Within the secluded hotel room Vestara had finally managed some form of peaceful undisturbed rest, having found some relief to the pain in her legs and having placated her mind enough to focus solely on sleep, not at all concerned with the goings on of others outside the room Vestara was was finally calm ad composed unaware, however, that at that preset moment someone was approaching their door.
A small click as the door unlocked went unnoticed, as did the slow turning to the door handle until in one quick motion the door swung open, bathing the sleeper in sunlight as the at present unknown visitor shouted something.
"SO WHO WANTS SOME GIRL SCOUT COOKIES?!"
Startled immensely Vestara responded in the only way she could think, with a wave of her arms and an arcing flash of light that caused the the figure to quickly duck.
"I thought I told you NO LIGHTNING!"
Vestara immediately recognized the voice now that she was more awake, or rather more awake than she was seconds prior.
"Mirta?" she quickly rubbed her eyes to help them focus as the figure stood up and came into better view "That IS you, right?"
"YES! And like I said NO LIGHTNING you know I have a bad history with Sith!"
"Oh, I'm sorry, I finally get some sound sleep that doesn't involve dreams that are cryptic or inappropriately erotic..."
"What was that last part?"
"Shut up! And after finally getting my brain to shut up and my legs to relax, I am peacefully resting and you just come in shouting... something about cookies? And you thought what? I'd scream like some little girl, hide under the covers, and soil myself? I'm technically in hiding AND I'm post-surgery! Just WHAT did YOU think that I would do, huh what? So you tell me who's the idiot!?"
"...Shut up, your logic renders me incapable of being angry at you, STOP IT! Now let's go back to the inappropriately erotic dreams" leaning forward and rest her elbows of the foot rest of the bed and rest her head in her hands "Because that sound like a scintillating discussion!"
"Here's a thought ,NO!"
"Come on, your brain getting some on account of your body's crippled?"
"How about we discuss you?"
"Well nothing erotic in my brain, appropriate or otherwise, so now that that's settled back to you!"
"I hate you, and what I meant was did you go out and accomplish what you needed to, did you do ANYTHING productive?"
"Well, since you asked yes, the past couple of days have been what I would call productive, things seem to be going well at the moment."
"That's nice, now if you would kindly allow me to go back to sleep, you can tell me all about your magical misadventures later." Vestara lied back down and attempted to resume her sleep but Mirta quickly yanked the covers off of her.
"NOPE! You are getting up now."
"Oh, that's a laugh 'Getting up', to a cripple, seriously? And just where am I expected to go exactly?"
"I have a cab waiting for us outside ready to take us back to the hospital to see about getting those metal pins removed from your legs. Once those are out I estimate your good to travel provided you don't do any physical walking for awhile."
"Figures, for the first time since you left I finally get relaxed without the aid of mind-numbing medication and now I have to go BACK to the hospital. And how exactly do you expect us to travel? I don' t think Ship will be up to transporting you wherever you may need for your search for a cure."
"As I said I have had a productive past couple of days, I got a ship of my own, and this one doesn't talk nor is it opinionated!"
"And how may I ask did you acquire this means of transportation?"
"Technically it's not mine, but the crew does work for me so I as able to indefinitely procure there services. And I will be happy to explain everything once you are dressed and on your way to have your legs fixed."
"Uuuuugh! Fine! Beat's being stuck in this room for much longer."
Within a short expanse of time Vestara was able to clothe herself and situate herself within her wheel chair and was quickly wheeled out by Mirta towards a cab waiting patiently near the front lobby of the hotel.
Shorty after being seated within the vehicle and heading on their way Vestara turned to address her companion "So what exactly DID you do?"
"Why the sudden interest?"
"Technically what you do affects me, you were the last person I was seen with, so IF anyone is searching for me and they recognized you, your activities could impact me heavily for the entirety of our 'partnership'. So I would like to keep appraised to your going-on's."
"Well fair enough. First I went and met with one of the Mando under my command, we talked, straightened some things out, and while she was preparing a meeting between everyone else I bombed a spaceport!"
Vestara quickly jolt her head towards Mirta and stared utterly perplexed at her "Your...not joking are you?"
With a large grin on her face Mirta responded "Nope!"
"May I ask WHY you saw fit to engage in pseudo-terrorist activities?"
"Because, do you remember the shootout that was taking place when we got here, made a convenient excuse for why you had been shot?" Vestara gave a quick nod "Well the men responsible for the shootout were at that spaceport, I bombed their ship to keep them from leaving... and knock them out, a couple of them however required a little more...tenderizing."
"May I ask why were you searching for those men in the first place?"
"The obscene reward for their capture!"
"Figures."
"Then when we got to the meeting, I gave a nice heartfelt speech about current state of affairs, asked that they return to our home-world, and beat the ever living daylights out of everyone who had a problem with me!"
"That why you have a black eye and partially swollen lip?"
"Yes, I'm almost surprised you didn't ask about that sooner."
"A guy in his seventies broke your nose, I just assumed anyone could kick your ass." Mirta not taking kindly to this remark quickly slapped Vestara across her wounded knee "KKKKKKKKFFFFFAAAAA! YOU EVIL HEINOUS BITCH!"
"Yes. Yes I am. And do not forget it, I have spent the majority of my life perfecting the art of being completely and utterly spiteful. And look we're here."
" .YOU."
Mirta aided Vestara into her wheelchair and pushed her into the the hospital towards the front reception, the entire the the still angry Vestara didn't speak once until they reached the reception desk "I have metal objects in my legs. .OUT!"
The receptionist, a human female, stared confused at the two for a moment "Beg pardon?"
"What my socially challenged friend here meant to say was, she recently had surgery to repair her legs after she was shot, you know that shootout a while back." The woman a gave a quick understanding nod "Now, her injuries weren't as bad as they could have been but, they did have to leave metal pins in her legs, she has an appointment today to have them removed, and she is antsy to get back on her feet so she may chase me, for the purpose of eventually strangling me."
The receptionist stared with her head cocked for a moment before recognizing the sarcasm in Mirta's voice "Okay, and her name?"
"Sevara Raine."
"...Okay I see her in the system I will inform the doctor so he can come and take her back. If you two could just wait over there" Gesturing towards some nearby benches.
Mirta wheeled Vestara over to where she pointed and proceeded to wait for the doctor.
"You are aware, I don't actually have to stand, or walk to strangle you?"
Mirta shot her head towards Vestara to see a mischievous grin "That isn't funny, I've been on the receiving end of that before, NOT funny." Vestara's grin quickly faded.
"Sorry forgot, spotty past with Sith, just a bit of fun, meant nothing by it."
Mirta gave a small nod that suggested she held no ill will but the two sat in awkward silence as they waited which was eventually broken when they heard a voice call Vestara's alias. "Sevara Raine" They both turned and chuckled at the irony as it just so happen to be the same aqua skinned Twi'lek doctor they encountered when they had first arrived on this world.
Upon reaching the doctor she turned to them and gave a look towards Vestara "Your not going to grab my Lekku again are you? These are actually a sensitive part of our bodies."
"I keep saying I don't remember that!"
"She can't handle post-surgery meds."
"Whatever" Turning towards Mirta "Now are you in anyway family?"
"Me? No."
"...Life partner?"
"WHAT?! NO!"
"You don't have to sound so offended."
"First of all Shut up. Second don't you have a boyfriend? Third I like'em tall and blonde and MALE. Ok, I'm not a relative and I'm not her life partner."
"We're just staying in a dingy hotel room together, she is the epitome of romance."
"Doctor please get to the point of your question before I commit a murder before your very eyes."
Trying desperately to hold back her laughter she turned to answer "If you aren't family or...if you aren't family, then you will have to remain out here while we examine her and prepare her for her procedure, and we will inform you when she is finished, it shouldn't take too long."
"I understand."
Mirta turned to sit back down as Vestara was wheeled away and noticed one of the Mandalorians from the ship which she now traveled was now waiting by the door.
"So, what brings you here, uncle-cousin-nephew whatever adjective I use to describe you?"
"Rook, you can call me by my first name. Now about your friend, why are we waiting on her? What significance is she in our matters?"
"She helped me before, but she was wounded, so I gave my word in return I would see her taken care of, unfortunately her medical expenses are denting my funds."
"I wasn't aware that the amount of money we possess was such a large concern at the moment."
"Just what do you think is going to happen when we find someone who can create a cure? That they're gonna make all we need just out of the goodness of their hearts? Chances are ,unless extenuating circumstances enter in, whoever we find is going to want to be paid for their service, and if the personal nature of our objective becomes known they will most assuredly bleed us for every credit they can, so yes funds are always important, until we are relaxing back home, money is a very important resource."
"And yet your paying out of pocket for a 'freinds' medical expenses, why?"
"As I said she helped me and I am seeing to it she is taken care of, and she is going to pay me back, we have established that amongst ourselves."
"See you know her, YOU can perhaps vouch for her, but me, us, we don't know her at all, and given how spectacular the debacle with the Qrepths went, the rest of us are a little weary of allowing new faces in to our personal space."
"What? You don't trust me?"
"Ahahahahahaha ohnonononono, ahem, No no, see you may technically be my superior officer, your grandfather may technically be my employer, and we may technically be related but no, no Gev I don't trust you or your judgement, so I have to ask who she is and how she fits into everything beyond doing you a favor in the past. "
"Her name is Sevara Raine. And she is formerly, and I need to stress that FORMERLY a Sith."
Rook grimaced at the sound of that word "Our people and the Sith have a long and not too pleasant history with the Sith, large contributing factor to alot of the galaxy not liking Mandalorians. What makes her different that you trust her?"
"Allow to set the record straight, I DON'T trust her, but she owes me and she was born with a unique skillset that could make things considerably easier for all of us. As for what makes her different, I suppose, the argument of nature versus nurture." Mirta briefly paused to see Rook didn't quite understand the reference before continuing "Most cases the Sith our people have dealt with were once regular people, nice law-abiding citizens, then one day, something happened, something bad, and they snapped, they broke in a way that they couldn't come back from, they reached a point no one could help them and became walking nightmares. Most cases they were regular people that were sought out and had some dark and twisted freak break there minds until they were just drones.
Her case, her father was Sith. So she was raised to take after daddy, its the life she was born into, the life she was introduced into but from what I've heard, and the little I've gleamed, she doesn't take after daddy."
"And how are you so sure?"
"That is personal, not my story to tell.
But she is no longer affiliated with them, in fact they want her dead from what I here. But the fact remains she could be useful in cutting through who is being honest with us and who's trying to use us for their own gain. She also could be useful in 'persuading' some less than willing parties."
"While I won't argue that she could be of some assistance, who she is might not be so warmly welcomed by everyone else back on the ship, so I'm going to leave you to explain. AND her actions, what she does, that is your responsibility, whatever she does you are accountable."
"Expected no less."
With their discussion Rook simply gave a small nod and departed leaving Mirta to wait for Vestara in solitude. Shortly after however Vestara was wheeled out by the doctor, Mirta immediately took note of her face which held an utterly disturbed expression, piquing her curiosity.
"Are you okay"
"NO!" Shaking her head vigorously
"What happened?"
"Do you know what they did?" Mirta shook her head "They didn't need to put me under they just put a local anesthetic in my legs. Then they...for lack of a better term, inflated my knee and ankle, then they stuck a camera in there so they could look around .LEGS. Then the reached in and removed the pins, it was all pretty fast. BUT! I SAW INSIDE MYSELF, AND THEY INFLATED PARTS OF ME!"
"That all sounds obscenely unpleasant."
"Tell me anything, talk to me about ANYTHING to distract my mind from that!"
"Okay when we get back to the ship, you might not be warmly welcomed."
"Why not? Iv'e not done anything! What did you do?"
"Nothing! Its because of your connections, former or otherwise, to the Sith. Every crew member is in the same predicament as I am."
"Wait I thought it only affected people related to your grandfather."
"Yyyyeah, my grandfather technically has ALOT of brothers."
"Define 'alot'."
"a couple...dozen...thousand. An army in the most literal sense." An absolutely puzzled expression stretched across Vestara's face as she could find no hint or glimmer or sarcasm or humor in Mirta's voice, Mirta however seemed to enjoy seeing her rather humorous confusion "I'm gonna go pay the bill, get whatever meds you need and sign you out while you wrap your head around that."
After a brief period of time Mirta returned to her companion who still appeared rather puzzled at her previous statment, much to Mirta's continued amusement. Mirta began wheeling Vestara out before addressing her. "Vestara how good is your knowledge of history. Recent history."
"Nonexistent."
"Alright, so the term 'Clone wars' means nothing to you" Vestara shook her head slightly " Okay. Back ,before my grandfather was born actually, a group of Separatists who were a part of a Confederacy of Independent systems began taking hostile actions towards certain key worlds of the Republic, their explanation for their actions was minor things like 'trade disputes' and such. In reality they were following the orders of the current Sith Lord. After their first attempts failed they spent ten years building an army of battle droids in secret and declaring their intent to bring down the Republic and create a new better Government. Mind you this was all rubbish they were doing this because a couple of frightening Sith told them to and they were too scared and greedy to say no. But given that the Separatists did possess almost unlimited resources they could build as many droid to fight their battles as they needed to, and an army that can just be rebuilt after every battle, is a frightening thing in the long run. So when they officially declared war on the Republic, the Republic's greatest concern was their lack of a military force that could compete with the shear numbers.
You are keeping up with all of this right?" Vestara responded with a quick nod allowing her to go on.
"Now have you ever heard of Kaminoans?" Vestara shook her head "They are a race that has a remarkable talent for cloning, and they seem to enjoy it. A member of the Jedi council sought them out and hired them to create an army, a clone army.
But apparently he died before they could find someone to be used as the template, but one of the Sith commanding the Separatists, who happened to have once been a well respected Jedi and his conversion to the Sith was not public knowledge, a man called Dooku, took over the project. He personally sought out my Great-Grandfather Jango Fett and hired him to be the template for the clone army."
"Okay I can tell where this is going, how does your Great-grandfather getting cloned result in your grandfather having LOTS of siblings."
"Because, Jango Fett was a superb bounty hunter from what I hear, but not alot of time for things like starting a family. So the only price he named for the Kaminoans to use his DNA and regularly extract samples, was he wanted a clone with NO modifications. No accelerated ageing, no enhancements, nothing. One that would grow naturally."
"He wanted a son. Your Grandfather is just his clone?"
"NO! He is not 'JUST HIS CLONE' Jango raised him, fed him, clothed, taught him, they were father and son, maybe not technically in a biological sense, BUT they were father and son."
"Sorry I seemed to have hit a nerve."
"Its...fine."
"So the Sith had a droid army they could just build, and the republic had a clone army they could just grow?"
"Pretty much and the various factions of the clone army were placed under the command of Jedi."
"So it was just another Jedi-Sith war."
"At the heart of it yes. And during all of this the Sith were paying Jango to kill Jedi, which went well until one decapitated him right in front of Grandfather. Hens Grandpa's general dislike for Jedi."
"So what happened?"
"The Jedi eventually defeated the Separatists and killed Dooku. All seemed well, however during this whole conflict a certain chancellor Sheev Palpatine, who advocated peace and non-violence and was deemed by the people to be a pure, virtuous man, worthy of leading the Republic, was given supreme authority over the entire Republic and named Emperor. Wanna know the punch line?"
"Sure."
"Palpatine was Dooku's Sith master, and the Sith lord of that time, the entire war was orchestrated to make him LEGALLY the ruler of the galaxy! Then he activated all of these nasty chips implanted in the brains of all of the clones which made them kill anyone they identified as Jedi."
"OH...wow."
"And thus the old Jedi order burned to the ground, in order for Skywalker to create a new one, something had to happen to the old one. And once this was done all of the clone troopers were discharged from duty, considering how they were appalled at their betraying the Jedi, and were allowed to return to Mandalore, seeing as how technically they were of Mandalorian decent. Thus an actual percentage of the worlds population are all closely related. By now all the clones are assuredly dead but their descendants remain, among them, me. And now all of them can't return home because of another Sith. And the entire crew of our ship is descended from the Clones."
Vestara put her faced in her face and groaned loudly"Oh they are going to LOVE ME!"
A/N STILL ALIVE BITCHES, I realize I keep apologizing for the long gaps between updates, the reason for this one was honestly I lost access to the internet, so not my fault.
I have realized that when I declared my intent to do a single chapter a week, I might have been biting of more that I could chew
Now I would like to say something probably should have said before, but I am not one of those people who will just pack up and drop a story if I get bored of it or if life keeps my schedule busy, if I start something I finish it, and this I WILL finish, there may be some gaps here and there between updates but yes I'm going to see this through.
