A/N: This is a quest I'm running on another site; ff-net removes links, but google 'Gray Paladin Sufficient Velocity' to find it.


He did not move off immediately, but instead rested a hand on the door to their room, took a moment to focus on his breathing, to slow his racing heart. Learning that the Sith had returned had been bad enough. Learning that Diana was vulnerable, that his daughter might be taken away, stripped from the arms of their family, that she would never remember his face, that he would never witness her first steps...

Constantine grimaced at his runaway thoughts. Focus. His instinctive stress response had always tended towards 'Freeze', so he had plenty of experience pushing his emotions away.

Now was not the time. Constantine took another breath. He would protect his daughter, protect his family. He would not let them down.

I am not my father.

Constantine forced himself to move away from the door. A quick glance to the floor-map nearby was all he needed to guide his steps to the Hedrett Medical Center mainframe.

The improvised plans running through his head were so familiar, practically rote, that Constantine found his thoughts drifting back in time, to a memory from the better, earlier days of his childhood. It had been a balmy spring day, on his homeworld of Circarpous IV.

His father had just returned from his day job, as a director of the Republic Treasury Reserve. Constantine remembered that he had brought some his work home with him that day.

In retrospect, perhaps his father had been trying to distract himself from the problems in his marriage, but that had not been obvious to such a young boy. All Constantine remembered was joy and delight - joy to see his father, delight that he had a ready excuse to sit beside his father later that evening, reading over his shoulder. Though he must have been exhausted from overwork, Mr. Ramble had never tired of answering his son's questions about the material, and Constantine had absorbed all that he could.

That was before the troubles. Before his mother lied. Before his father-

Constantine kept moving. I am not my father.


Father's Stress Response (Pick 1)

[] Fight
[] Flight
[X] Freeze

Father's Homeworld (Vote for up to 3; top result will be chosen)
[] Corellia. His father had just returned from his day job, as an experimental test pilot for the Corellian Engineering Corporation.
[] Kiffex. His father had just returned from his day job, as a general of the Kiffu Guardians.
[] Concord Dawn. His father had just returned from his day job, as a constable in the Journeyman Protectors.
[] Lorrd. His father had just returned from his day job, as a professor of psychology at Lorrd University.
[] Chandrila. His father had just returned from his day job, as an administrator of the Legislative Youth Program.
[X] Circarpous IV. His father had just returned from his day job, as a director of the Republic Treasury Reserve.
[] Tirahn. His father had just returned from his day job, as the operations manager of the Great Fair.
[] Ord Mantell. His father had just returned from his day job, as a sector chief for the Black Sun.
[] Jarvanam. His father had just returned from his day job, as a faculty member of the Baradis School of Technology.
[] Sanbra. His father had just returned from his day job, as a professor of xenoarchaeology at the University of Sanbra
[] Manda. His father had just returned from his day job, as a curator at the Baobab Archives.
[] Lianna. His father had just returned from his day job, as a starship designer with Republic Sienar Systems.
[] Kuat. His father had just returned from his day job, as a starship engineer with Kuat Drive Yards.
[] Fresia. His father had just returned from his day job, as a starshipwright with Incom Corporation.
[] Nubia. His father had just returned from his day job, as a droid technician with Industrial Automaton.
[] Ord Cestus. His father had just returned from his day job, as a droid designer with Clandes Industrial.
[] Alderaan. His father had just returned from his day job, as a medicial researcher with Aldera Universal Medcenter.
[] Obroa-Skai. His father had just returned from his day job, as a cyberneticist with Aurora Medical Facility.
[] Rhinnal. His father had just returned from his day job, as a xenobiologist with Rhire Medical Academy.