hopefully the Jedi liked zucchini, though, or there’d be more for Damsy.

When her guest, and his uninvited extras, arrived, she stepped away from the kitchen range and to an island counter. She dapped at beads of sweat on her forehead with a dish rag before switching it for her nearby datapad. She typed out a permission for Finley to use her personal landing pad in the city’s spaceport to both him as well as the port authorities.

After disembarking his gunship, Finley would have to walk through the city to Damsy’s mansion. As he approached, the twin entry doors would swing open, revealing Damsy walking towards him with outstretched arms. “Master Dawson!” she called.

Finley Dawson

 

[Finley Dawson]

When Finley received the greenlight, he descended upon the planet with a single gunship, while the rest of the unit remained in orbit providing overwatch. There was something weird about the magnetosphere that was playing hell on the ships' instruments, making it risky for all to land at once. In time, he may have called them down to the surface, but for now they were more valuable conducting their system scans for the Silver Jedi Council.

Every world had its own vibe, and Kesh was now different. The energy he felt here was one of contrasts and conflict, manifested physically in the varied biomes that existed across the continents upon scanning. As an explorer, such a sight excited him - he could almost imagine all the biodiversity he'd find here, especially as the planet had been largely cut off from the rest of the galaxy for most of its civilized existence.

He had to thank Damsy for giving him such a convenient excuse to explore.

As he approached Damsy's mansion, Finley let out a low whistle as he strode alone. A private landing pad and a big swanky house? It looked like Damsy was doing quite well for herself these days.

Was the NJO just generous with their benefits package, or had he been rolling with an heiress the whole time?

When he was close enough to the compound, massive double doors swung open to a cheering Damsy that had been lying in wait. A big smile broke out on the Corellian's face as he embraced her warmly.

"Nice to see you too. I'm letting the rest of my team hang in town to mingle with the locals and guard the ship, so it'll just be us for now."

Initially, his nose caught the woman's perfumed scent, but then it picked up on more smokey savory aromas.

"Mmm, is that what I think it is?"

Damsy Callat

 

[Damsy Callat]

As she stepped back from his embrace, that laughter came rushing back like a rouge wave, unexpected.

”Lobster-stuffed zucchini flowers,“ she said, then affirmed, “Very fried of course. Come in, come in.”

Through the foyer and down a corridor into the dining room, a long table was set with two places near each other. A dark metallic, bugged-eyed protocol droid was just setting a covered platter down between them to join a spread of two others. “Thanks, Ara.” Damsy nodded at the droid, who returned the gesture before withdrawing into the kitchen through a nearby archway.

”Sit,” Damsy said in a manner that made it clear she was offering instead of ordering. Before Finley might ask here where, she sat herself along the long side of the table, leaving him the chair at the head.

Finley Dawson