Queshtionable Intent

Posted on Thu Jun 25th, 2020 @ 11:54pm by Kalen "Rex" Vickers & Thane & Bomoor Thort & Amare & Mentis

3,280 words; about a 16 minute read

Chapter: Chapter VI: The Last Bastion
Location: Quesh
Timeline: Start of Week Five, After "Carnival of Rust"

OLD

With a brief glance at the environmental controls, eliciting a brief look of displeasure, Bomoor turned back to the Nautolan, "I hope we will find the Capo you remember, but do bear in mind how much you yourself have changed since you last stood before him as Coda. We are not static in this life, particularly when we endure hardships as Capo surely has. None of us will have any idea of his character so we will trust you to know if something is amiss."

With that, Bomoor brought his wide hands down upon his thighs with a slap that broke the tone of his previous words, "Well then," he forced a cheerful note into his tone, "Let's say that concludes the dreary Thane and Bomoor warnings portion of the expedition and prepare ourselves for setting foot on this toxic orb..."

NEW

As the occupants of the visiting vermillion, gold, and chrome-plated starship of unusual configuration began to disembark onto the hazy industrial wasteland that was Quesh, a blast door about thrice the width and twice the height of a military armored personnel speeder began to slide open with a heavy, grinding whine from old worn down metal. The asymmetric polygonal split of the door steadily parted ways to reveal three individuals, two dressed in bright orange hazmat suits, their faces - save for their eyes- almost entirely obscured by black biofilter masks with blaster carbines in their hands, and their leader standing at the center who was not entirely organic.

Amare softly gasped a breath from within her rebreather mask as the pirate leader came into view. She could not make out his face for it was hidden under a matte white life-support mask with reflective black lenses, though she saw the telltale green head tendrils peeking out that indicated it was indeed her adopted brother, Capalfin Wolph. She could feel the unmistakable familiarity of his presence, but she was aghast to see the condition of his legs. They were both cybernetic of differing lengths; one was almost up to his right thigh, the other just below the left knee. She had known he had the prosthetic legs after a terrible accident at the trade school Capo had attended a few years before fate had torn the Wolph family asunder, but back then they were masked with synthetic flesh; now they were fully exposed, and modified with carbon fibre armor plating and enhanced military-grade servos and hydraulic actuators. Only Capo's natural flesh was covered with a pair of black shorts. As to his body, his torso was encapsulated under a black and navy blue padded cuirass under a long and partially shredded long white coat with gray piping along the edge. He wore a sunset yellow scarf around his green neck, black fingerless gloves, and a brown leather belt at his waist with a scoped blaster pistol slung at his side and two visible thermal detonators magnetically mounted on the belt itself.

The three pirates marched forward and calmly stopped about halfway between the building behind them and the ship in front of them. At least half a dozen more heavily armed men in hazmat suits took positions at the blast door, weapons at the ready, prepared to lay down covering fire in case the off-worlders attempted something violently devious.

Amare hastily strode forward ahead of the group, almost falling into a sprint. "Capo?!" she excitedly called out to him but stopped about halfway to her brother as his guards pointed their carbines at her.

Capo held up a hand to silently motion them to lower their weapons. "Stars...it's hard to believe that it's you, Zara," Capo said shaking his head with his voice modulated through his mask, the tone a bit deeper and more gruff than she remembered, but still as youthful as ever. "To see you here of all places, so many years later. How did you find me?"

"That isn't as important as seeing you here, alive, and that you're safe!" Amare replied with tears forming in her eyes. She wanted to throw herself into Capo's arms, but she didn't want to humiliate him in front of what were clearly his men under his command. It was astonishing to see him in a leadership position in charge of brigands as he had been the more introverted and analytical type in his younger years. She wondered how he came to leading a group of wanted criminals, and if he himself was a fugitive from the law. If that were the case, then it would undoubtedly sour their reunion and make things complicated for them both.

"I see you lead a band of your own," Capo noted, nodding towards the approaching Red Raptor crew. "No strangers to the gun, I see. Who are they?"

Amare was about to introduce her companions, but they were more than capable of speaking for themselves.

Thane and Bomoor took firm positions on either side of their own Nautolan companion, with the rest of the crew stopping slightly further behind and all wearing their own protective face apparatus, suited to their species. Through the coverings, it was hard to see the two former Jedi's expressions but they were clearly attempting to absorb as much as they could about Capo and his own party.

"We're just freelance merchants and cargo-haulers," Bomoor's usually practiced Basic was distorted by the rebreather so that it sounded much like the vocalising devices many of his species relied upon, "We get used to carrying weapons in this line of work, so don't take it personally."

He gestured to Amare, assuming more explanation would be required, "We met your kin on Nar Shaddaa and she's been working with us ever since. We all keep each other safe aboard the Crimson Craw."

He used one of the various cover names they had previously agreed upon for the Raptor. This name was still used on the ship's transponder codes, although the registration number had been changed several times since they had first begun using the name Crimson Craw.

"She is a fast learner," Thane observed, his precise Coruscanti accent made tinny by his rebreather, the tone made both sharper and more menacing by the reverberations of the device. "And versatile. I have been amazed by the feats she has performed in the time she has run with us, and by the various roles she can so readily perform." The Human's tone was not pleasant, as Thane appeared to making far less effort than Bomoor to conceal his character or identity, and he now gestured to Capo and his fellows. "A familial trait, perhaps."

Amare's sense of pride inflated a bit upon hearing Thane's praise, but it would be short-lived.

"Hmph, the only 'feats' I recall her performing was getting herself and others into trouble," Capo said derisively with the gaze of his biomask fixed squarely on his embarrassed and glaring sister. Though years in slavery had changed Capo's accent from its old Anselmi tropical inflections to something more common and flat like a street-level Corellian, his talent at putting Amare down and dissecting her self-esteem with ease at every opportunity was proof that he was indeed Capalfin Wolph in the flesh. "I do grant that she's very resourceful, passable with numbers, and undeservedly lucky. In any case, you're all here now talking to a man who's assuming a dead pirate's identity; but for good reason. Let's retreat from this toxic soup and talk business; we're actually in need of cargo haulers, you see. We only have one ship, and the former owner committed most of the interior for combat systems and left little room for cargo."

Capo turned and signaled the others to stand down just as Amare stepped closer to him.

"Capo, we need to talk," Amare insisted quietly.

"Zara..." her brother said with a heavy exhale, "...you ain't kiddin'." He then added to Thane and Bomoor as he invited gestured their group to follow. "My sister likely has a lot on her mind. Perhaps a few things she should apologise for..." He let that hang for a few seconds, his tone accusing, and it had the desired affect as Amare turned from his gaze in shame. "Please come inside and wait for us while she and I talk privately. I regret that we can't share much hospitality while you hang around; we have few resources to spare, you see. I'll ask my first mate, Joraan, to give you a tour of the facility in the meantime if that's acceptable by you and your mates."

"Joraan is here?!" Amare asked, surprised to hear the name of a Mon Calamari family friend who was the son of a shipbuilder long-acquainted with the Wolphs and the Corellian Engineering Corp.

Capo nodded, "Joraan is the reason we're free. He broke my collar and chains and we shot those pirate bastards to hell. Shame how many more friends were lost in the fight, but better to be dead than be trapped under heel of a scumrat's boot."

"Zaracadoa is the reason she is free," Thane inserted matter-of-factly, although he mercifully refrained from providing any further details or insight. Instead, he was casting a very assiduous gaze over his surroundings, inspecting the locale with a discerning, displeased eye, little effort being made to conceal his disdain for the place he and the others found themselves. No charm punctuated his voice.

"You don't seem all that surprised or pleased to see your adopted sister," the Sith Lord added slowly, his words clearly carefully-chosen. He ran a gloved hand over the metallic surface of a nearby piece of machinery as they walked, rubbing the ruddy rust between his finger and thumb with fleeting interest.

Not caring that his sister was walking beside him, scrutinizing his every word, Capo remarked, "Zara has a very...nurturing side to her when she isn't doing regrettable things to others. She never gives up on family. Comes from her mother, I think. Zen...no, what was her name...?"

"Zenarrah," Amare said for him, wondering where Capo was going with this as they drew close to the open blast door of the run-down industrial building.

"Hahaha, is that what she told you little 'Za'ri'?" Capo rhetorically asked with amusement, using the old nickname he made up for Zaracoda during their childhood. It was a pejorative disguised as a name which Amare despised as it was a reminder of her submissive ways and frequent habit of apologizing for all the trouble she caused the Wolphs over the years.

Capo added over his shoulder to Thane, "Say, Human, I don't know how you and your posse here feel about those Jedi freaks running around with their mystical faith and laser lances, but let me tell you, brother, they're nothing but trained killers and liars. Assassins for the Senate as a matter of fact. They even lie to their own, like Zara's mother. We scalped Captain Vorgunn when it was all said and done, but there are lots of people out there that think the Jedi deserve far worse."

"It is a wonder that such an insightful gentlemen does not find himself in the employ of a wealthy patron," Thane remarked sardonically. He had spoken at length with Amare, and certainly Bomoor, about his views on the Jedi and the feebling Republic. What Capo was saying was not outside of his views and attitudes, but the Caanan noble clearly thought little of hearing the remark from a pirate - a pirate that was belittling his apprentice.

Capo turned back to Amare with a snap of his fingers, "Hey, now I remember...Zendakra Velori. That's her real name. Father did some digging; pulled some expensive strings when he adopted you." He stopped at the doorway, and added to the Raptor crew, "Took many years to find the truth," he added, his masked face turning between the Ithorian and his Force-bonded Human brother. "Zenarrah Sozo was the name on the birth certificate, but she's of Clan Velori. Both of her parents are still alive out there, I think, living the good life on Coruscant or some other cushy Inner Rim world no doubt. Too rich to give a damn about us working folk on the homeworld. That's what too many credits does to someone in the end; they make you forget where you came from, make you think that a penthouse in a posh tower is more important than stewardship to the oceans, or honouring the spirits of the ancestors." Then to Amare, "I bet you ran into old Zen when you escaped, didn't you? Yeah, I can see the big fat 'yes' swirling in your eyes. Mmhmm. No doubt she gave you the sob story about her poor family getting slaughtered on Cularin, didn't she? Don't you feel stupid now."

Amare was left almost speechless, wondering just how much of a cruel joke Capo was playing on her (as it wouldn't have been the first time), or if he really was spilling the whole embarrassing truth as a way to mock her in front of her friends.

"It's true, she did travel with us for a short time," Amare confirmed, her eyes wandering, her mind awash in confusion from Capo's words, "but why would she lie to me about her name, or her family?"

"She's your mother, and they're your family. Why don't you ask your mother-dearest, or better yet, shoot her? Still good with a blaster, yeah? Don't answer that; I don't really care. I'm gonna let these gentlemen and their, uh, Jawa companion ease up a bit inside if you wanna pout or cry out here, or we can still talk over in my office. Your choice, Za'ri."

Amare turned to Thane, a pained frown on her face, her body subtly trembling with a cavalcade of conflicting emotions, guilt spiraling in her black eyes. She gazed at her master, as if looking for permission to go with Capo, even though she wasn't exactly seeking or needing it.

There was a golden glint flashing around the rim of Thane's eyes, a thin veneer of civility keeping hold of a simmering rage beneath. Through the Force, his desire to instruct the green-hued Nautolan on matters of decorum was quite palpable to Amare, let alone Bomoor through their esoteric bond. He placed his gloved hands on either of his apprentice's shoulders and looked directly at her, seemingly paying no mind to the others around - or perhaps to make a point before them.

"We will act as you will it," he said to her in quiet, stern voice, his pale features taut in a disdainful grimace for Capo. "Out here or in there, with me or without me, you are Amare."

The eyes of his apprentice were twin black mirrors, Quesh's vermilion atmospheric haze shaded with a sheen of gold providing the backdrop for the Canaan's stark charismatic dual images. There was no visible pupil or iris in those alien Nautolan eyes to get in the way, just a faint passing of a viscous liquid vortex "speaking" to him at a subconscious level. Encoded within the patterns were her deepest truths and darkest secrets hiding in plain sight.

For Amare, however, it was almost impossible to see herself in Thane's eyes edged in razor sharp gold halos. In spite of everything, Amare was not quite whole, still lacking in true form or absolute purpose. Though she was Sith, she wasn't completely Amare...not yet.

As she gazed up at him, Amare allowed herself a curt nod of acceptance of her master's support, grateful for his touch, and confident enough to face her brother on equal terms. Though, by all accounts, she was now every bit Capo's superior. She silently prayed inside that she wouldn't ever feel compelled to prove it to him.

Capo looked on through his mask at his sister and the pinkskin human, and his eyes followed her until she passed by his side to enter the building. He turned back to Thane and reached up to pull life support tubes from both sides of his biomask without waiting to get back inside first. He then placed both hands over the mask and pulled it off carefully with a faint depressurization sound heard as he revealed his face.

The years had not been kind as the Nautolan man's face was seen pock-marked with multiple burns all over, a horrid ugly scar on his right cheek where he had been cut with an edged weapon, the wound so deep and wide that the flesh had never fully fused and part of the inside of his mouth cavity could still be seen, even with his lips shut. Framing his face were small segmented bits of silvery magnetized metal which had held the mask in place. His left eye had some milky white colouring to it - an indication of blindness from chemical damage - whilst the other eye seemed normal for his species, but with a dark muddy brown colour.

"I see you are kind to her," Capo said to Thane as the others from the visiting ship entered the facility, another large blast door directly ahead of them leading into the building proper. "Trust me, Human, don't be. You seem a decent fellow, so I will tell you this: she may appear to be sweet and affectionate, helpful and cheerful, but it's all lies. Someday, when you need to rely on her the most, she'll hurt you in the worst way possible, and you'll regret ever trusting her. You have an opportunity to leave her behind and leave now, if you wish. It may prove to be more beneficial to you and your crew in the long-run."

"We shall take our own risks, Mr Wolph," Bomoor swept his gaze over the man, taking in what he needed but not giving the man too much of his attention, "But I'm sure we all appreciate your concern."

A young and slightly overweight Mon Calamari male in a gray-blue and white flight suit with a bulky rebreather mask approached the group and nodded to everyone.

"Joraan here will show you guys around the place until Zara and I have had our little chat. I promise not to keep you all waiting for long. Now excuse me gentlemen. Thank you, Joraan."

"Of course," Joraan said in the breathy, deep-throated baritone that was very characteristic to his large fishy species. "You can remove your masks once the blast door behind you is sealed," he said to the group. "We've got fresh pre-packaged water in the mess hall, but I fear it will not be cold. We don't have refrigeration here, you see. All of our rations are dehydrated."

"I see why you might be interested in cargo runners," The Ithorian commented as the group shuffled through the heavy doors, which sealed behind with a definite thud, followed by a pressurised hiss. He undid the two mouthpieces on the right side of his rebreather so half of his airways were now free and he could breath a little easier, "We will try not to deplete your stocks too much while we are here."

As the rest of the crew continued to speak to their new Mon Calamari guide, Capo guided Amare away, although both Thane and Bomoor's gaze stayed upon her until she disappeared from their sight.

Rex remove his rebreather and finally spoke up, having maintained a punctuated silence during their time being escorted, despite his obvious flair and knowledge of the less-reputable quarters of the galaxy. He struck a match and lit up a cigarra. "Nice guys."

TBC

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