Amor fati

Posted on Sat Apr 14th, 2018 @ 7:47pm by Bomoor Thort & Thane & Amare & G2-O7

2,484 words; about a 12 minute read

Chapter: Chapter V: Unbound
Location: Red Raptor, Nar Shaddaa
Timeline: After "Nova Discipulus"
Tags: Coda, Thane, Bomoor, G2-O7, Rec Room, Engine Room

OLD

Coda's enthusiastic nods and bright smile couldn't have been more cheerful, but the mention of that big word, "precognition", made her headache worse; she had no idea what it meant, but was too starved and achy to ask just yet.

The idea of leaving Nar Shaddaa was the best thing she heard all night. All the fighting and running and hiding...she made it. It was beyond belief, but there was finally some hope for her to someday rescue her brother. And now she had two incredible allies, and the strange power of the Force behind them. She naively thought the worst was behind her.

She had no idea just how wrong she truly was.

NEW

Thane regarded their newly acquired orphan with a sceptical but interested gaze from his and Bomoor's position in the aft engine room. With the hatches of the Red Raptor open, they had a sidelong view of Zaracoda Wolph sat at the central table within the rec room, nibbling away at some of the foodstuffs they had recently acquired on Nar Shaddaa.

Although the ship was not in flight, the various machines and devices that rested within the engine rooms and kept the ageing vessel in a workable condition were making enough background noises to suitably mask any conversation between the two former Jedi, even though they made no true effort to disguise their inevitable discussion about the Nautolan's future from her.

His back against the wall and one boot propped up against it to also support him, Thane crossed his arms as he turned his gaze back to his friend, whose dark eyes shifted to meet his.

"She is a much tidier eater than the last one," he opined with a hint of ironic mirth, although he did not yet smile, "even if young and aquatic still."

The Ithorian sighed and rubbed his hump, recalling their recent Aquar-Firrerion companion and her obsession with all that was edible, "The parallel is hard to ignore," his voice echoed among the hum of the standby engine, with a note of concern, "But Coda is most certainly a more-grounded individual. That much is clear. She has yet to see enough of the galaxy to draw her towards any particular ideals, aside from escaping this place. Did she mention what she intends to do after leaving Nar Shaddaa?"

"She did," Thane answered with a slight nod. He thought on the golden crystal the Nautolan kept in her possession, apparently with her since the day she was orphaned, which, given her indentured history, was no mean feat. The Force, quite obviously, ran strongly through her being and her actions. "Her parents are dead, and she believes her brother alive out there somewhere, but she is unsure where." He raised his right hand as he spoke, before resting it back on his arm again, still crossed. "She does not know where to go, or where she fits. Normally, I would not consider that to be our problem, but there is obviously much more to this than that."

He glanced once again towards where Coda was sat eating, letting the Force spread carefully out from him and towards her, touching upon her presence. As before, she had withdrawn within herself, but that spark of fury remained, burning like the first embers of a flame deep within, waiting for the kindling that would unleash its full fury. As he had been with Bería at the start, he was curious and drawn to that unique, raw power, enthusiastic to see what it could grow to be.

But also because of Bería he was wary, although Coda's power was entirely different, more rooted in the self than the selfless. Not for the first time, Thane thought back to the recent utterances of Darth Bane's holocron and the legacy he was embracing - a legacy that could not be his alone.

"As I mentioned before, she and I spoke of the Force, and of how she has brushed against it innumerable times, not always to her knowledge," Thane carried on. "She has said she wants to learn its ways."

"A respectable drive to seek reunion with one's kin," Bomoor spoke, aware of how Thane himself had suffered the loss of his brother at a young age, "Even if fruitless, it will give her some focus. Some... reason for honing her power."

The former Jedi thought on the words of Darth Krayt's gatekeeper and how he felt power should not be sought for the sake of power alone, "Bería sought power too," he spoke as his train of thought continued, "But she was always elusive about her trials on Velusia and what she intended to do once she became stronger. If we help Coda, we should not simply offer her instruction on the Force; we should guide her in everything she does. No half measures."

Thane nodded slowly. "You are quite right, old friend. There is much of the galaxy she has not seen, nor understands. She has survived well under the conditions imposed upon her and clearly has the knack and drive for survival. If she has such talent and a willingness to learn," he went on, inwardly thinking unlike Berry, "then it is of course our duty to introduce her to... to all facets of this life."

As the pair reached an agreement, the secondary door to the engine room slid open with a faint hiss. In pottered the globe-like droid, G2-O7, who obviously had some routine maintenance to do in this room. The droid paused, noting that the room's lights were on and two of the crew members were present in the room. If the droid felt any synthetic emotion at their presence, it was quickly pushed aside as the droid moved over to the access point for the engine turbine towards the back of the room, which was partially obscured by Bomoor's large form, causing the robotic being to stop.

Realising that he was blocking the panel, the Ithorian moved over and leaned beside Thane on the wall, watching as the astromech slightly arced its two legs to better propel itself forwards. However, now that Bomoor had moved, G2 could now see through the open doorway and it rolled its core dome around to fix its lens upon Coda.

"Bweepap?" G2 chimed, something in the tone indicating a question.

Thane merely offered a brief glower to the machine, whilst Bomoor followed the droid's gaze towards the eating nautolan, "That is a Coda," the Ithorian presumed to answer the question, "It is a rare Force-sensitive specimen from Nar Shaddaa. Thane found one and we are keeping it."

G2 did not look back at the Ithorian who answered his question, but instead rotated the rest of its body around and set off into the recreation room, internally logging the task of engine calibration check for later.

---

Between the sweet n' salty flatbread, chunks of the strange fruit-like thing called "lamta" according to the package, and little bite-sized vanilla cookies shaped like the classic old R-series droids, Coda found herself barely holding back a belch as a curious little astromech droid rolled up to meet her.

"Hello there," she warmly greeted G2 after swallowing to make sure her mouth was clear of food. On dry land or underwater, table manners always mattered to the Wolph family. "Oh, look at you. You're so adorable!"

G2 bleeped its binary output as accepting of her compliment. It gave its name and modestly denied its status as adorable.

"Well, you are. I'm surprised I didn't bump into you before when I snuck onboard," Coda remarked. "I bet you're a sneaky one too, aren't you, G2? I'm Zaracoda, by the way, but everyone calls me Coda."

G2 warbled recognition of the word and bleep-blooped a query of its meaning as a name to her.

"Yes, I've been told it's the same word for the end of a string of machine code or music," she replied. "It's just coincidence. Translation from Nautolan to Basic can sometimes lead to funny names like 'Kitty' or 'Rasta' or 'Fistolo'. I guess I kinda lucked out there, huh?"

G2 made low blooping sounds that Coda figured was G2's way of saying it had no real idea how to answer her, or was just annoyed with her girly rambling.

"That's okay. It's not really that interesting. Say, what do you suppose those two were talking about in the engine room?"

The droid began to bleep part of an answer as the two former Jedi exited the engine room to join them. Bomoor came over and placed a karge hand atop G2's chassis, "I see you have met our little astromech droid. A very handy little bot, this one, but rather protective over the ship so watch out."

Those last bits of binary didn't escape Coda's notice. She narrowed her deep black eyes at Bomoor. "What was that about...'keeping' me?" It sounded ominous, and made that old perpetual slave's fear start creeping back through her nerves.

"Ah, well perhaps not 'keep you', " Bomoor replied, rather frustrated that his remarks to the droid had been taken literally, as both he and Thane stepped into the rec room. "But we have agreed that we are willing to help you further. If you wish, as well as helping you get away we will offer you some training in the Force and help you in your efforts to find some trace of your brother, whom Thane tells me is missing."

Hearing about finding her brother, Capo, calmed her down a bit. She knew she couldn't go looking for him right away, even if she had all the info on his location, which she didn't. Wherever he was, there was the possibility that Capo was being held by some very dangerous people. After doing battle with those mercenaries earlier, she came to the hard realization that some training was going to be necessary in case her future rescue mission was going to turn violent.

Accept their offer, kiddo. I brought you here for a reason. You'll thank me later.

"Yes, I would like that very much," she said while feeling a warm chemical tug somewhere in her head. Like before, she didn't exactly hear the words so much as feel them. She spoke her words of acceptance to Bomoor but it didn't exactly feel like she entirely wanted to say them.

You are a good slave. They are your masters now. Offer to help them. Earn their trust.

"In return, I want to help you both around here," Coda offered following the strange, yet oddly welcome push of her instincts on her thoughts. "This place could use some cleaning, and the front door lock could use better protection against slicing. I broke in with a civilian computer using open source decryption tools. I know some good tricks to harden it. And when's the last time you had a real cooked meal? Don't tell me you always eat from hand to mouth."

G2bweeped a few times, apparently remarking on the unsatisfactory diets of the organic life aboard, as well as the state of the technical specifications of the Raptor. Thane pretended to not understand the unit as he stepped around it to better address Coda, making a mental note to wipe its memory again before it became too enamoured with the ship's new arrival.

"Those are welcome gestures, Zaracoda," he said, not unkindly as he now addressed her by her full name, having heard her utter it to the droid. "Whilst Bomoor and I have been known to bastardise some machines out curiosity or when need absolutely arises, we're not particularly technically-minded." He gestured to G2. "Hence the spinning ball. Any efforts aboard ship to make things safer would certainly be good, and you'll have the money you need to see it done."

Since the tragedies of Jericho and his more formalised dedication unto Bane's philosophies, Thane had wasted little time in fully accessing the small fortune that had been set aside and accruing in value since his prepubescent enrolment into the Reborn Jedi Order. It was a natural progression, the holocron's gatekeeper had advised, to embrace such opportunities to see his ends become a reality. Extra security on the Raptor, he considered, was certainly that. As was providing the near-penniless orphan with her own added security.

"Your training, however," he continued, "will not be easy, nor should it be. Whilst we can discuss the semantics later, if you are to indulge us and yourself in taking this path, there can be few concessions. It is a way of life that will be hard, where you will be dragged forward from the mundane into the arcane at a rate you have not experienced, and certainly not indulged by the Jedi. But I assure you, if you devote yourself to this way, you will have a freedom and power unreachable to the masses of this grim galaxy." He produced her two blasters from the back of his belt and offered them to her. "You could be who you want to be." And, as a test of her Forceful cognitive talents, silently added, And make things the way you want them to be.

Unlike the other presence that haunted her, Thane's psychic conveyance was heard quite clearly in Coda's head. It wasn't a subtle nudge of her instincts and feelings, but rather a firm spoken promise. A man's word and his honour bound to it. It startled her, but did not frighten her.

She accepted the blasters from Thane and spotted the etched names in fine Basic print on them she hadn't really noticed before: Retaliator for the one with the rose-hued custom grip, and Widowmaker for the one with the lighter grip with a chrome green tint to the metal of the gun itself. She set them down on the table and wondered if this was a sign. Two blasters, two knights of the Force. There was a running theme of twos unfolding before her. She imagined if perhaps Bomoor was the "retaliator", and Thane was the "widowmaker". Or perhaps it didn't matter either way. Who knows? her father once told her playfully. Who 'nose'? She missed the way he gently tapped her nose when he said that.

Shaking her mind from the past, she slowly stood up and took a measured step back from the table knowing there was only one proper response to accept this eldritch new life from which there was no turning back.

"I am ready, masters," she said obediently bowing low to them. She finally had real purpose to strive and fight for. Nothing before ever felt so clear and so welcome as this: to be apprentice learning the ways of the Force.

 

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