The Signal

[Kezia Starshooter]

Kezia wiped away her tears with the back of her hand and shook her head, indicating a negative.

“I don’t want to go to the Jedi,” she said, a girlish pout on her lips. “This is all too personal to discuss with strangers, ya know? The only person I really feel comfortable talking about it with is you.”

Coren pointed her in the direction of the whiskey, and she jumped up from her seat so frantically, she almost sent the package of her half eaten MRE flying. Bending over to grab the bottle from the bottom shelf, she poured herself a double, then poured one for Starchaser. She plopped the glass in front of him and resumed her curled up position in the lounge chair. She took a sip of the Whyren's and scrunched up her face as it burned her throat.

“Yeah, I would like to talk about it, Uncle Coren,” she said, bright blue eyes pleading for a compassionate ear to listen. Or a strong shoulder to cry on.

“If I’m not being a bother, of course.”

[member="Coren Starchaser"]

 

[Coren Starchaser]

Coren looked at Kezia and nodded. He understood that, he knew that certain things couldn’t really be spoken to more people. He understood completely. What he wanted to do was be helpful, but he didn’t really know how. The ship hadn’t left the larger one yet. Watching her, he relaxed into his favorite chair, the nice thing about this ship? Everything was perfect for him. Even if the company was stressed out.

“No, you’re not a bother. What is it?” He grabbed the glass and swirled the liquor around the inside, looking over the lip at her before taking a sip. One of the few bottles he had, another half case still on the Dawn Treader, from Corellia before the Breaking. Home sweet home, right? Maybe again, maybe not.

“You’re not being a bother, wouldn’t be here if you were.” Or maybe he’d lie.

Who knew?

[member="Kezia Starshooter"]

 

[Kezia Starshooter]

She took a deep breath, and exhaled, making her voice quaver as she spoke. To help her get into character, she pulled on a memory of Lord Bane placing her in an Embrace of Pain, where she was subjected to non-stop physical and mental torture for two whole days. Method acting at its finest.

“I don't feel the same, and I'm afraid I'll never be the same. I mean. I used the dark side and it felt really, really good. Like the best drug in the galaxy. I'm really struggling, Uncle Coren. I'm fighting against the urge to use it again.”

The Sithspawn babbled on in that vein for a few minutes, intermittently sipping her whiskey. As she talked, she began to attempt to weave her way into Coren Starchaser's mind, to pluck out information she could use. Names. Dates. Memories. Hopes. Women he lusted after. Men he wanted to kill. The ephemera that orbited around his psyche.

A another few tear drops stained the table, and she hastily wiped her eyes, giving off the air of a girl who was embarrassed by the display of emotion. Was the real Kinsey this much of a crybaby? Kezia wasn't sure, but it felt like the right thing to do, so she went with it.

"I feel like I'm ruined."

[member="Coren Starchaser"]

 

[Coren Starchaser]

He wasn’t really sure where to speak, or how to speak. Coren Starchaser was no stranger to the Dark Side. His time in the Levantine Sanctum and following Silver Sanctum Coalition had helped him learn how to control that, how to fix that. And even with his Aing-Tii training, who saw the Force in multiple shades, he knew that what he was doing didn’t make the game fair. There were points in time, in his history and his recent history, where he knew that you needed to fight fire with fire, and that did feel good. The power, the desire, it was dark and heady.

Heroin at its finest.

Nodding to his niece, the pilot was understanding. “Its… the dark side is a…” He took a breath and shook his head. “You don’t need to worry about it. Trust me, didn’t anyone tell you what I used to do?” Hunt dark siders with the dark side. And look at him, he was, at one point, a respected member of the Alliance.

As for if Kinsey was actually a crybaby? Well, when he would be jumping between the pair here, he would figure that out, but for now? He was assuming this was all fine. “You’re not ruined. The Sith just need pay back, is all.” And he’d give it to them by the droves.

[member="Kezia Starshooter"]

 

[Kezia Starshooter]

So Starchaser had a soft-side after all. That was lucky. From Sage's descriptions of the pilot, she'd expected him to be more of the "tough love" type, but for family, the man seemed to make an exception. Kezia sniffled a bit, and then her brilliant blue eyes narrowed into slits. “I wanna kill Sage myself,” she growled, careful not to let too much emotion seep in. The False Light Side Aura spell that Sage cast was powerful, but not completely foolproof. Emotion was emotion, even if it was an act. The dark side didn’t know the difference, and she didn’t need a flood of it around her right now.

“If I start to accidentally use the dark side, will you promise to stop me?" She gave him a tight-lipped smile and finished her glass of whiskey in one last gulp. Her hand made its way to her head, pressing at her temple.

“Wow. That whiskey went right to my head.”

Kezia stood up, and mocked a sudden stumble, using the table for leverage.

“I-I don’t feel so well. I might need to go lie down.”

[member="Coren Starchaser"]

 

[Coren Starchaser]

She wanted to kill Sage? Ha, get in line, toots. He had been hunting that Sith for years now, or months, whatever, time was fluid in this galaxy, and the world was working on moving on. And what did Coren do? He packed up and moved on with it. Most likely why you find him in some ship in some system around the galaxy. Still, he wasn’t going to be curbing anyone’s emotions. Starchasers were taught to be pilots and Special Operations snipers. Emotions were important, but so was being cool and collected under pressure. The mixture? That was devastating.

“You need to take it easy.” He nodded, completely ignoring her discussion of the dark side. He would recognize it, and he’d find a way to make it work for her, not him, but for her. He didn’t need people not giving 100% in his strike force, especially against the First Order, nor the One Sith. Sometimes bad guys needed to die.

In the best ways.

“You need to sit and just wait it out, don’t hit it so hard, especially with the empty stomach. And yeah, you should.” He tipped his head down the hall. “You know where the bunks are.” He was working on grabbing some of the plates. "Are you really want to do Sullust?"

[member="Kezia Starshooter"]

 

[Kezia Starshooter]

“Let me help you with those,” Kezia began, going for the plates. She wobbled on her feet again, unsteady. “Ok, maybe not.” A sheepish smile came.

“I don’t want to go to Sullust if you’re not gonna be there,” said the Sithspawn with a wider grin. “I’d rather stay out here in space, running missions with my Uncle.”

Kezia began to head in the direction of the bunks, but stopped. She took a moment to revisit that lovely holiday in Sage’s Vong torture instrument. Remember how it felt hanging upside down. Having your ligaments pulled apart. Electric shocks delivered through your extremities. Foot-long needles. Injected biotoxins. Hairs pulled out of your body one by one.

Kezia slowly and shyly turned. The next look she gave Coren could only be described as haunted.

“Could you come with me? I don’t want to be alone right now.”

[member="Coren Starchaser"]

 

[Coren Starchaser]

Shaking his head, he rolled his eyes. Always a Starcahser, one trying to get everything done at once. He laughed a second and looked at her. “Nah, you’re fine.” Really, she should go lay down, or something, get out of his hair for a moment. “And yeah, Sullust… I’d prefer to stay away. We’re on our way out towards the You Are…” Because he was hip and didn’t want to say Unknown Regions. “And from there we can get out and working on a few things.”

Listening, upgrading, and doing the good work.

He looked at her as he could feel something wasn’t right in her head, and looked over a second or two before she looked out. Come with her. “Dunno what I can do, but sure…” He tapped the electronic panel near the table and sent the code to Porter to order the ship to jump, they were done here, as he walked over towards Kinsey.

[member="Kezia Starshooter"]