The Hunt Begins (Rekha)

[Coren Starchaser]

What the feth was that?

Really? That did not just happen. He… Coren was walking through the hall of the Tachyon Rising and if anyone in the nearby area was feeling him in the Force? He’d be boiling. Worse than that. Sure, he knew there was nothing he could’ve done, but losing [member="Spark Finn"] to [member="Sage Bane"]? How did that happen? And what the feth were those hounds the alien brought? Yeah, okay, maybe Coren was a teensy bit speciest. But only when he didn’t get to know them

Stereotypes were faster. And sometimes, well, they were true. He set the course in and jumped. Once he got aboard his ship? He felt he could take on the galaxy, and take on all the Sith. But he knew they had non-combatants and refugees aboard. What would Spark have said if he risked their lives for hers. He leaned back in the pilot seat with a sigh, and looked over at Rekha.

“What was that? How’d that even fething happen?” They’d been on how many missions? And none where they were that outnumbered.

[member="Rekha Kaarde"]

 

[Rekha Kaarde]

[SIZE=12pt]FETH!!!![/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]Rekha sat there going over details in her mind it was too surreal, “I’ve been in a lot of places where numbers were bad, but Coren he wanted her no matter what”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]Green eyes showed her pain but no one would know how heavy this weighed on her as she had watched it all happen. She was forming the questions in her mind making sure that sarcasm did not drip all over this, she needed Coren to know this was her talking not a persona of her. She refrained from drumming her fingers on the bulkhead, she kept looking at Coren.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]She could see it, and she could feel it the whole ship felt different. The refugees were hiding as far as they could get for they felt it too. Coren had a darkside to him and it was begging for revenge anyone near Coren knew it.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]“Coren, do you and Sparkler have history with that Sith?” If there was a story she’d like to know, it would help her to build defenses, it would help her to find the Sithspawn.[/SIZE]

[member="Coren Starchaser"]​

 

[Coren Starchaser]

He shook his head and wanted to hit… do…feth… something. He was angry, and it was rolling off him in tsunami waves. “I could’ve had him before. We ran into him a few times, its like he’s been fething dogging us around this damned galaxy.” Coren cussed out and looked at the hyperspace path. How did that even happen? How could they lose Spark?

How could he lose Spark?

“We ran into him a few times before. Running refugees from Khomm…. He was that when they sacked Glee… And here now. I should’ve fething seen him coming. I was too busy focusing on the…” He nodded back to the Chiss in the passenger lounge. “I just… I didn’t even see that! They were waiting.”

[member="Rekha Kaarde"]

 

[Rekha Kaarde]

He was angry. His words said he was angry at himself. Rekha was not good at the comfort thing. Well not always. "Coren poodoo fething happens you can't see it all. It's just not possible I don't care what they teach you force users. So. Buck up fly boy. Let's not focus on what can't be changed."

She found she was grinding her teeth. She stopped. "Lets figure out where he took her and get her back. Got it?!" She wasn't about self indulgence of blame on the past

Time to get rid of the refugees and get a plan.

She didn't know how he'd take this but it was her. Direct.

[member="Coren Starchaser"]

 

[Coren Starchaser]

He knew, really he knew there was nothing more they could’ve done. The Sith won that hand. But you never flushed every hand. And Coren knew that Rekha was right. He nodded, and ran a hand through his hair. It didn’t mean he fething was accepting it. No. Not doing that. Not when Spark was still alive out there. “We can change this though. We can get her back.” He had already started plans in his head.

Granted they involved kidnapping the Underground fleet, and the Levantine Santcum’s defense fleet. But the latter government had ZERO TO DO (for posterity) with this situation. He’d get through it without drawing One Sith hate down on anyone but himself. Rekha if she tagged along, which he expected her to.

Really? He wasn’t expecting Rkeha to have so much… fire. It was putting him in his place, for sure. He nodded. “You’re right, I know. Get our passengers to the rendezvous, get them on one of our corvettes and scamper off to the galaxy again. I have a few plans…” He shrugged, wondering if she did too.

One involved a bounty.

[member="Rekha Kaarde"]

 

[Rekha Kaarde]

Well he didn't lose his mind when she got real direct. This time she smiled. "WE will get her back." She now hesitated standing there thinking. He wasn't getting rid of her that easy. She nodded.

She could see something else was needed. Now she wouldn't normally do this she had a rule about it even. She was going to break her own rule. Without permission. Without warning she git closer and then hugged him hard.

"I'm sorry Coren. But I promise we will get her back." She didn't want to hold on too long in case he had rules too.

She didn't get close to people for this reason they could be lost. They died. They forget her. They didn't love her anymore breaking her fragile heart. She missed human contact.

She let him go and when she did he wouldn't see that she was as twisted inside over this as he was. She just handled it differently.

"So. The plan. You got one?" Her voice may have cracked but she'd make like it didn't.

[member="Coren Starchaser"]

 

[Coren Starchaser]

Coren could focus. He knew when poodoo was going down. And that meant he had to focus. When friends reacted and act differently? That meant things were south, things were bad, they were serious. Coren himself, who was always chasing an adrenaline rush or another, and he wasn’t so foolhardy to see the Sith as not just another fix. This was serious. Spark’s life… their lives, the galaxy as a whole, was depending on it. If a team could kick the Sith in the teeth? Maybe more people would start fighting back.

When she hugged him, he wasn’t quite sure how to react. Rekha was… well, she was fething attractive, but as much as the option was there, his mind was elsewhere. His mind was on running up the steps of the Imperial Palace and taking down as many Sith as he could. Still, he wrapped his arms around her and nodded. Since everything had gone on in his own life, he’d not taken the time to do… well, much of anything involving human interaction.

He wasn’t sure if he was going to break down a bit. Spark was their crew. The crew didn’t leave others behind. They’d get her back. “Short of taking down Imperial Center single-handedly? I’ve got a few ideas. I’m putting some feelers out in the HoloNet. Beyond that? Its really, change the ship, see what favors we can call in, who we can rally, locate where Bane could be keeping her, run the blockade, get there, get her, and get out. Oh yeah, and kill that snake-armed bastard.”

[member="Rekha Kaarde"]

 

[Rekha Kaarde]

[member="Coren Starchaser"]​

Rekha thought for a few minutes she had a friend or two she could ask if they, "I can ask a few people I know if they've heard anything" Asking these few people would be interesting considering she had not talk to them in months, no wait that one was years.

He was hugging her back which well was a surprise. Oookkaaayy. She kept breathing she usually didn't do this...unless.

"I am definitely down with killing the snake arm guy. Now Coren, you need to relax hun." She tried to relax herself.

It was difficult being this close to him. Her mind drifted for a moment, then she whimpered slightly.

"OK" She slid out of his arms, "We need to concentrate and get moving" She was ready to jump his extremely available body but knew she couldn't not right now...well she could but...it wouldn't be good...it would be GOOD this was just bad timing right...

Her green eyes looked at him, bad timing. And then...ask yourself Kaarde what are you looking for hmm...

"I" she swallowed hard took a deep breath, "Ok communications" yes..she was communicating that she wanted....ughh ugghghg

 

[Coren Starchaser]

See? Everyone had someone. And in this galaxy? It was a matter of who you knew, not what you knew. Keeping your friends close and your enemies even closer let you have perspective and made you ready for just about anything the galaxy was going to throw at you. Being this physically close to Rekha? Not something he was used to, not something he was expecting but in the same breath, not something he was not thankful for. He wasn’t sure if there was tension between the pair, or if that was just how the smuggler lived, with tension between everyone.

When she agreed to help take him down, and that she’d love to, he nodded. And she slipped away. The lack of the warmth from her body was almost suffocating. And he wasn’t quite sure why. Was it that it was Rekha, or was it that it was just a person? And they had a job.

“We gotta get these Chiss out of here, get them safe, then the galaxy is our playground. Who do you know? Where?” Communications. And how easy it would be to shut the cabin door.

[member="Rekha Kaarde"]

 

[Rekha Kaarde]

[SIZE=12pt]Where was a place they could take them she looked at the map, they were all the way out by Csilla and then they were coming back this way to look for Spark but. She smiled.[/SIZE]


[SIZE=12pt]Rekha then mustered the calmest voice she could considering just how tense she was. She knew just by the way the heat of Coren’s presence left her in a state of need. She’d have to do something about it. She was clenching her teeth. “We can go over to Silver Jedi territory and drop them on Voss.”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]Rekha squeezed her eyes tight I am trying to be good I really am she thought.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]Rekha needed to do something with her hands. She moved to the NavComp and began scanning the trajectory, they had to put them safe, and where they could either settle, or move off.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]Rekha looked down her hand trembled, feth, not that. This is what happens when I come back out into the galaxy, BAD LUCK. How did I not learn from the last time!!! Rekha lowered her head as she worked her neckline shrinking into her shoulders. [/SIZE]


[SIZE=12pt]If she had stayed on Bespin none of this would have happened. Right.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]NO.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]It would have changed nothing[/SIZE][SIZE=12pt]. Rekha shook her head as much as she had admonished Coren for blaming himself, she had the ship, she could have blasted [member="Sage Bane"] across the galaxy. But did she no.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]And now Spark was in the hands of a Sith.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]This was her fault. She shared in the blame at the very least. Rekha began to chew on her lip she absorbed blame like a sponge. But she couldn’t let Coren see it, so she kept her gaze on the map.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]Goddess help me[/SIZE][SIZE=12pt] she thought.[/SIZE]

[member="Coren Starchaser"]​

 

[Coren Starchaser]

That was the trick here, getting everyone away safely and to an area where they could reunite. Leaving your home was always tricky. Typically, you ran when you had a place to go, or were ready to take your chances on the road over the place you currently were. And with the refugees they had? He didn’t want to get them too far away. “Voss can work, was thinking there, or running into Sanctum space.” A place he called home. Underground could help everyone, but the ones that didn’t have anywhere to go? Couldn’t pick a safer place to get displaced than with the Silvers.

For the most part, they didn’t bother Coren and his jihad against crazy Force users.

As for needing? Yeah, there was a lot that Coren needed at that moment. Part of it he could blame on Rekha, for sure. The rest? Well, he’d blame on the Sith. His mind was all over the place, from the needs he had to the feels he had. Spark was with the Sith. His Spark. Feth that, he needed to get her back.

He needed to get his head on straight.

And he could feel Rekha having the same issue. Looking from hyperspace beyond the viewport, he turned in his seat to his teammate and reached out, grabbing her shoulder. “Its going to be fine, Rek. Wasn’t your fault. Wasn’t anyone’s fault. Just how it happened.” Right, didn’t she just say that to him. "We'll get her back." He didn't end with 'I promise.' There was no doubt to Coren that they would.

[member="Rekha Kaarde"]

 

[Rekha Kaarde]

[SIZE=12pt]“I know, least I keep telling myself I know” Rekha still played with the console working out communications, and flight paths.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]“But Coren, I was here in the ship, she was there on the ground. Practically in front of me, and I….” She made a stern face, “didn’t fire” Rekha leaned back in the chair. “I can play it in my head a hundred times, and each time I can’t figure out why I waited.”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]“I know we’ll get back, only who knows what he’s doing to her, and how she’s handling it. I know she’s stronger than she comes across but he’s a sick pup and he’s sith which makes him unpredictable.”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]She exhaled hard this time trying to blow out the problems.[/SIZE]


[SIZE=12pt]She looked back to Coren, she could see it in his face, and there was something else she observed about them that maybe they were too busy trying to ignore. They were more than the Captain and his co-pilot.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]She wondered would this incident wake them both up to see what was becoming obvious to her.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]Rekha was usually pretty good at reading people. She had been wrong in the past but she didn’t think she was this time.[/SIZE]

[member="Coren Starchaser"]

 

[Coren Starchaser]

He looked over at his partner in crime. See? Spark really was the heart to this group. Not like they were the Scooby Squad from Buffy She was the one who kept the group laughing, even if it was at her own expense and unintentional. He looked around the bridge as she spoke about not firing.

“It happens. Not saying you choked, and definitely not saying it was the Force. But… rising her to take down the Sith? I know its not something I’d be able to do.” Nope, he’d get the Sith another way.

Maybe he’d unite the galaxy against the Sith, let the Senate die, fall, be reborn, make a whole team of misfits and just take it to the Sith by bringing the galaxy the weapons they needed. That was definitely sort of the plot of a video game, but still, the concept was there. “She’s a fighter, she’ll keep on until we get to her.”

He looked back. “But I think we need to clear this ship. Get these people to safety and… start to move forward. I have a need to get back to the Sanctum, and then… I think I’m heading right back out there.”

Well, he knew he was going to head back out.

[member="Rekha Kaarde"]

 

[Rekha Kaarde]

[SIZE=12pt]Rekha worked her little bits of magic and had the trip to Voss laid into the NavComp complete with jump points to stop and make sure engines were working and that they weren’t being followed.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]She looked over at Coren, “We are ready to go,” her green eyes scanned the read outs for the engines, “Green across the board Coren, so..let’s make tracks, time is a wasting”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]They would find themselves at their first jump point and everything seemed to be working fine engines were not over heating, fuel was still good, and the refugees were beginning to relax.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]Rekha wanted tea she was foraging around looking for some wondering if Coren even knew what tea was, water yes…there was plenty. She settled for the water headed back up handed one to Coren kept one for herself as the ship disappeared and was on it’s way to the second jump point.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]The cabin was quiet unusually so, perhaps they were all lost in thought, she knew she was. She was twisting and turning over yes…or no…do I or don’t I….and…what were the results?[/SIZE]

[member="Coren Starchaser"]

 

[Coren Starchaser]

He was fething pissed off. Coren Starchaser didn’t normally let emotions well up to the surface. He had a lock on everything, the Force, and life, came in ebbs and flows. This would pass, but they got after one of his crew. One of the people who signed up for the Underground and were working in his cell, on his team, with his ship. And they were fething behind enemy lines with that monstrosity known as [member="Sage Bane"].

Stopping by the Silver Jedi would be smart. He could put out a few contacts, see who of that group would want to go to war with the Sith. Hell, if they had to take down the Republic and their inadequacy on the way to freeing [member="Spark Finn"]? He’d do that to. The galaxy was not going to be happy that this side of Coren Starchaser woke up.

He looked out over the vastness.

She just had to hold on tight. He was going to turn the galaxy upside down to find her.

[member="Rekha Kaarde"]