Private You Know My Dad?

[Saya Taiyou-Fyre]

"Wow!" Saya uttered the stereotypical sound of wonder and amazement as she stepped off the Revenant Dawn, a gift from her father. She hadn't been left Akarui in years. Not since her father had left of his mysterious voyage almost eighteen years ago. She'd only been an infant then, and Akarui had been all she'd ever known. Her mother's planet was beautiful in it's own right, but it was entirely different from Karlinus. She'd never seen a city this big before! And so many different kinds of people! She'd never seen so many different species in one place before. Back on Akarui, she was considered the alien. But not here!

As Saya left the spaceport, she hummed quietly to herself, her eyes wandering this way and that as she took in all the new sights, scents, smells. The Mon Calamari in their robes, the strange sounds of Rodians conversing, the scent of food that reminded her of her father's cooking wafting out of a restaurant. And this was just a small taste of what this big wide galaxy had to offer!

Azlyn Ike

 

[Azlyn Ike]

Saya Taiyou-Fyre

The sights and sounds of the city were an important thing as she stood there.. her attention on much but mostly as she touched her sabers chain... her focus went to the one counting everything. "And this is all worrth seven hun..." He stopped and stammered a little as her eyebrow shot up and fingers drummed on the hilt of the saber. "Seven fifty." He said it and looked at her ready for an attack but she just stayed quiet holding a hand out. The credits coming to her as she leaned forward and didn't need to speak she just looked at him making a point to invade that bubble of his personal space... getting so close her pheromones were full blast in his face. He seemed far more fearful though as she motioned for him to run. "I believe you," She said it as he started to run and the sound of her sabers cross gaurd activating sounded when the door opened. "But my blade doesn't." She swun it and the smaller blade cleaved into his shoulder as it twisted and the metal offered a little resistance for a moment before she was pulling him back through the crowd to reactions from the others around.

 

[Saya Taiyou-Fyre]

The world suddenly erupted into screams and rushing bodies, people pushing past each other, jostling and threatening to trample others in the mad dash to get away from whatever danger threatened them. "H-hey!" Saya shouted as a Rodian pushed past her, nearly knocking her to the ground. What was going on? Was the city under attack? A criminal? Maybe a terrorist? What was happening!? "E-everyone! Please, try and stay calm!" Of course, no one listened. What even was it that they were all running from? Saya didn't know, but the sensation of panic encroached upon her, the infectious heart beats of countless others sending her own blood pressure through the roof.

She wanted to run too.

She'd never been in the thick of anything before. Not like her mother. Not like her father, who'd always been careful to keep the young girl away from danger. Not like her older siblings, the ace pilot, or the saber-wielding prodigy. Her feet urged her to turn away and join the others in running away from the unseen danger. To get to whatever safety she could. Maybe back to Revenant, she could get back aboard, raise the boarding ramp and-

No. She couldn't do that. No one else in her family would. They would've all run towards the danger. Kept the peace. Or at least brought down whoever disrupted it.

Saya stopped in her tracks. She hadn't even realized she started running away. A part of her filled with shame at her cowardice, but she battled down the feeling, turned and started to push through the crowd back towards the chaos' epicenter.

The Zeltron drew her blaster as she finally broke through the crowd, her eyes settling upon a pale-skinned woman holding a chain connected to a saber. A saber with a red blade. "L-let him go!" the girl shouted as she leveled her blaster at the woman. Her hands were trembling. She couldn't aim right. Forgoing the saber on her belt, she grasped her blaster with both hands in an attempt to steady her hands. "Let him go and no one else needs to get hurt!" That was something her dad would say in a time like this, right?

 

[Azlyn Ike]

Saya Taiyou-Fyre

The sounds were around her but she largely ignored them never taking her eyes off of the one she was holding as the blade rested under his chin. Azlyn stopped only when someone was speaking to her with a trembling blaster. Eyes flicking up to look at her as she kept the blade in place and stood behind the man. "Interesting you aren't running. Brave of you or dumb... lets find out." She said it and moved quickly as the blade slid through the man and she remained there. Holding the saber in her hand but deactivating the crossguard so she was just holding it there to watch Saya. "If I step here." She stepped one way holding the saber in a way that she would be able to deflect a blaster bolt back. "Do you follow suit and move with me... or do you stand your ground?" Her grin was on her face wide and much more malicious. The girl seemed for a moment familiar... like she had seen her before and felt her with the force or empathy but the albino zeltron. "Do you have a name child or should I just call you random hero number ten?"

 

[Saya Taiyou-Fyre]

Saya flinched as the searing blade cut through the man effortlessly, closing her eyes and recoiling from the sound of the body crumpling to the ground. She risked a glance, opening her eye just enough to look at the corpse on the ground, before her eyes flicked to the woman holding the saber. "Y-you...you killed him..." the girl said quietly in shock. She'd never seen someone die before. Not like this. Not murdered.

"You killed him!" she shouted again, taking a step forward, jabbing her blaster at the Dark Sider as she took a step forward, a sudden look of determination in her eyes. Her hands trembled still, her knees felt weak, like they might collapse at any second. But for some reason, Saya couldn't bring herself to run.

Was this the kind of thing her family saw on a daily basis? People killed in front of their eyes? Ships blown out of the sky? This was just one man, and Saya felt the need to vomit, the only thing stopping her from doing so being sheer willpower and purposefully not focusing on the crumpled corpse. How did they do it?

"P-put that saber down and come with me," Saya stuttered, trying to sound more confident than she felt. "I-I'm handing you over to the authorities."

 

[Azlyn Ike]

Saya Taiyou-Fyre

Her body didn't flinch when the girl was coming close to her with the blaster... determination showing as Azlyn looked at her and then the saber. "But if I put the saber down child someone might pick it up... do you want them to get hurt?" She said it looking at her but smiled staying there while she let her get in close but waited a moment. "You look familiar girl... have I threatened you before... or maybe I was paid to take out someone... a mother perhaps... or a father?"

She looked at her though for a reaction but stayed there as the saber slid from her hand and went to the ground. "Careful now that tremor... that little feeling you are getting in your hand.. the cramp. It is from lack of practice holding your blaster with a full arm extension." She said it looking at her. "And that small feeling in your knees that makes them want to quiver... it is your body fighting your survival instincts.. fight or flight. Given your age... I would recommend flight."

The grin though stayed on her face when she moved just a moment forward so she was pressed against the blaster practically and almost within grabbing range. "I am sure you think you are being brave child.. maybe you will even manage to hurt me but not before my saber slices your legs off." Her foot kicked the saber back between the girls feet and watched as she focused on it and the cord to her belt. WOrking on the nervous energy and misdirection so it wasn't seen before she prepared to activate and try pulling it between her legs with the crossguards.

She could see it in her head playing out if the girl proved unreasonable.

 

[Saya Taiyou-Fyre]

Saya frowned as the other Zeltron spoke to her, making some teasing playful comment about how someone might pick up her saber if she put it down, how they might get hurt. "S-shut up!" she commanded, not deterred in the slightest by the woman's patronizing. Saya wasn't about to let the woman play with her mind, no matter how terrified she felt at the moment.

"My name is Saya Taiyou-Fyre, daughter of Kimiko Taiyou, the Empress of Akarui and Dax Fyre, the Demon-King of Won Shasot," she informed the pale woman proudly, for a moment any sense of fear disappearing from her being, as if the mention of her family gave her strength. No one else would be scared right now. Not her parents, not Tsubasa or Oji or Ojo. They'd all be standing tall right now if they were in her shoes. She couldn't let them down.

"I won't run," she swore as the Zeltron stepped forward. The younger girl held her ground, even though she knew everything that the Dark Sider was saying was true. It only showed to be false bravado though. As soon as her opponent dropped her saber and kicked it towards Saya, the girl flinched, the blaster in her hand suddenly going off and kicking back. The blaster lanced the short distance towards the Zeltron, not to her chest where Saya had been aiming, but towards her shoulder, as Saya stumbled backwards, almost stepping on to the saber and slipping.

There was only one word that ran through her head as this all played out in slow motion for her. A ward she'd heard her father use many a time.

'Feth.'

Azlyn Ike

 

[Azlyn Ike]

Saya Taiyou-Fyre

Two things happened... one she said a name and the next she was tripping and firing... the shot was easy... she had been expecting a nerrvous shot and her shoulder was easy to dodge with as she ducked down and rolled wit the movement. To avoid the shot as the force coursed throughout her body... herr heart pumping the blood through her body and it pounded in her ears. She looked at the girl stumbling in slow motion as perception slowed everything down... her hand reaching out and pulling the saber to her quickly as it activated with a snap-hiss of dark red light across her skin. Eyes taking on a golden iris tinge before she spoke holding the blade. "Dax Fyre...." She said the name and it rolled in her mouth as she looked at the girl. "Little Saya, you've grown up."

 

[Saya Taiyou-Fyre]

The sound of Saya grunting as her butt struck the ground was drowned out entirely by the roar of a saber as it ignited, a red hue of light cast along the ground in front of her.

Realizing she'd dropped her blaster the girl quickly looked around herself and quickly scrambled for the weapon, shooting to her feet, and pointing the barrel at the Zeltron again, her chest heaving with panic as she felt the other woman's eyes on her.

"Do I...know you?" Saya asked, hearing the strange way that the Dark Sider addressed her. Saya didn't recognize the woman. She most certainly have remembered someone as stark and monochrome as her. And that peculiar saber of hers. She definitely would've remembered that. Although something about it did seem familiar about it. As if she'd heard stories about it before from someone. "Do you know my dad?" she asked, distant memories of sitting in his study, playing with some object he definitely shouldn't have let her touch as he regaled her with embellished stories. Did he know her?

 

[Azlyn Ike]

Saya Taiyou-Fyre

She looked at the girl holding the blaster and her hands went behind her back with the saber... deactivating it as she preened forward keeping her feet planted but stretching herself to move and look towards Saya. "Yes." She didn't say to which but she held a smile on her face. "Oh it is you my sweet Saya... all grown up and saving people. If I had known when your parents offered to sell you to me to spare their lives... I might have not given you to Dax. I am certain I could have raised a child... might not have been good at it but you would have seen thousands of exotic locations.. met interesting people and I could have shown you the different ways to stab them to death."

 

[Saya Taiyou-Fyre]

Saya's blaster dropped just an inch as the woman spoke, confirming the girl's suspicions. She did know her dad. Not only that, this was the woman her father had said had given her away to him. Her eyes drifted away as her mind reeled, trying to recall whatever little bits of information she could that her father told her when it came to this woman. He'd always been vague about the subject. Just that a Dark Sider from his past, a pale Zeltron with a sickle shaped saber had given her away to him after taking her from her real parents. He'd never really said much more about it, and Saya had never bothered to ask. Why would she? She was glad to have Dax and Kimiko as her parents, and all her siblings.

But there was no doubt that a part of Saya had carried that same wanderlust that nearly everyone in her family had. Her father, her sister. She'd gotten to see so much, but only through the viewports of a ship. It had been rare for her to set foot on solid ground until Akarui had been retaken. There'd been so much that she missed out on...

"...met interesting people and I could have shown you the different ways to stab them to death."

Saya's eyes snapped into focus, and her blaster levelled itself again as the words pierced her ears. No matter who had raised her, she'd never want that. Even though her own parents' pasts had been stained red with blood and betrayal, they at least had felt the guilt of it all, felt it weighing down upon their shoulders. And never would they ask Saya or Tsubasa or Oji or Ojo to so casually take a life like this Dark Sider. "No, I'd never want that. No matter how many different places you could have shown me, I'd never hurt someone else like that."

Reaching behind her back, Saya pulled out a pair of stun cuffs and tossed them onto the ground at the Zeltron's feet. "Please, put those on, the authorities are on their way already." Obviously, that last part was a bluff...but...she could always call them after the fact, right?

Azlyn Ike

 

[Azlyn Ike]

Saya Taiyou-Fyre

She looked at the cuffs on the ground and the quick change of reaction from the girl as her grin remained. "Oh my you really are like your dad... the stories I could tell you about the times he cuffed me." She said it and picked them up as she had the saber secured on her hip with the cuffs spinning on a finger. "Are you sure you don't want to talk.. I could tell you all about the people who gave you to me?" She said it more like a taunt.. in truth the people had been welchers. They hired her to kill someone for a petty reason and afterwards were going to just not pay her which was why they had to lose a few limbs.. she had a reputation after all but they had so casually offered her instead to survive... even she wouldn't do something like that. She was thinking about it for a second... a heartbeat while securing the cuffs in front of herself while she showed that they were secured and looked at Saya as she lept tucking in her legs and hopping over the center of it. Partially to show she could change the position at anytime and cuffs behind the back were always the way to do it right? "Like this?" THe smile remained... he fingers tapping together as she scratched under one of her nails but walked around a little. THe blaster close. "If you want though my dear... when you point it aim for the heart... most species don't have as much protection there and if you miss you might break a rib which will pierce organs... So you can ensure they bleed out."

 

[Atin Tracinya]

I was never here

 

[Saya Taiyou-Fyre]

"Oh my you really are like your dad... the stories I could tell you about the times he cuffed me."
Saya made a disgusted face at the comment. "Ew, gross!" she complained as the barrel of her blaster dropping just a fraction of an inch. "I don't need to think about my dad and- wait..." her brows furrowed as the implications of the sentence fully sank in. "No, no, he'd never- not with someone like you!" the barrel rose again, her finger just a little firmer on the trigger.

"We've got nothing to talk about," Saya seethed, watching as the dark sider put the cuffs on. "Do you really think I'd believe a word out of the mouth of someone like you?" Her parents. Her real parents. The opportunity to learn just a little about them, it sat at the surface of Saya's mind no matter how hard she pretended to ignore it, sweep it aside. But the Zeltron was lying, she had to be.

In swift motion the Zeltron leapt over the shackles of the cuffs and put them behind her. Saya legitimately wasn't sure if she should be impressed or annoyed. Step by step, the dark sider got closer. Saya backed away, but took the woman's advice, adjusting ehr aim towards her heart. "How do you know my dad anyways?" she asked, more and more questions burning in her mind.

Azlyn Ike

 

[Azlyn Ike]

Saya Taiyou-Fyre

She looked at her and feigned hurt. She could feel it there but spoke. "If your dad told you about me, he would have told you that I don't lie... at least not about the important things.... and we were but then he found his one and only. It is fine the chance of us lasting was... very low and not just because some people perish trying to keep up with zeltrons." She said it but she was looking at her more. "Come on, lets go and have a bite. I'll tell you all about it." SHe said it and turned around offering her hand to guide her. "Safety first and look both ways when crossing the street." She said it and was going while she found a place to sit. "Hmmm now it was sometime ago before you were born. I was on a planet just exploring and he was stalking me thinking I was hunting him. Looking for some Ferus of whatever."

She shrugged looking at her for a moment. "ANd from there is was a whirlwind of murder, destruction, chaos... and lots of cheek clapping... like stamina for days you would not believe. He used to do this thing where he could hold me with one arm upside down and.... oh zero g, you have not experienced anything until...." She trailed off as she remembered how the girl had seemed to react before. "Anyways we were like that for a time.. he might not fully of approved of the whole killing for hire thing but he didn't entirely stop me and he could have... like he knew the rules and the safeword but he could have stopped me if he didn't want me out there killing people.... and while we were never official so when he met your mother... at least I am guessing the woman in the bed when I commed him is your mother."

She said it and motioned. "That was when I introduced him to you and told him what had happened. Your parents... your real parents were a lot of things but sweetie this is what I do. I kill people violently and rarely with mercy. I get paid for it and I did set some aside for you... your dad should have told you about that. It has been ten percent of my jobs for the years since you were little. Enough to become your own woman in the galaxy.. or hang out with me. I could buy you a puppy."

 

[Saya Taiyou-Fyre]

"He never mentioned you," Saya said. Dax told stories, like everyone in the Outback did. Their way of keeping history, passing time. But there were always parts he never said, things he omitted, people whose names he'd never mentioned. She could never tell if he'd meant to keep certain things secret, was too ashamed of others, or if he simply forgot, or thought the details were unimportant. And still, people trusted him. As a leader, a teacher, a friend. A father. Saya was willing to bet the only person who'd really known him was Kimiko. But she was gone now, and almost certainly Dax had kept things secret from her too.

The zeltron was a little like him in that way, Saya began to realize, as she turned away and began to walk, gesturing for Saya to follow. She too kept her secrets, played things close to the vest, only giving away as much as she wanted and was useful. She just didn't have that easy smile of Dax's. Saya, for the first time since her mother's death, felt uncertain. But her feet followed the zeltron anyways.

"Ugh, please skip all the details about the...'cheek clapping...'" Saya pleaded. Her father may have kept his young form, but her cheeks flushed dark all the same, the very idea deeply embarrassing.

There was a pause after the dark sider had mentioned putting money aside for her. Again, Saya felt uneasy. "I...thank you..." she said, quietly. "But, I don't need it...I've got a whole planet now, didn't you know?" Why was she telling her any of this? "Dad, he conquered a whole planet."

Azlyn Ike

 

[Azlyn Ike]

Saya Taiyou-Fyre

She looked at her while sitting there. "A shame... well he must have said something based on how you reacted and you are not overtly questioning who I am... you do know I was the one who gave you to him at least. So at least I merit as thought." She gave a woe is me look but was grinning ear to ear over it... prepared for any number of things that they would be able to do. "And I don't need it either so do with it what you will. Maybe invest in your fathers planet... it is his and that doesn't mean that it is yours my dear." She offered a smile to that though and was prepared for anything. "But come... I have done all the talking. You must have something you want to ask... maybe the big question? Maybe why I killed people here?"

 

[Saya Taiyou-Fyre]

"He told me..." Saya stammered, trying to decide how much was actually safe to tell the dark sider about her father. Maybe she held a grudge? But, she'd already revealed he held a world now, and her being his own daughter, the pale zeltron had more than enough to make her father suffer. She didn't seem interested in doing so, despite the opportunity being in front of her atop a silver platter. "He mentioned a Sith had given me to him. That she-you-tried to trick him into believing that I was his and your child." It had almost sounded like a juvenile attempt to lock her father down, but looking at the Sith now, and the way she spoke to him, it seemed more like she'd just thought it all a funny joke. That Saya's life, and her birthparents' lives were just jokes. It should have made Saya bristle with emotion, but she fought back the urges. There was so much she could learn, best not to spoil the opportunity.

Saya didn't argue with the zeltron about who the planet belonged to. She understood the planet was her father's in the most literal sense. But he'd always told her it would be hers one day, either when he gave it to her, or he passed, as unlikely as it seemed. Saya didn't want that kind of responsibility though, didn't know how to manage it.

"That's a good place to start," Saya said at the mention of big questions. She followed the zeltron, unsure of what else to do at this point. "Why? I mean what did any of those people do to you to deserve that? I-I just don't understand."

Azlyn Ike

 

[Azlyn Ike]

Saya Taiyou-Fyre

"Trick... have a good time.... its the same thing really." She said it but looked at the girl who had moved over. She looked at her and offered a wider grin for it all. "Do to me?" She smiled. "Nothing." Her attention went a little back and over to look in the street as she slid the chair back and propped her feet up. "It isn't always about what is done to me... though we was cheating me greatly. See I was hired by a rival merchant who wanted to eliminate the competition. Right or wrong, good or bad the payment worked out. So I did it cause someone was going to and someone else might not be as.... clean about it." She offered a shrug though looking at her. "Maybe, he was a bad man who did horrible things, maybe he was a saint who upset a rival... or maybe none of those things. I know he was only going to offer me seven fifty for the pearls I showed him. he was going to try and cheat me and resell them at market value so I wouldn't worry to much about him."

 

[Saya Taiyou-Fyre]

Were it so easy, as if tricks and fun were always one and the same. Saya knew better. The zeltron didn't seem to care one way or another. As long as she had her fun. It made Saya wonder if she was just stringing her along too, for her own amusement. Everything she'd said so far was true though. Or rather, it lined up with everything Saya knew already. Which was painfully little, but dad always said coincidences become patterns.

"So, it was for money?" Saya finally said, still trying to understand what had seemed like nothing more than cold blooded murder to her. She could understand killing for hire. Disagreed with it, despised it almost, but she understood. Her father, her uncle, they'd both done their time as bounty hunters and mercenaries. "You're not worried about doing it so publicly?" Saya asked. "This is your job?" What kind of job was the question though. Saya doubted it was something above board, but she still wanted to give her the benefit of the doubt. Some reason to believe everything she said.

Azlyn Ike