Private Top Gluk

[Myra Arceneau Dashiell]

"Hi. I'm Tass Arceneau. You must be Makai's texting buddie Myrelli. Nice to meet—"

To be honest, Myra was a bit too distracted by this point to get into introductions with Tass. She stared at him with wide, silver eyes, shocked and confusion painting her exhausted features. Myra felt a distant rumble, an uneasy sensation creeping in -- a subtle but perceptible shift in the air.

Myrelli?

"I'm..." Before she could even continue, Ringo gave another massive screech of hunger. Clearly, after taking down a rival, she needs to be taken care of. Food filling her belly was one of them, and Tass Arceneau was the man to help.

Oh, for goodness' sakes, this cannot be happening! Myra thought to herself, watching the chaos ensue as Tass attempted to feed the wild-winged creature treats?!! Was he crazy?!

It was just too much. Her heart began to quicken its pace, each beat seemingly louder than the last.

"I'm sure insurance will cover it. We will get you a new shuttle."

Then came Makai with the commentary that insurance should cover the loss of the shuttle. That they could get a new one. A new one? Insurance? She stared up at him with the most incredulous expression. This was just absurd. Did he not realize what was really the issue? Flashbacks to the past on just how dense he could be came to Myra, and she just felt overwhelmed, exhausted, and unable to manage just processing anything anymore.

How could he not realize that the big issue was that they couldn't get off this blasted planet to a place where they could just be together and decompress? Did he not realize what it would take to get another shuttle to pick them up? She had canceled Salacia, believing that there wouldn't be any danger other than the stupid, bloody virus that had been confirmed by 37 not to have infected Makai.

Myra felt that gutwrenching, uneasy sensation grow in her stomach. Rationality felt elusive, drowned out by a cacophony of exhausted worries and fears that looped relentlessly, each thought feeding into the next in an unbroken chain.

She felt the sting in her eyes first. Then, the tell-tale red ring around her eyelids of oncoming tears surfaced.

"It's not about the insurance, Makai..." came her low, squeaky whisper. She was trembling now.

"Is Tass really your cousin? He seems... different."

Different? Different. Oh right. Cousin. Arceneau cousin. By this point, she couldn't even see straight, the tears in her eyes had welled up to the point that everything was distorted in silver waves.

Did she have an Arceneau cousin? Her mother had never mentioned it before. Blood related. Oh wait, not with me.

Her lower jaw began to tremble. Oh, that was the last straw.

'RAWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWRRRRRKKK" Empress Ringo gave another screech, choosing to accept Tass's tribute of treats. However, she had one more panel to rip off with her beak before flinging it away. The nose echoed as it crashed and tumbled to the ground.

Just like the silent, fat, wet tears that now stained Myra's cheeks.

 

[Tass Arceneau]

In due course Her Majesty conceded the point and calmed herself with the aid of judiciously applied snackies. Tass drew her back from the situation and left her to brood over the snackies in question.

"There we go. Uh, no harm done." He looked from the disemboweled shuttle to Makai Dashiell to Myra Arceneau Dashiell , who was now weeping. "Maybe some harm done. Sorry about your shuttle, Myrelli. One of you's got another one, right? Some of that sweet Salacia infrastructure? At this point I'd take a seat on anything whether or not it's got space for Her Majesty."

He turned off his datapad, which kept buzzing with additional health and quarantine alerts. The situation at the port was not going so hot for anyone involved.

 

[Makai Dashiell]

By now, Ellie was crying against him, tears staining his shirt. Face was buried into his chest, finally taking her eyes off the now completely destroyed shuttle. Thirty-Seven was coming back with a limping El-Three, the fallen protocol seeming to still work, Makai could see the photoreceptors on and functioning.

Tass had controlled Ringo, Breaker of All Good Dreams,by tricking her into eating an entire pile of snacks. Makai had concerns of when the snacks ran out - what then? There were concerns of when the next vessel would come for them, what would happen. The overgrown lizard-bird did fine until the shuttle landed, perhaps when the Salacia vessel landed Queen Breaker of All Good Dreams could be securely locked away.

"Yeah, I can hail us another vessel, just got to find something close. I'm sure there's something nearby. You're right...Salacia infrastructure is good around here but..."

Makai hoped there would be something half-way close by.He wasn't sure if Ellie could survive staying on planet too much longer. Shoulders racked and he heard a half-choked sob when he said 'another vessel', clearly time was more valuable than space for Queen Akala Ringo the First of her Name.

"Thirty-Seven, see what Salacia vessels are in the area. Any, doesnt matter what."

[ A quick scan of my database states there is a salvage crew hours from here. Decommissioning an old abandoned stronghold. ]

"Inform the crews to dispatch a vessel to pick us up. Doesn't matter which one."

[ Of course Sir. ]

A working salvage vessel wasn't ideal. They were packed to the brim with their take. Busy, dirty, and built for nothing but function out in the hyperlanes, trawling for wreckage.

Yet it would at least get them away from the teenager virus.

Myra Arceneau Dashiell | Tass Arceneau

 

[Myra Arceneau Dashiell]

Meanwhile, up on the Bha'lair's Mawl, the shit hit the fan. When Myra's shuttle indicated it had crashed down due to some unknown event, the Captain of the Pathfinder was notified posthaste. Alarm shot through Captain Ajen Bar's expression, the Pandorian's eyes widening.

"Find out her location. Check her status. We need to ensure her safety and that of Mr. Dashiell immediately." he commanded. Thankfully, on of the officers confirmed that Myra's bio-marker was still intact and receiving information. Other than elevated heartbeat and stress levels, she appeared alive and well. Small miracles.

"Get us planetside, see if we can pick up her location." He instructed, only to be told that due to the chaos of virus outbreak, there wasn't a viable place for the pathfinder to land remotely near Myra's last known coordinates.

"Alert the trade station. Have them investigate and work with the port authority." The order was carried out, but by then, they'd also received notification from Thirty-Seven regarding Makai's orders to reroute any nearby Salacia Consolidated vessel to assist. That was the confirmation that the younger Dashiell was also still alive.

Instructions were still sent to the Arceneau Trade Station to investigate not only what happened in the city but also what could have caused the sudden crash of Myra's shuttle.

---

It took a bit for Myra to gather her bearings. She briefly heard Tass Arceneau call her Myrelli again, confusing her all the same. Maybe that was just enough to allow her to draw away from Makai's chest to look at the redhead.

Needless to say, Myra didn't look her best. Her mascara was all smeared, giving her twin black undereye circles along her red rimmed, swollen eyes. Her nose was bright red, with watery snot flowing from the overflow of tears that streaked her cheeks black. Between her exhausted state and now her bout of sobbing, there was no way to put it nicely -- she looked and utter hot mess. The remnants on Makai's shirt looked no better.

Certainly not the sort of image one thought of when one brought up the Arceneau-Kuhn heiress.

"Myr...elli?' Confusion and a hiccup caused her voice to break, asking the question to Tass and then to Makai. Thankfully, the name was close enough to her own that at least this time, Myra didn't go into a jealous frenzy over who Makai was likely seeing.

Small miracles at that.

"Whose Myrelli?" blinking rapidly to clear her vision, Myra then asked Tass, wanting to confirm what Makai had mentioned regarding a cousin? Sure he had red hair but that didn't mean she had any cousins... right? "Wait...who are you?"

 

[Tass Arceneau]

Tass searched his memory and found zero detail about Makai's constant texting partner except the name Myrelli. Zilch.

"I'm, uh..." He couldn't very well give one of his travel names since Makai knew his real one. Wait, hadn't he said his name somewhere in the pterocarnage? Yeah, best to stick with the real one. "I'm Tass. Tass Arceneau. Makai's giving me a lift off Ammuud."

Behind him, Ringo vomited gently and took off. Tass whirled into the wind of her ascent. Great misery warred with awe at her majesty. The angle of her flight had a decided air of disdain. Tass rubbed his stinging eyes and blew snot vociferously down the mountainside in farewell.

"Ah man...majestic, isn't she. Sorry." He rubbed at his eyes again. "I'm a weeper, my whole family is, it's terrible. Rivers of snot. Who're you? I guess I...yeah, I didn't catch it. Sorry again about your ship."

 

[Makai Dashiell]

"You're Myrelli. Tass mentioned he was your cousin so I had to switch back to..." Makai paused, still not comfortable with using Myra in front of her. "...your first name. Apparently it didn't jog in his memory banks."

Then Tass started to weep. Ugly, snot filled weeping at the departure of the pterosaur.

Now I have two dramatic Arceneaus to comfort.

Makai reached out and squeezed the man's shoulder briefly. Good riddance in his opinion but Tass seemed like the type to keep poisonous insects for fun then bawl like a baby when they died.

"Sorry to see Her Majesty leave our presence. Maybe when the virus is over you can return and see if she comes running. I'm sure you've made an uh,impression, on her."

"This is Myra Elspeth Arceneau, your cousin. Danger's daughter. I,uh, call her Ellie. Long story, not explaining it right now."

Although an interesting way to meet, Makai could tell Tass would be someone he would want to hang out with in the future. Old maps had really sealed the deal, the redhead seemed the type to easily go spelunking with him without a second thought.

[ Sir, Salacia salvaging vessel inbound, identifier SC-000002. Nickname Profit Margin. Estimated time of arrival, three hours. ]

Makai groaned. He knew exactly who was coming to pick them up.

[ Message inbound : Son, this is Uncle Zej. What in the five hells have you gotten yourself into now? Nothing I have to tell your father I hope. Sit tight boy, we're on the way. ]

He had avoided calling a salvaging crew in the first place for this very reason. Having your fathers second in command pick you up after a disaster? Not ideal.

"Three hours, not bad. Might get some Bothan Bake-Off time in after all."

Myra Arceneau Dashiell | Tass Arceneau

 

[Myra Arceneau Dashiell]

Makai explained. It made sense. Sure it did. But now both Tass Arceneau and Myra held a similar snot covered red nose appearance that had it not been for the differences in hair color and Tass’s lack of mascara, they’d be wearing the same sobbing expression.

Myra brought her hand up, giving a hard sniff to wipe her face with the back of her hand. She really needed a handkerchief but Casteel was the one who always had one on him for her. So now she had only her hands — maybe Makai’s shirt.

Otherwise, she wasn’t looking like a proper heiress at all. More like an overdramatize wretched.

“My cousin?” Myra repeated, studying Tass from his snot covered redrimmed eyes to his dusty boots.

“Mama never mentioned no cousins,” although to be fair, this is because Danger’s mama and pa had a tendency to turn a blind eye to their kin. The family came from Lorell Hapen raider stock generations back; some stayed in the cluster, others decided to make their way elsewhere. In this case this offshoot decided to make a home on Tatooine and carve out a living. By all accounts Danger would have cousins a plenty just from both her mothers and fathers side; all who had their own pretty penny from various questionable methods back in the day. There had been more than once that Danger had to pull some fool from ruining her name. Thankfully, they took the credits and didn’t bother her more again; those that did would come to realize Danger had no taste for beggars looking for a free ride. They got to know the sarlacc pit just outside of Danger’s tattooine enclave soon enough.

Realizing that she shouldn’t be rude, Myra held out her clean non snot covered right hand in greeting, “ Hello, I’m Myra Arceneau Kuhn.”

“Who’s your mama?” As it always dealt with thr Arceneau’s, it was about whose mother beget who.

It was lucky for Makai that this took the bulk of Myra’s attention, so she wouldn’t pick up that Makai could have summoned the salvage vessel earlier that had been 3 hours out.

As it was, she’ll take whatever they could get.

So would the small investigatory ATC vessel trying to land at the city to investigate matters.

 

[Tass Arceneau]

Oh shavvit. Makai didn't just know Arceneaus, he knew THE Arceneaus, the household-name ones. The Kuhn-Arceneaus, folks called them in hushed tones across various corners of the extended relations. Those Arceneaus.

"I'm, uh, my mom's Luusa. I think she and your, um, mother are half-sisters? Maybe stepsisters? First cousins? Mom doesn't talk about, uh..." Tass watched Ringo soar farther away. "Yeah, I get lost in the family trees."

Deep down that distance was probably, he figured, about his big annoyance, his big insecurity: Being His Own Man. The less connected he was, the less anyone could say he'd got somewhere because of his name.

"Anyways. Three hours." He brightened. "Maybe that's enough time to lure her back!"

 

[Makai Dashiell]

In the three hours it took for the Profit Margin to arrive, Makai had worked on re-attaching El-Three's arm so it wouldn't get lost. It was clear the droid was going to need a complete and decent re-haul in order to be back in tip-top shape. Thirty-Seven helpfully provided commentary on his work, confident he could have did better.

Once the Salacia mining vessel had landed, ramp was lowered and the booming sound of one Mr.Zej echoed throughout the valley. If Tass was trying to recapture his lost love, Her Royal Empress Lady Ringo, Zej had surely scared her off once again.

"Makai my boy, what in the hell is going on here? Something about a virus? Why in the blazes is a shuttle smoldering on the ground? Ain't no one dead is there?"

While waiting on the shuttle, Makai had sat back on his trusty cargo crate, and was thus the first to greet his honorary Uncle.

"Uncle Zej, thanks for coming to get us. No one is dead, just the shuttle. A giant-lizard pterosaur destroyed it. ATC property of all things."

"ATC? Eh, it'll scrap all the same." The older man leaned back to yell up the ramp. "Send a crew down, grab this scrap before we go, will ya?"

The portly Pantoran made his way fully down, wrapping Makai in a massive hug, knocking the breath out of the half-Galan.

"Bit disappointed when your father told me you're in charge of mining now. Didn't want to join me on the spacelanes anymore eh? Got too much of a taste when you were a lad?"

Makai chuckled.

"I'll leave the scrap to you, didn't want to put you out of a job."

Tass Arceneau | Myra Arceneau Dashiell

 

[Myra Arceneau Dashiell]

Three hours and Myra had plenty of time to play several rounds of a dozen questions to Tass Arceneau . It at least killed the time, and focusing on something else meant that the heiress would be able to not focus on the crazy bucket of giju they landed in.

"So, your mama's my ma's first cousin once removed... so that makes you.. my second cousin." Tass's family had direct ties to Danger Arceneau from her daddy's side. Rich enough to still get the money from their smuggling days and some from their line in Hapes.

"That being said. Whatcha doing out here, and what's with all the maps," A pause to take a deep breath, and then she also added, "Also, why do you want to find --" A pause, she couldn't believe she was saying this," Her Royal Empress Lady Ringo, again? Wouldn't it be best to leave her in her natural habitat?"

Tass Arceneau Makai Dashiell

 

[Tass Arceneau]

Despite Tass's best efforts, Her Majesty showed no intention of returning. That disappointment somewhat colored not just the conversation about genealogy but the very interesting salvage ship.

"That being said. Whatcha doing out here, and what's with all the maps," A pause to take a deep breath, and then she also added, "Also, why do you want to find --" A pause, she couldn't believe she was saying this," Her Royal Empress Lady Ringo, again? Wouldn't it be best to leave her in her natural habitat?"

Tass unfolded an explanation about his love of travel and his love of maps, both as physical objects and as keepsakes of each destination's uniqueness. He unfolded several very interesting maps in the course of this explanation.

"And as for Her Majesty," he said, "a queen needs servants. She and all her eggs were arena champions. Nobody's ever touched her record on the parallel hex-rings." He found himself, again, watching the distant pterosaurs that speckled the clouds, both wild and stable escapees. "But she does look happy up there, doesn't she.

"Anyways. If she's not coming, and I guess I can live with that...can we get off this planet? Are we at that point? Any obstacles? I'm happy for a ride anywhere that doesn't have a quarantine stamp."

 

[Makai Dashiell]

"Anyways. If she's not coming, and I guess I can live with that...can we get off this planet? Are we at that point? Any obstacles? I'm happy for a ride anywhere that doesn't have a quarantine stamp."

"Of course we're ready to leave. Should be done with this salvage in a moment, wasn't a big wreck. Hop aboard son, we can drop you off where you want. You looking for a job? You got that spacer look, I've got open roles."

In the background, a group of salvage droids mixed with various sentients of human and non--human backgrounds were focused on pulling apart the shuttle. They had made quick work and amazing progress, the sound of saws and tools echoing, sparks flying.

The portly Pantoran was eager to get back into the skies and back to work. Salvage was waiting and the idea of being on planet was making him antsy.

"Makai my boy, grab your friends and lets go. Credits are wasting, we're in the quarter three crunch. You would not believe the salvage we're pulling in from the Galactic Alliance-Mando dick measuring contest. Its a salvagers dream out here Son."

He could merely nod as Uncle Zej prattled on about the state of salvage in the galaxy. And apparently tried to recruit Tass into the Salacia crews.

"Tass, Ellie...lets go. I don't want to spend a minute longer here."

Tass Arceneau | Myra Arceneau Dashiell

 

[Myra Arceneau Dashiell]

While Myra managed to rein in her emotions - somewhat - there was still the twist in her stomach at seeing just how efficiently her brand new shuttle was broken down for salvage.

A large sigh shook her shoulders. On one hand, glad she wasn’t spending days here. On the other, she had just bought it and her plans were ruined.

Turning to Tass Arceneau , she mulled over him. He reminded her of a horse girl — horse boy? Obsessed over their animals. Maybe his side of the Arceneau were all about their pets? The maps were really interesting and perked her interest as an artist. She took a course in cartography and this fed into it.

“Well, if you need anything, let me give you my comm number.” She told the redhead. “It’s nice to meet a cousin. And for Makai to make a friend.”

She did mean it.

Otherwise, Myra took Makai’s hand. With an exhausted expression she gave a nod. “Let’s get out of here.”

 

[Tass Arceneau]

Tass accepted the job. Alliance/Mando battlefields sounded like fun, and this was all good experience, and anyway he'd sunk most of his allowance into riding lessons. Some Independently Procured Funds would go a long way toward easing his heartbreak. He did, however, watch the clouds intently as the ship left Ammuud behind.

Exit, pursued by a pterosaur.