Private Wildfire

[Elpsis Kerrigan]

Maeve Linahan

To Elpsis' credit, she didn't throw a tantrum. She didn't argue. She accepted. It stung...but such was life. "I-I....I, uh, understand," she said awkwardly. "It's okay, really. Wasn't right of me to spring this on you. Not fair of me. You've got..a lot going on, your duty as a Jedi...which is far from here, and I'm sure as hell not asking you to give that up...to make you someone you're not. And I've got...this. Odds are I'm going to be dead before the year's over and you deserve better." She was rambling, clumsy and awkward as ever.

Foolish little girl, the voice sounded like Siobhan, whether she had actually said that to her or not. Do your damn duty. Unfit for leadership. She suppressed a sigh. "But it's ok, honest. I treasure our friendship too much. You're a great woman and I hope you find someone who's worthy of you...if that's what you want. If you want to talk or anything I'm here...always..." she trailed off, taking a deep breath.

"Emira Bahara Jai Mahtaba?" Elpsis made a face. "Really?"
"I know her well. She can offer you ten thousand soldiers, she has light artillery, she has drones. And she holds a crucial smuggling route in her death grip. Never mind the minerals that can fill our war chest," Zabhara retorted. The former slave-soldier's voice was as iron as the sword in her scabbard.
"Was an enthusiastic slaveowner until it stopped being cool. Found all manners of excuses to hold on to her ex-slaves as 'sharecroppers'."
"You'll be hard-pressed to find a prominent Qadiri who didn't own slaves at one point, Elpsis."
"And has been happy to suck up to Firemane. Why the change of heart, huh?"
"Pride. Believe it or not, most Suquan nobles and chiefs are patriotic. They don't like foreigners tearing up their country. And Firemane offended her sense of honour."
Elpsis snorted. "Honour. Right."
"Honour has preciously little to do with goodness. Her blood's not far removed from that of queens, and Firemane treats her clan like common hirelings. Her nephew was badly injured in a drone raid. Firemane just provides excuses. You're not Qadiri, but you're willing to lose your head in a fight. People here respect that." Zabhara leaned forward, "but you must also get it into your thick head that marriage is going to be a job for you. Not some love story out of a play. Wed the Emira, or don't. I frankly don't care, but bloody marry someone who advances the cause. You have a duty - to win this damn war. And Elpsis Jai Saobana always does her duty, doesn't she?"
Elpsis grit her teeth. "She does."

Her flesh hand rubbed against Maeve's hands, soaking up what warmth the Jedi would give her. Her friendship was a gift, and not one Elpsis would selfishly reject. She snapped back to reality, to duty. "Well...we should get going. Quick stop at the medbay so we don't get chewed out for walking around untreated, some morale boosting for the wounded." So she let go of Maeve's hands, and turned, heading out of the chamber.

 

[Maeve Linahan]

It pained Maeve to see the awkward embarrassment on Elpsis' face.

She hadn't wanted to refuse her, not like this, but had she agreed, there was a chance it would've led only to heartbreak—or catastrophe. She had ever only committed to one thing, and it was the destruction of all things Sith.

There were the others, too. Cale. Alex. Unsorted feelings. Unfulfilled promises.

She gave herself an internal shake, the tips of her ears burning. None of that mattered right now, so she looked back up to Elpsis, offering a weak smile she knew she couldn't see, and nodded. "Thank you for understanding, Elpsis, but know that I'm here for you too, and for whatever else it is you need. Know that will never change. No matter what comes our way."

Another squeeze, but it didn't last. Maeve saw the hardness return to Elpsis' face, the warm hearth blazing back into the Phoenix, and their hands slipped away. Gone went the light and warmth of her touch, and they were back to how it was.

General and Jedi. Fire and ice.

"Of course," Maeve replied, smoothing out her hair before following after Elpsis outside the washroom, into the guttering light of the corridor. "Lead the way, General."

Elpsis Kerrigan​

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[Elpsis Kerrigan]

Maeve Linahan

The medical bay of the Perch was not the sterile, relatively orderly place a comparable installation in a GADF or the Jedi Temple might have been. For one, there were next to no droids or indeed that much in terms of galaxy technology. There was also very little privacy. Groans, and cries of pain were heard. "Shoot me, just shoot me already!" someone cried out, voice laced with agony. Lights flickered above.

Nurses and doctors were hard at work, going to and fro. Many wore the robes of priestesses beneath their blood-stained overalls. Wounded lay here, bloody bandages around their limbs, face sprinkled with shrapnel marks. Children were among them. A Qadiri girl lay on an bed, her right leg a bandaged wreck, for its lower half had been torn apart by artillery fire.

"Without an amputation, the patient perishes," a Qadiri doctor was saying in Zandri, while instructing a novice in an emergency room. "First, expose the surgical site. Now cut down the artery. Take courage, sister. Take hold of the artery," he said as the cut was made by his pupil and blood flowed. "Cut it. Saw."

Deep inside herself, Elpsis felt dejected as she limped. Yet could she show it? No. The people did not need Elpsis. They needed the Commander, they needed the Phoenix. I am Iron, I am Fire. Elpsis' uniform bore no insignia or decorations that would have set her apart from the common soldier, but there were no other redheaded human cyborgs with burning cracks in their face in the army. When she stepped in, there were no cheers. No one called her name...but there was a sudden quiet. For a brief moment, the noise died down, even the groans of pain, the yells seemed to subside. Then the calm was passed, and things returned to normal.

A Xio nurse, wearing overalls stained with blood, approached the pair. She was slight of stature, but looked determined, and Maeve would no doubt sense her Force aura. "Dalninil Alpsis, you have been in the battle, yes? You have all of your pieces? You have not lost any more parts? Show me your injuries and I will do what I can. And this is Yeedai Mahave? Show me as well. Hmm, has Dalninil Alpsis been telling you to run into battle, Yeedai?"

The nurse spoke in Zandri, the native language of the Qadiri. Given Tygara's long isolation, it was rare for natives to speak Basic unless they had extensive dealings with offworlders. 'Dalnil' was the Xio word for sister.

"I do not speak the sky language. You, I trust, can translate, Dalninil?" the nurse glanced at Elpsis.
"I do my best, Dalninil Cazna," Elpsis replied in somewhat stilted Zandri before proceeding to translate the nurse's words for Maeve.

 

[Maeve Linahan]

The people's suffering washed over Maeve like a poisonous fog. She sucked in a sharp breath, hearing the cries and whimpers of the dead and dying, watching as a man clawed at his bandaged eyes and a little girl's leg was sawed away like it was nothing more than a slab of meat. Her eyes lingered on Elpsis, seeing the calm on her face, but sensing the pain.

Pain they now shared.

Maeve came to a stop by the nurse, though said nothing as she and Elpsis traded a few words in a language she didn't quite understand. As much as she studied about Tygara ahead of her mission with Firemane, learning Zandri wasn't quite a priority on her list.

Fortunately, she had Elpsis to rely on. Like always.

"I don't know what you mean," she replied, "but I'm fine. I run into battle of my own free will, and whatever scars you see, I'm glad to bear it if it means we put an end to this nonsense." Maeve nodded. "But thank you, Dalninil." She had a miserable accent, but it was worth a try. "You do important work here."

Pale eyes sweeping over the wounded again, Maeve wandered over to a little boy on a stretcher, clammy and dark hair matted to his face. She hovered a hand over his head. Ashla's Light, he was feverish. Whatever ailment he suffered, it was going to take more than a saw to manage.

She closed her eyes, trying to pour the Force—Life—into him. But she was no Amani Serys. She was no healer. Maeve had trained only to kill, and only a sliver of the Force bled into the boy, giving him some color, but not to the extent she had hoped.

"How are you on medical supplies?" Maeve turned and asked the nurse. "Medicine? Surely you must have something of a stockpile."

Elpsis Kerrigan​

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[Elpsis Kerrigan]

Maeve Linahan

In the far corner of the chamber, lay a female Qadiri warrior in the throes of death. "Mother...I'm sorry...I failed," she said with laboured breaths, voice choked with emotions, face heavily scarred, bloodied and her chest torn by shrapnel.
"Sh...sh. Yeganeh...you made me proud, you made your ancestors proud. Now your trials are at an end. We're all waiting for you. It will not hurt much longer," a soothing voice that was Shikoba's, and yet not. Shikoba spoke Zandri, albeit with a heavy accent, but this voice spoke the language as if it were her native tongue, with a distinct local dialect. Her eyes were a startling white with no iris or pupil.
"My husband...my son..."
"He knows. They know. Come with us. We love you..."
"I'm...I'm afraid," the dying Qadir spoke, a note of shame in her tone as she clung to life.
"You have been weighed on the scaled and found just. Kashara will welcome you to her garden. Rest now, my beloved daughter, and the pain will be gone. I love you..." the being that spoke through Shikoba said.
"I love you too..."
The ghost whisperer leaned forward and planted a kiss on the warrior's forehead. Black tendrils spread across her arms, invisible to naked sight, but all too visible through the Force. Tenderly, she took the dying woman's hand. "Come now into Her light with me." The light faded from the Qadiri's eyes. Gently, Shikoba closed them.
The druidess' shoulders slumped, as if a great weight lay upon them. Sweat dripping down her brow, she took a deep breath, closing her eyes. When she opened them once more, they had resumed their normal brown colour. Tired, soulful eyes that had seen too much. But resolute. "Wash and prepare her body in accordance with the Kashari rites," she commanded a nearby novice. This time her accent was unmistakeable.

The poor, maimed Qadiri boy Maeve was treating trembled, nervous and afraid. He muttered some words in his native tongue, delirious. Quickly, the Xio nurse placed a hand on his shoulder. "Safe, Yussuf. Friend," she said soothingly in Zandri. She glanced at Elpsis. "What does she say, Dalninil?" Quickly, Elpsis fired off some words in Zandri. There was a pause as Cazna asked for clarification, before she addressed Maeve once more.

"We have no great stores, Yeedai Mahave. Our means are meagre, the sky-ocean is vast and we are far from the world of Baaktar. The sky-ships that reach us are few and must take heed, lest Firemane and their allies destroy them. We make use of remedies where we can, and natural alternatives," she glanced at the boy, while Elpsis translated.

"Your hands are made for battle, but you have some talent for the healing arts. Would you stay a bit and help with some of the others?" the nurse then looked at Elpsis. "Dalninil, I sense your pain is grave, you need care."
"Heal Maeve first," Elpsis insisted firmly, even though her own injuries were a bit worse. What with having fallen from the sky and all that.

 

[Maeve Linahan]

Maeve eyed Elpsis as she traded a few more words with the nurse. Despite the language barrier, it didn't take a genius to see Elpsis brushing off the nurse's help, no doubt insisting they attend to Maeve instead. She was always so humble. So selfless.

By the Force, it made Maeve want to smack her over the head!

"You better not be refusing care, Elpsis," Maeve warned, cutting into their conversation with one eyebrow raised. "You battled dozens of armed drones in the sky while on fire. A bath isn't nearly enough to remedy that." She gestured at the nurse. "At least take a bacta shot, if she has one. You'll need it."

She had a strong feeling they wouldn't be staying idle in this base for long. After the meeting, they were sure to be sent back outside, sparring Firemane forces.

"I will be fine," Maeve added, in case Elpsis tried to argue. "I brought some bacta myself, and my species can heal twice as fast as an ordinary human." Mostly. A Firrerreo could recover from smaller wounds in minutes, though she suspected hers would take hours.

She looked back to the Qadiri boy. His ailment would take days, if at all.

She wished Amani was here. Or more Jedi. She felt useless in a place like this. Fortunately, the rebels were not completely without the Force, besides with Elpsis. Maeve had sensed a strange aura on the other side of the room, a wave of peace washing over her and the soldiers around her, and it wasn't until she caught the source of it that she understood.

"Excuse me," she said, studying the boy one more time before she rose back up to her feet. She gave Elpsis another look, as if to say, You better get that shot. Then, without thinking, she walked across the room, stopping only until she was in the thick of the strange aura—to Shikoba, the ghost whisperer from Ziost.

"Elpsis knew you'd be here," Maeve said. "How long have you been at this?"

Elpsis Kerrigan​

​

 

[Elpsis Kerrigan]

Maeve Linahan

Elpsis grimaced in annoyance. Another part of her was...touched. You're so damn frustrating...and making it real hard not to want you, she thought, though she dared not say that. "Fine, be quick about it," she grunted to the nurse.

"Dalninil, your companion is in less need than you," Cazna pointed out firmly. "The treatment will take as long as it needs, and lest you wish to die when you might easily live you will sit and let me treat you!"
"No bacta, natural remedies suffice. I'm in command here," Elpsis declared irritably.
"Here you have no power, Dalninil." Already the nurse was guiding her to a bed. It was probably a somewhat comical sight considering Cazna was quite a bit shorter than Elpsis and slender rather than imposing.

Meanwhile, Shikoba looked up from her work to face an unexpected visitor. Or perhaps not so unexpected. "The duration of hours and minutes is irrelevant. I was needed, I have done what was needed. I greet you, Daughter of Shadows." She stared at Maeve without blinking, her deep, soulful eyes piercing. "Many more dark souls trail your path. I see their shadows, hear their wails. As I hear the echo of Tygara's wail. And I hear the echo of battle and strife in the mountains, of machines bringing terror and souls burning in agony. It weighs on you still. Bears down upon you like a boulder."

 

[Maeve Linahan]

Maeve met Shikoba's eyes. Deep, reflective pools that told a hundred stories, witnessed a hundred deaths. Eyes that cut right to the bone. She knew the ghost whisperer had always been contemplative, maybe a little eccentric, but it seemed as if Tygara had changed her—made her wiser, warier, weary.

It was to be expected, Maeve supposed, when surrounded by death.

"I know," she said, pretending not to be troubled by Shikoba's words. "It's unfortunate what's happening here." Horrifying would've been a better term. "So much misery. So many suffering. I haven't even been here a week and it's worse than anything I could've ever imagined."

Maeve stared between Shikoba and the dead woman she'd ministered to in their final moments. "How have you managed it? Seeing this—all day, every day?"

Maeve was not unfamiliar to tragedy. Tragedy was her childhood. It was witnessing her family be butchered and peeled, mentors executed and burned, friends hurt and killed—something like this shouldn't have bothered her. She had seen genocide before and never blinked.

She blinked now, looking at the dead Qadiri woman.

Her eyes followed on to Elpsis, seeing the feared general practically dragged into a bed for treatment. A laughable sight, if not for the somber mood. "Do you not fear that one day, you might be the one to have to minister to her? To Kerrigan?"

It was a horrible question. But after seeing Elpsis in the washroom, with all her cracks and scars, it was a question that sat on Maeve like a heavy chain.

Elpsis Kerrigan​

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[Elpsis Kerrigan]

Maeve Linahan

Shikoba looked a bit puzzled, in that earnest way of hers. "Fear? No, why should I fear such a thing? Death is part of life, a cycle we shall all pass through in time. Myself, you, Elpsis, even those for whom the ages seem not to touch. From lowliest peasant to greatest lady, all passes in dust from this life. Whether they are given to the flames, the sea, the earth or the beasts of the wild, our bodies are consumed by the world. Whilst our spirits return to the otherworlds from whence they were spawned to begin the next stage of their journey. If I am there when the end comes for Elpsis, I will minister to her should she wish it, as I trust she will do for me," she stared right into the Shadow's eyes - and perhaps beyond - never wavering. "That offer I extend to you, Maeve Shadow Walker."

Elpsis, meanwhile, was not having a great time. It doubtless caused amusement for some to see their commander get man-handled. Regardless, Cazna had gotten her to sit down on the bed and begin to shed her uniform. The nurse suppressed a wince when she beheld the scars, the angry bruises. "The metal appears damaged. I cannot treat, but treat your flesh. You need Baaktar, Dalninil," she stated.
"No need," Elpsis insisted firmly. "Save it for those who need it." Both were speaking in Zandri, though Maeve would probably be figure things out based on the context, and the very irritated look on Elpsis' face.
"Dalninil," Cazna countered.
"Save it for those who need it."
"Stubborness does not aid us. We have medicine, Dalninil, to deny it for yourself is selfish and unwise because you delay your recovery. Thus, you endanger those who march under your banner. Now finish undressing yourself, lie down upon the bed and let me treat you." Elpsis glared at her icily. For a moment there was silence. Her mouth opened, closed. Finally, she nodded reluctantly. "Just a little bit," she grunted.

 

[Maeve Linahan]

Maeve continued to watch the dead Qadiri warrior as Shikoba went on.

There was wisdom in her words. It was almost like she was speaking through the ghost of her former master, Master Severin, the man who'd rescued Maeve after she had opened the throats of her family's murderers, who'd pulled her back from the edge when the Dark Side called, who'd taught her peace—or at least, something like it.

Her words were advice she needed to hear.

Death was as much a part of the Force as life. Part of the balance.

"I see," Maeve said slowly. She met the ghost whisperer with a nod. "Thank you, Shikoba. I hope that day doesn't come any time soon, but I would be grateful to have you there at my side. I know Elpsis would, too."

She stood. "I won't interrupt you any longer. I know there are others you have to attend to." An entire room of them, perhaps. Of course, so did Maeve. "May the Force be with you."

She turned and drifted back to Elpsis, who was now stewing in one of the beds. True enough, she didn't need an interpreter to understand whatever exchange she was having with the nurse—the general was still reluctant to accept any help, a quality the two of them seemed to share. Stubborn. Just like Maeve.

"Is she giving you trouble?" Maeve asked as she settled beside the bed. The question might've seemed directed for Elpsis, but Maeve cocked an eyebrow at the nurse instead. "I'm shocked you managed to get her to even lay down."

Elpsis Kerrigan​

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[Elpsis Kerrigan]

Maeve Linahan

"Yes, there are," Shikoba said matter-of-factly. "But death is not the end of the journey. Go with the spirits, Maeve Shadow Walker." With that, the druidess turned away, and waded back into the sea of the dying and suffering. Such was her calling, to be more at home in the company of the dead and the lost spirits than the living. But it was a call she would not turn her back on.

By the time Maeve arrived, Elpsis was stewing in the bed in a state of undress, and not too thrilled about her present state of affairs. "What does she say?" Cazna asked Elpsis. "Is she telling you to stop being foolish?"
"Just get on with it," Elpsis grunted, suppressing a wince when the Xio smeared some bacta over a wound. Her back was a tapestry of scars criss-crossed over her flesh. She felt a pang as she saw the body of a dead Qadiri warrior - the fallen hero Shikoba had tended to - be collected by novices and carried away. Yet she pushed it down. The time for doubt was passed.
"We should place you inside a bottle of Baaktar," Cazna said thoughtfully in Zandri. Presumably she meant a bacta tank. "But we do not have enough of it, so this shall have to do."

 

[Maeve Linahan]

"Baaktar," Maeve repeated thoughtfully. "She wants you in a bacta tank, doesn't she?" She smirked. "She's not wrong. You could use at least a week's stay."

Another item on her to-do list. She would need to requisition such supplies from the Jedi Order, once or if she returned to Coruscant to rally support for Elpsis' resistance. She didn't want to make too many promises in that, knowing how fickle the Council and the Senate could be, but if there was a chance to help the wounded here, there was no reason not to take it.

Maeve waited patiently beside the nurse as she applied the bacta, massaging it into the skin of Elpsis' back. "It's not so bad, is it? I will admit that I'm also not one to accept help easily, but… you get used to it. You find that there's only so much you can do alone."

She remembered her past battles, the near-death experiences. Her first mission with Master Serys-Organa—just Amani, back then—had almost resulted in Maeve's end at the hands of an ancient spirit, but Amani had saved her, used her healing touch and made what might've been a permanent scar now a faded memory.

"A Padawan saved me," she confessed, recalling Eloise. "Not even a week past. I spent the whole day ignoring her, thinking she was a burden, thinking I didn't need her, but when I faced death, she threw herself between us and stopped it with her bare hands."

She paused. "So, I'm starting to learn to accept help when I can, even if it does make me want to crack my teeth and retch just asking for it."

Elpsis Kerrigan​

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[Elpsis Kerrigan]

Maeve Linahan

"I don't have a week, or even a day," Elpsis retorted sharply, having switched to Basic again. She suppressed a sigh. "Not great at accepting help either. I do the protecting, that's how it should be. I shouldn't need people to hold my hand." Frustration roiled inside her. "Trying to get better at it, not easy though."

It was hard to trust. So many had disappointed her, failed her, and betrayed her. Her adoptive mothers, chief among them, but there had been many others. She hadn't forgotten, and she would never forgive. The story went that her mother Tegaea partied with her friends - profiteers from forced labour and blood diamonds all - to celebrate her rebel daughter's alleged demise. It stung like a sharp knife...though she had the satisfaction of going how the festivities had been disrupted with petrol bombs and daggers. Their time would come.

"Xalda, Shikoba, Zhaleh...they saved my life back when Suqua fell. We'd been holding the line. I was on fire on that day. Then Firemane did a missile strike, scattered us. It's when Celaena died. I was still burning from the inside out when they found me, surrounded by charred corpses and rubble."

"Dalninil, if you do not rest would will strain yourself, and then you will be in my care even longer!" the nurse commanded in Zandri.
"Fine. I have a war council later today."

 

[Maeve Linahan]

"You're a general," Maeve said. "You're their leader. You're right to feel that way. To feel like only you can save and protect."

She wanted badly to reach out and take Elpsis' hand, to squeeze and make her understand that it was okay, that she wasn't wrong. "But you face an enemy that outnumbers you ten to one, with enough weapons to glass a planet. You can't do it alone. You can't… protect everyone."

Not even Celaena, she wanted to say, but that wound was too fresh, no matter how little Maeve had known her, and she wouldn't go picking at it. "You've done more than you realize, but if you keep at it like this—you keep fighting and burning? If you try to carry everything on your shoulders? It'll crush you."

"No one needs that right now," she said. "I don't." Maeve turned away. She didn't want Elpsis to see the naked worry on her face. "Just rest, please. I'll see you at the war council."

Leaving Elpsis to the nurse's watchful eye, Maeve drifted out from the makeshift infirmary. There was such a weight, a heaviness, in the room that she couldn't quite bear, and there was much more besides that she needed to learn about the rebels—the state of their arsenal and armory, a headcount, locations, names.

If she was to not look like an idiot at the war council, she needed to learn more than just what she was spoon-fed, and she would need to start making good on her promises.

She needed to help lift the burden.

Elpsis Kerrigan​

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[Elpsis Kerrigan]

Maeve Linahan

As Maeve stepped out of the infirmary into the corridor, a tall, female Xio suddenly fell in line alongside her. Her steps were light, almost silent. Karrigan'Xalda wore fatigues much like Maeve, and was scarred from many injuries. Tattoos were visible on her hands and neck. "My sister is the most stubborn of women...and one of the bravest," Xalda said without preamble. She spoke Basic with a notable accent.

"She lit the fire, whilst many dithered and waited. Many yet do, waiting for the moment to claim glory and riches without sacrifice. I take the ears of those who scorn her." There was something deeply fervent, yet earnest in her words. "You are restless, Yeedai Sky Warrior Mahave. Your stance shows a great weight bearing down on you. What are you in search of? Is there somewhere you wish to go?"

 

[Maeve Linahan]

"Stubborn and brave often go hand in hand. I would know."

Maeve nodded in greeting at Xalda while the two walked. She hadn't expected the woman—she barely even heard her arrive—but she welcomed the company after witnessing so much pain and death in the infirmary, even if that company could see right through her, just like Shikoba. It was like Maeve was wearing a sign on her back that screamed 'uneasy.'

"Am I really so transparent?" Maeve said with a weak smile. She turned to Xalda. "I'm just searching for answers—and maybe a tour. Could you show me to the armory? Or the council room? I'd like to get a better accounting of what resources we have at our disposal."

It was odd to use 'we' and 'our,' as if she'd been with the rebels since day one, when in fact she was still a new face and a rookie with no official rank—but she was fully committed to Elpsis' dream now, and it was better she started speaking that way.

The deeper they ventured into the halls and the more rebels they passed, another curious thought bubbled to the surface of her mind. "These caverns," Maeve said. "Just how far do they extend? Across the entire mountain range? The continent?"

Elpsis Kerrigan​

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[Karrigan'Xalda]

Maeve Linahan

"Trans-parent?" Xalda asked, frowned before realising what Maeve meant. She had interacted with the sky people for many years, but Basic could still be an awkward language for her sometimes. "For those who have walked the same paths, faced the same tribulations. We are warriors who face strife and trial for what is right, not normal people."

She gestured with her hand down one of the tunnels. "This way to the armoury." The pair walked down a long corridor, passing various rebels going about their business, until they finally reached their destination. "The caverns don't extend across the whole continent...but a long way. Many kilometres. We have yet to map all they encompass. They remind of home. The Underealm."

A heavy stone door barred their path, and the guards gave Maeve wary glances. However, Xalda's presence seemed to placate them. She exchanged a few words with them in Xio, and then spoke to someone through an intercom, ere the door opened. Once inside they would soon pass the quartermaster's rustic office.

The quartermaster was a grizzled looking Qadiri male, with a shaved head, a scar running down his face and one eye. He was seated at a workbench, was methodically cleaning a dissembled gun. The moment they entered, he directed a look their way. "Yeedai," he stated gruffly in Zandri, indicating Maeve. He regarded her intently with his one good eye. "She's vetted?"
"My sister the Heir vouches for her," Xalda responded. "She has faced peril with us, and will do so again soon."
"Mhmm," the quartermaster scratched his chin. "You're cleared. Have a look around," he spoke, having suddenly switched to speaking heavily accented Basic. "Though if you want another sword of light, you're out of luck. "We make what we can, take from corpses what we can't. But we manage."

Walls of racks full of weaponry awaited them. As Maeve would discern, it was a more eclectic mix than a typical GADF arsenal, though this was by necessity rather than chaotic management. There were, for example, modern weapons such as Firemane bolters, but also archaic blasters that had been young when Anakin Skywalker had failed to finish his first pod race. Then there were various types of slugthrowers, swords, spears, battle-axes. There were crates of grenades, and improvised explosive devices. The Jedi would also come across Force imbued melee weapons, as well as Sarix, Sarzmigars, and RPGs.

 

[Maeve Linahan]

"The Underealm?" Maeve repeated. The name didn't ring a bell, though it should have—she knew about the Xioquo and learned more about them with each passing hour, but when it came to their home, their origins, she was still about as clueless as your usual Core Worlder, and she obviously still had much to learn about the people she was now fighting for.

Maeve entered the armory shortly behind Xalda and nodded at the predictably gruff quartermaster at the workbench. She let Kerrigan's sister do all the talking, and instead wandered towards the weapon racks deeper inside. When the quartermaster addressed her in Basic, she shrugged, not bothering to look back at him.

"I don't need a lightsaber to be useful. You might be surprised what I could do without one."

She gave a thin smile to Xalda and continued down the racks, taking personal note and inventory of what weapons they had to spare—modern, rustic, ancient—it wasn't impressive by any means, but she'd expected worse.

"Plenty of explosives," she said, her hand skimming over one of the crates. "We're going to need it." Her pale eyes moved on to the melee weapons, the polearms. "Pretty to look at. Not much useful on the battlefield." Maeve turned to Xalda. "There's a lot here, but is it enough? What more is the rebellion lacking here—numbers or arms?"

Perhaps it wasn't right for her to question Xalda as if to assume the position of an officer and her the subordinate, but she was Jedi, after all, and endlessly commanding.

Elpsis Kerrigan​

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[Karrigan'Xalda]

Maeve Linahan

Xalda's eyes narrowed slightly. "I am not your subordinate, Yeedai," she said calmly, very firmly. "I answer to the spirits, my sisters, and Alpsis . I do not know if Yeedai are elevated above others in the stars, but here they are not. No sky people are. I am answering your queries because Alpsis trusts you and you have provided aid. We have need of both, but if I had to choose, I would rather have better weapons and ammunition than simply bodies. Warriors, no matter how stout and brave, serve us ill if we cannot equip them."

"For those without a sword of light, a spear of lightning's enough. Many sky people have fallen to them. Give a couple warriors spear and dura-steel shield for close quarters, they can advance, shield their comrades and cut down their foes in the steel suits," the Qadiri quartermaster threw in gruffly. If Maeve examined the spears, she would notice several were vibroweapons. The bottom could be detached, enabling the warrior to use the weapon as a short blade. "Can you get more sky weapons? Guns that fire bullets are more useful than blast-ors. Easier to maintain, easier to train."

 

[Maeve Linahan]

"Of course," Maeve said and offered Xalda a conceding nod. She'd overstepped. She would have to be careful not to make it a habit ordering them around. She was an outsider and yet to earn the rebels trust and respect the way Elpsis had, no matter how many drones or Firemane lackeys she'd cut down.

She'd probably never get close, but she could at least try.

"Sky weapons won't be easy to get a hold of," Maeve admitted. "The Order, predictably, won't like the idea of circulating more slug-throwers in the Outer Rim and the Senate will be difficult to persuade with Firemane lobbyists whispering in their ears. They've already convinced many in the Core that you're radical terrorists. It's why I came in the first place."

It was a political and logistical nightmare. Firemane had wealth, influence, and connections spanning the galaxy. What did these rebels have? Or Maeve?

Her fingers skimmed along the edge of a shelved vibro-spear. Beautiful as it was, she still didn't think it would do much good in the arms of an untrained rebel when faced against officers like the one she'd fought in the cavern, but Xalda and the quartermaster felt otherwise.

Maybe that's what they had. Hope.

Maeve turned to Xalda. "The chances are slim, but I made a promise to your general. I'll get you more sky weapons." If she had to go under the Senate's nose to do it, then so be it. What was the worst that could happen? A court martial?

This seemed to be the extent of the armory, so Maeve clasped her hands and raised a brow to Xalda. "Is there anything more you think I should know about? Respectfully, of course."

Elpsis Kerrigan​

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