Chapter 8 – Misfire
Jalien cradled her left arm against her body, leaned on a handy wall, and watched (with mild amusement) the verbal chaos surrounding her.
They had paused somewhere within the walls of the Circle Hall, where she didn't have the faintest clue. Trem had quickly taken over the lead from Sturrick, which was good as the bounty hunter had even less of an idea where the hell they were than she. Sturrick just didn't take inaction well.
The current racket revolved around which of the three corridors before them to take, and each sheche had his own idea where to go from here. It hadn't taken them long to recover from the shock of blaster fire before they started complaining, theorizing, and plotting. Oh, and accusing. Can't forget the accusing part. But, that was mainly directed at Jalien – who they still somehow ignored – and poor Colin.
Then she snorted. Poor Colin, my ass. Damn. He actually made Marcas back down. That old coot was the first to support kicking me out. Right after Father, of course.
After several expleratives she was sure Circle members were not suppose to use with each, the political battle raging before her eyes became much too complicated for her to follow with ease. Instead, she turned to Chedakki.
The young Jedi met her eyes, and shook his head. "How's the arm?" he asked, joining her by the wall.
"Good as expected, until I get a medikit at least. Too many emotions bouncing off the walls with them screaming at each other, huh?"
Ruefully, he nodded. "I'm just not strong enough yet Jale. There could be a whole squad of troopers on the other side of that wall, and I wouldn't have a clue."
"Hey. You're getting strong Chek. But, as you keep telling me, it doesn't happen over night. Why is that again?" She batted her lashes vacuously at him.
He rolled his eyes, struggled to keep serious – then stuck his tongue out at her. Jalien's peal of laughter caused the bickering men to halt for a moment, glare at her (Colin included this time), then resume.
"I really don't see what so funny." The rebel ambassador scowled as he approached them. The temperature dropped considerably.
"Well, Ambassador, you just have to make your own fun in situations like these." Jalien grinned again. He didn't grin back.
"I want to know what the hell is going on C'tra."
"Oh, wait one minute. You got no-one to blame but yourself."
"Excuse me?"
"You did know that they were debating this whole join-the-rebels-or-stay-with-the-Empire thing in open Circle right? As in open? No dampeners, no distortion fields, no secret discussions behind closed doors, except for their own political in-fighting, of course. Pretty much, the whole issued, laid right out for anyone wandering by."
Brin frowned. "I just assumed the Council chamber had the usual precautions, at least that what's they told me… "
"Well, you know what happens when you assume; you make an a- ow!" Jalien glared at Chedakki. "That hurt!"
"What?" he asked innocently.
She grumbled and turned back to the rebel officer. "Apparently 'precaution' was the lock on the door. You did keep in mind the whole 'better-than-the-know-universe' mindset, right? And those five think they're better than the rest of the planet."
Brin groaned and rubbed his face. "This is so not good."
"Yup. Just another day for us."
Brin glanced sharply back at her. "How do you know so much?"
Jalien blinked innocently. "What?"
"How do you know so much? And – godfather. You called the senior-most member of the Council godfather. And why did they exclude you from the meeting in the first place?"
She sighed. Damn. "You heard that huh? Short version – he is my godfather, the youngest Sheche over there is my brother, and I was declared persona nongrata ten years ago. And, until the High Command ordered me here, I never gave it a second thought. Oh, and it's Circle, not Council. Keep up with a simple mistake like that and you'll really never woo them to your side."
Brin stared. "What?"
"Enough!" The roar from the center of the room startled them all, including the bickering politicians. Galen glared them all into submission.
"Enough," he repeated in a more reasonable tone. "You all apparently have decided. I, and my Clan, will follow the lead of Brother Colin of the Gaulend. Each of you wishes to return to your quarters, so be it. Just remember, that we will need to come together, or watch the Empire ground the fields to dust."
Another clan-father snorted. "They wouldn't dare."
"No, but they would dare to kill you and everyone in your family." Chedakki stepped forward.
"Really? That's just propaganda, spread by those dissatisfied with the current system."
"Propaganda didn't build the Death Star. Propaganda didn't kill every adult in my compound on Helios IV, and torture me." His fingers brushed against the scar running down the right side of his face. "Propaganda didn't displace thousands of families and kill the more important Senators of the Parvis Sector. The Empire did that. And only those who oppose them can halt such atrocities."
Several sheche stared at Chedakki, eyes darting between the scar and his eyes. Fortunately, the Jedi truly believed every word he said. Hell - sincerity and honesty fairly oozed from his pores.
"Make your choices, gentlemen." Galen reclaimed control. "Colin, I gather you've already begun to build a resistance of some sorts?"
Colin nodded, and Jalien had to admire her brother's lack of embarrassment or concern over what normally would be a serious breach of tradition and ethics. Galen moved to stand by his side.
The other three hovered for a moment, then, with varied excuses moved down the tunnels to their own quarter and own plots. Colin sighed and Galen clasped his arm supportively.
"It's time for change, god-father."
The older man nodded. "I know, even if I don't have to like it."
Several minutes later, the small group emerged from the in-wall tunnels into a spacious, laviously decorated and brightly lit room. Jalien found herself tallying the cost of the window hangings alone and sighing in regret. This place would have made an excellent score.
Hence, it took a minute before those occupying the room to register.
"Ebren, good to see you – "
A man moved to embrace Colin. The sudden movement forward is probably what saved his hide.
"Jalien!" Chedakki wrapped her up in a bear hug, while Sturrick slapped the blaster pistol out of her hand. The rest stared in fascination at the slightly smoking hole the blaster bolt left in the couch.
"Chedakki, let go of me!"
"No! What are you doing? You tried to shoot him."
"No, I tried to kill him." She struggled in his grasp with no success. "That bastard beat the crap out of Duncan ten years ago. Badly. God damnit Chedakki, let go of me!" She tried to squirm away again.
The room was paralyzed. Chedakki looked to Sturrick. Who shrugged. "I'm thinkin' she should have better aim by now."
"Thanks," Chedakki muttered. "Ow. Jalien, that was my foot."
"I know. Let me go." She finally stood quietly, gasping a little for air.
"If I let you go, will you promise not to shoot at .. whoever that is?"
"Sure."
Chedakki's eyes narrowed. "And you promise not to try to hurt him? Or kill him?"
At that she grumbled, something about traitor Jedi, unfeeling bastards and knowing too damn much for his own good. But, she relented.
When Chedakki stepped back, and she didn't go crazy again, the rest of the room finally took a breath.
Brin reacted first. "Care to explain, Ensign?"
"Sure. That piece of filth over there beat my Captain to within an inch of his life, simply because he was serren. I have a long memory, Ambassador, and I pay back my debts."
Sturrick guffawed.
"Fine. Certain debts."
"You're an officer in the Rebel Alliance. Personal vendettas have no place – "
"Really," she drawled. "Given this spiel to Skywalker recently?"
"And, you have not told me nearly enough about yourself and your involvement in this planet!" Brin finally lost it.
"And I don't intend to."
Brin choked. And turned a very interesting shade of purple.
"It wasn't because he was serren, Jalien." The object of the current crisis finally stepped forward. "It was because he was with you."
Jalien's jaw dropped. Her head shook slowly. "What?"
"I regret that I lost control of my emotions so badly. But, when I saw you smiling, laughing with another…" He spread his hands.
"Oh, no. No. You do not get to make this into some sort of …of unrequited love."
He shrugged. "As you wish."
Jalien stared, shock rippling through her mind. What the hell… Then she threw up her hands. "Enough. I've promised not to kill him. Can we move on now?"
"Agreed." Galen moved forward, gathering Brin up with him in the process. The ambassador moved along willing, but shot a look back at Jalien that promised a slow death if he could arrange it.
Jalien never saw it. Instead, she slunked to the furthest of the couches in the room, and collapsed. Over her head, she could almost feel the conversation Chedakki and Sturrick were having with their eyes.
What do we do now?
Get the hell out of here?
I mean with Jalien!
Oh. Um, teach her to shoot better?
Sturrick!
Fine. I'll talk with the noble fools and you settled our deranged pirate down.
Sure enough, right on time, Chedakki sank into the soft cushions next to her, while Sturrick moved to the other end of the room.
"Really, Chek, I promise not to try and kill him again. You can go join in the planning of our great escape. I think I'll just sit here until ya'll tell me I can move."
Chedakki met her eyes. "You really need to tell us the full story sometime."
"Really."
"Really."
She cocked her head to the side. "Maybe you're right. But, at the moment, I'd rather get off this mud ball. We can tell fireside stories later. Preferably in a bar."
"Any more surprises you might want to tell me?"
"Can't think of a one."
"Somehow that doesn't reassure me."
Chedakki got to his feet, while Jalien felt her head pound in time with her arm. Normally, she'd be in the middle of whatever they wanted to do. Men tended to make the worst decisions without her. But, all things considered, it just took too much energy.
"Jale, snap out of it." Sturrick's growl opened her eyes. "Time to be going sleeping beauty."
"So, what's the plan?"
"Brin is going to stay here, help get the resistance thing started planet side. We're going to bring the guy you tried to kill back to the High Command for debrief and consultation. It appears he's the spear-head for rebellion here."
"Ebren? You've got to be kidding."
"Nope. Seems like a decent sort. Kinda glad you didn't hit 'em."
"A more hide-bound, obnoxious, over-bearing –"
"I thought I was all that to you."
"And a basket of eggs. But then, you've pulled my ass from the fire more often then I care to count. Ebren usually threw me in."
"Well, once again, suck it up C'tra. He's along for the ride now."
"Lovely." She grasped his hand and allowed herself to hauled out of the couch. "Hm. What if something, say a laser wrench, just happen to fall out of a cabinet? And, just happened to hit him on the way down. Accidentally, of course."
"Just don't let Chedakki catch you."
"Cool."
