Odd Woman Out

Posted on Sun Mar 31st, 2013 @ 5:46pm by Thane & Bomoor Thort & Morgo Le'Shaad & 2-1BH "Useless"
Edited on on Thu May 31st, 2018 @ 1:15am

3,354 words; about a 17 minute read

Chapter: Chapter III: Relics
Location: Medbay, Red Raptor
Timeline: Early, Day Twelve (After "Unbroken")

OLD

Bomoor paused with one large brown hand upon the door, "Yes. That is a slightly more pressing concern at the moment," his eyes showed a hint of amusement at his friend's remarks, "I am intrigued to see what information she has procured from the device. Perhaps I can apply it as you have to my training afterwards. But I would imagine that the knowledge Morgo has gleaned from the holocron is mostly that which she can use to her own ends."

He opened the door wide and allowed Thane to exit the room before him. He then added, "Indeed, knowledge is power but that power is what you make of it."

NEW

"Now, I'd make a point of treading our feet across as much of the medical bay as possible," Thane said to Bomoor as they arrived a few moments later at the door to Morgo's domain. "And be sure to touch as many things as you can, too... perhaps add a few coughs for good measure." He knew all-too-well how 'impressive' an Ithorian cough could be, and given how Morgo had already behaved to the most basic of actions like that with a human, he was sure of a grand reaction to that.

It was not truly a case of disagreeing with the precedent Morgo was trying to set. In fact, he agreed with a lot of her methods, but he could not help but want to cause some annoyance to the woman; the urge to bother her and laugh outweighed the logic she had already cited to him. Annoying someone was one of the few times he felt it worthwhile to forgo logic.

"I don't really understand what you want from this woman," Bomoor hummed, picking up on Thane's lightened mood, "You say she is invaluable and make it abundantly clear that she is an asset to the team, but then you take every opportunity to poke fun at her. I'm not sure you can have both ways."

"Of course I can," the Human retorted with a level of mirth. "I've made an art of it - watch me."

He stopped outside the door to the medical bay, "While I cannot read her through the Force, I can certainly tell that she is not a woman to be messed with, even by you."

Thane cocked his head at Bomoor, raising an eyebrow and giving a mock look of bemusement. "I somewhat feel it is you that is now overselling her. Now, stop being an old woman." He pressed his finger against the mechanism, but as the doors to the Medical Bay slid open, however, the pair of Jedi found their way blocked by none other than the Red Raptor’s 2-1BH holodroid, otherwise known as “Useless”.

“Oh.” The holodroid exclaimed softly, seemingly surprised at the sudden appearance of Bomoor and Thane.

Morgo faced the lab counter, deft fingers working. Without turning around, the woman spoke.

“Is it him, 2-1BH?”

The holodroid eyes scanned over Bomoor (mentally checking him off) before turning to scan Thane, his strange mechanical voice ringing through the air, “Brown hair, blue eyes, yes I believe it is him, my Lady.” And tilting his non-existent head quizzically, he paused thoughtfully before speaking again, “Though I have to disagree with you, my Lady. There is no such evidence in his face that suggests that he is in that emotional state you called ‘miserable looking’. And neither does he look like an ‘ass’, which I must add, is a most curious word for the gluteus maximus muscles. “Asses”, as you call them, protrude in two large—”

“Yes thank you, 2-1BH, I’m quite aware of what buttocks look like.” Morgo interrupted lightly, “Now if you please…the message.”

“Oh yes, right.” The holodroid muttered, “So you are sure it’s him, My Lady?”

“Yes.” Morgo said patiently, “I can smell the arrogance from here.” She muttered to herself before pausing to muse, “Or perhaps that’s just me I'm smelling.”

Thane raised his eyebrows and crossed his arms, a small and amused smile tugging on his lips as he listened intently.

“Right then. Well,” The holodroid began, clasping his hands as strange woman who’d taken over his medical bay had taught him, “I'm terribly sorry, but I must inform you that due to unusual circumstances, the Lady Morgo cannot see you at the moment, having developed a serious allergy to...er, moronic asses infested with far too many midi-chlorians than is sensible.”

And looking nervously at Thane, Useless reluctantly continued, “I'm afraid that if you proceed in, the Lady Morgo may have a violent allergic reaction to you, in which she may or may not find a blade in her hands and proceed to stab you in your face.” Pausing, Useless wrung his hands awkwardly as he spoke like he was prescribing a treatment, “The Lady Morgo invites you to rid yourself of these deadly allergens by sealing yourself in the airlock and ejecting yourself into space. Or perhaps finding yourself a rope and hanging yourself wherever the ship is high enough. She says it shouldn’t be too hard, given how short a man you are. Feel free, she says, to invite Sev to join you in your quest to explore the ship's rafters.”

Had Morgo been facing them, they would have seen the wicked, half smile on playing on her painted lips. As it was, all anyone could see of her was her backside, and the back of her blonde head.

"Oh, please. The worst Morgo could do in a battle is bleed all over me," Thane said, walking straight through the hologram, causing Useless to flutter momentarily at the physical disturbance of his non-form.

Now firmly in the medbay, Thane shifted himself onto one of the counters, resting both hands upon its clinical surface, and then used the Force to spin the Dromachean's chair and the woman herself, making her face him and Bomoor. "Ooh," he said, making a faked face of concern, "must be those terrible allergens of mine. Be careful: they're quite potent on the weak and vulnerable."

Morgo raised her eyebrows at Thane, unimpressed, giving him a look of pure disdain as she stood from her chair, saying nothing. Turning to look at Useless, looking like a specter lingering awkwardly in front of the doorway, Morgo spoke, her tone sharp, though it was not directed at the holodroid.

“2-1BH,” Morgo began, full of dry irritation, “Please relay to Thane that he’s talking out of his ass again, and I’m afraid I don’t speak the language of ‘ass’. All those farty sounds and drivel coming out the mouth seem so…undignified.” She finished tartly.

Useless hesitated, once again finding Morgo’s inaccurate observations of Thane (who was most definitely not emitting any noises from anywhere near his gluteal muscles that resembled any language) puzzling. Useless was not a protocol holodroid and knew little of the strange and bizarre quirks of every species, but even he understood that sometimes just obeying was the easiest option. Besides, the holodroid reasoned, the Lady Morgo was the first person to have been kind to him, refusing to use his name “Useless” on the fact that if he had knowledge, he could never be useless to her. Useless supposes that if he ever had a heart, it would have warmed.

Turning his head to Thane, Useless’ mechanical voice was clear and metallic, “The Lady Morgo has informed me that you are talking out of your ass again, and that unfortunately, she does not speak the language of ‘ass’.”

Bomoor sighed with greater magnitude than he intended, as the gust of air from his lungs sent several of Morgo's papers flying from the counter. He was certain that Thane would find it amusing, but he did not give his seemingly-immature friend a glance as he returned the papers to the desk with a short motion of his hand.

Bomoor stared at the holgraphic medical droid, "You shouldn't take much of what your new companion says literally. In fact, perhaps you should take a look at her medical credentials to see if they are still valid before you begin prescribing her treatments."

Morgo looked over at Bomoor, impressed by his underhandedness…which had been delightfully unexpected. Smirking faintly, Morgo’s eyes flickered over to the holodroid, wondering what he would say in her defense.

Eager to finally speak of something sensible, Useless piped up, “Words of certification on paper or datapad mean nothing to me, as qualifications vary from system to system. So I quizzed the Lady Morgo to ensure her knowledge and powers of application were satisfactory to run this Medical bay. And rest assured, Mr. Bomoor, that the Lady Morgo is more than qualified.”

Morgo would have smiled if it wouldn’t have ruined the air of fury she was adamant on maintaining (because she genuinely was furious with Thane for throwing her, back on Tython). Useless, as he still preferred to be called, had conveniently left out the fact that they had quizzed each other for six hours straight this morning, on every possible medical fact and methods of situational application per scenario given. And that in the end, it had been a draw between them. Perhaps it was because Useless had been embarrassed that there was still much that he had to learn. They both did.

"My, my," Thane said, looking past Useless and entirely focused on Morgo, a satisfied grin on his face. "Your wit just gets sharper with each passing comment, doesn't it? Now, before you hurt my poor tender feelings, perhaps you would care to actually divulge whatever information you've learnt about the holocron." As much as you can learn, he mentally added. At the very least, he had gotten his share of amusement from how easily she had been riled up, and hoped that fact she could only go so far with the holocron would have added to that. She was becoming quite the source of entertainment, even if he still recognised her more positive qualities (as well-hidden as they could be).

Morgo stared at Thane for a few seconds, debating whether or not to unleash another verbal volley on the man, before boring of his face and reaching out to open a drawer beneath the lab counter, taking out the octagonal Krayt holocron—peculiarly shaped for a Sith holocron.

“You want to know what I discovered? Absolutely nothing.” Morgo replied flatly, “I studied only the empirical details: the measurements of each facet, the angle of the octagonal shape, the color, and the approximate age of the holocron—1087 years, give or take a few years. Which puts the creation of the holocron around 130 or 131 ABY, during the first years of Darth Krayt’s Galactic Empire.”

Morgo held the holocron out for Thane to take, expression still a bit stiff, “Oh, and it still smells like K’Errekh.”

No matter how thoroughly she’d cleaned the artifact, repeatedly, it still smelled awful… as if the very filth of the Whiphid had soaked into the ivory, which bothered the meticulous part of Morgo. But a darker part of Morgo was glad that this was going to be in Thane’s quarters, quietly irritating him.

"Well, that's quite alright," Thane said in a sarcastic tone as he grasped the holocron. "All I can still smell is that wretch's matted fur and shit." The moment his hand touched Krayt's heirloom, the sensations that flooded through his every fibre were almost shocking, yet he managed to not make any outward signs of the sudden feeling.

Different but not unlike the sensations he got from Darth Bane's own piece, Krayt's holocron still delivered the same sense of foreboding, of power, yet it was intermingled with something more, as if the personality of the holocron was different from that of Bane's. Of course, he was fully aware of the base ideological differences from what he had already been able to discover on his own, but just as there can be different feelings of sadness, expressed through tears or rage, it was much the same for this.

However, whereas Bane's led to Thane having urges to unleash his newly-found lightning upon the world about him, this one was different, with urges akin to wanting to stamp on a thing that had plagued him for years. Turning the ivory-esque device in his hand, one of his grimaces took his face, and he pushed down the dark feelings, smothering them with his own personality and wants.

"Bomoor has very kindly decided to not inform the Jedi Council of our discovery," the former Jedi decided to inform Morgo, looking up from the holocron to her. "So we don't need to be worried about a gang of them coming on board to stamp on all of our toys, or destroying this piece of history." He then had an image in his mind. "I wonder how Sev would feel being compared to a gang of Jedi, with all of this talk of holocron-stamping?"

He had not spoken to the Mandalorian since they had come back on board, but had been carefully monitoring as best he could through the Force without tipping the bounty hunter off. Thane was still eager to learn what he could from the man, as it would be childish to ignore the clear knowledge and abilities he had, but he was not going to have that at the expense of this holocron or the other.

"Sev would probably challenge you to a duel to defend his honor, then kill you after an extended and bloody fight." Morgo pretended to consider the scenario as she crossed her arms, "I recommend bringing it up to him."

As for the fact that Bomoor had decided not to report back to the Jedi Council about the holocrons and Thane's use of them, Morgo honestly didn't know how to feel about that. She supposed that she should've been relieved by the news that Bomoor would stand by his friend, but the fact remained that Bomoor was betraying one loyalty for another. Though they both arrived side-by-side today at her doorstep— the very picture of unity—there was a distance now, a barely palpable tension between them that only the blind would miss.

How long would Bomoor continue to indulge Thane, before he reached his breaking point? Especially if (and it was probable) one day, Thane went too far? And on the flipside, how could Morgo trust Bomoor, when he was betraying something as fundamental to the Jedi as the Jedi Council itself? Morgo supposed that if applied the same logic to Thane, that actually made Thane even more untrustworthy than Bomoor. Or did that make him more trustworthy—as one with integrity to himself?

But all this mental talk of trustworthiness, integrity and honor was boring Morgo, and so she dropped her line of thought. It was so much easier to have no integrity whatsoever. Then you knew where everybody stood.

"I suppose I should thank you, Bomoor." Morgo said, inclining her head in his direction. Yet as her gray eyes raised and settled on the Ithorian, Morgo couldn't help but yearn for the secret sea vaults under the family catacombs, where the most precious Force relics and artifacts were kept hidden and protected from the Jedi, many of them of Sith origin. These holocrons would be safe there.

"I suppose you should be more thankful for a great many things, Morgo," Thane said, slightly testily, given his appreciation for her abilities and enjoyment of her sharp personality was becoming slightly worn by the tiresome grudges she seemed to have perfected having, and in a very short period of time. It was a remarkable achievement for an individual. Well, he then corrected himself, perhaps not so much for a woman.

"And you should perhaps have a bit less faith in Sev's abilities," the Caanan went on. "I would never underestimate him, but do remember it was Jedi - far more forgiving Jedi than I - that gave him his wonderful cybernetic additions. Nevertheless, it would be quite the battle."

He mused the thought in his mind for a moment. On Tython, amidst the grip of K'Errekh's Force insanity, Thane had begun to choke the Mandalorian, yet the well-trained former Jedi hunter had been able to break the attack with gadgetry of his own. As much as he hated the beacon of chaos he had become during that time, he had learnt from it, and if faced with one such as Sev (or even Sev again), he would not repeat the mistake.

Pushing those considerations to one side and not wishing to indulge any more of the conversation, he once more focused on Darth Krayt's holocron. "Would you like to be there to question the gatekeeper?" He asked both Bomoor and Morgo the question.

Clearly, Thane had meant to end that conversation about Sev and himself in battle. But Morgo had a word or two left to say about that. As she spoke, she eyed Thane intently, “I put my faith in those proven in battle, with an impressive kill count of many Jedi behind their name. Even at the small price of an eye and an arm. You have yet to prove you’ve mastered anything from your holocrons—or if perhaps, they’ve mastered you.” Morgo said, thinking of Tython, “So I’ll keep my faith where it is, if you don't mind.”

For now, was left unspoken. The last thing Thane needed to know was that Morgo was keen on following Thane’s progression with his Dark Side powers, and that while she’d (presently)place her bets on Sev in a fight, Morgo didn’t doubt that within a year or two’s time, she would be placing her credits on Thane. But he didn’t need to know that. His head was big enough as it is. There was no doubt that Sev was the veteran on board, and had much more experience in battle than Thane. But Morgo believed that Thane had the potential to surpass him—having not yet reached his physical and mental prime.

Changing her line of thought, Morgo’s eyes flitted to the holocron in Thane’s hand, “And yes, I’d be interested in observing your interaction with Krayt. Though I don’t believe I’ll be questioning him anytime soon. The Sith, old and new, have made it abundantly clear on how they feel about non-Force sensitives, and my, ah… special condition isn’t likely to endear me towards him. ” Smiling dryly, Morgo blinked, her pale eyes full of lazy amusement, “Ten credits the word ‘abomination’ creeps into his vocabulary.”

Despite himself, Thane could not help but let out a few soft chuckles at Morgo's comment, probably made funnier as a result of the truth behind the words. Sensing his friend preparing to speak next, however, he turned towards the Ithorian.

While still rather disturbed by the value placed upon Sev's Jedi kill count, Bomoor too let his gaze drift back towards the holocron, "I cannot say that Krayt will be pleased to see me but I do not think it is wise that you continue to speak to these data ghosts alone. I'm not sure what, if anything, I wish to learn from Darth Krayt, but I am willing to listen and learn. Surely he can have no quarrel with that."

"It's a rare Sith Lord, I fear," Thane responded, "that listens to such plain logic, although it seems Bane has been willing to hear a few such points, and given what little I know of One Sith mantra, Krayt... might consider such a point." Another of his half-grins, again with slight mischief, tugged at his mouth. "But then again, one can learn a lot through doing, so what the devil are we waiting for?"

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