Before, Jayden often felt a sense of comfort when in the walls of her family home. Marshland and dense trees all around, fog coating the sky beyond. Like most places in that area of Mires, it was just isolated enough from others to make it seem as if they lived solitary lives.
For the past two weeks however, it had been far from a deception for her. Years of missions and fighting for both the Jedi and the Mandalorians had gone her way, no matter what the unexpected threw at her. That feeling of success had been completely shattered, and it wasn't just because of the cold feeling she continued to experience at the end of her thigh.
Whatever had driven her to believe the leg was a near-perfect replacement before was gone. It was metal and lies that she walked on each day, nothing more.
There was little to do that could distract her from that realization, with the hunting season months away, no active ground wars to fight in, and an insistence from the Jedi that she take time to recover properly, whatever that meant to her.
The silent ambience of the place allowed her to hear Qoso approaching well before he actually stepped out onto the open balcony and touched her shoulder. Sometimes she had wondered if there would be more warmth between them were she not away for a vast majority at the time. Being stuck there wasn't doing a whole lot to prove that was the case after all.
"Is this how it will be for another two weeks? For the next month? Jayden please…" He knelt down by her side, gently taking hold of her hand between his. "You've said barely a word since your return. I do understand wanting to sleep alone, but complete silence unlike you." It didn't prompt any physical reaction at first.
It had prompted the underlying issue at the forefront of Jayden's mind. "You don't regret marrying me then? You don't feel angry about being put through the stress of wondering if the last you'll hear of me is that I was shot in the back on some backwater planet?" Her hand drifted down along her leg, pressing the synthflesh in different areas to remind herself that it was still entirely artificial.
"We both knew that it would involve risks far beyond those faced by any one Mandalorian. How you die does not matter to me. You have done so many great deeds that I and every one of us will remember."
"As a Mandalorian Jedi. What about as Jayden?" A shudder went through the length of her spine. While repositioning, she finally turned herself around to Qoso. "All I can think about is the fact that I barely escaped death twice within a few hours, and wouldn't be here if it wasn't for a Sith woman and her husband. Meanwhile, we're almost always in opposite sides of the galaxy."
Qoso glanced at the leg as she continued to prod at it, still bearing questions about that as well. They remained unasked in favour of the more pressing issue. "We're here with each other now. It would take a mere conversation to arrange more time together. Possibly even partnered assignments. Or is that not what you are asking for?"
She had asked herself that question so many times already. It was incredibly difficult to break away from the assumption that she would be told where to go next every single time. She had to be out in the field, fighting off the Sith and their supporters. Sitting there with very little to do was the absolutely last thing she wanted.
"I need time to think. But, what I do know, is that I can't be a Jedi, a Mandalorian and a wife at the same time, not with the way things are. Something has to change." She pushed herself up and brought her legs around off the chair, gripping onto her right thigh for a while longer before she forced herself to let go. "I haven't been any of those lately. Where do we even start?"
A smile grew on Qoso's face as he clasped his hands around hers. "This may sound a bit selfish, but perhaps it would be best to continue with 'us' first."
It took a little while for the implication to sink in for Jayden. When it did, her cheeks flushed slightly as her eyes began darting around. "I'm still not used to the leg. Are you certain you're okay with it?" She saw no change in his expression. He was apparently far less bothered by it than she was. "Give me an hour to freshen up."
"Babysitting was supposed to be a joke, not the actuality!"
" Atris, it has only been two weeks… "
"Two days was enough! When you said twenty four year old woman, I did not expect someone with a mentality half that age and going through just about every mood swing I can think of. Sereti, she has to go now!" Atris nearly lost her temper as the holo image began flickering. Now was not the time for 'conveniently' dropping the signal.
" You know what's at stake here. If we move her around too much, the Sith will track her down and everything goes to hell. Two more weeks and she can go annoy the Luka Sene for a while. "
"I know you really do not like them, Sereti, but even their patience has limits. Do you really want to strain relations with them further?"
" Right now I could not care less. We need the Mandalorians far more than we need my people. And since we found nothing at Katarr they have no grounds to come and complain to me. Two more weeks, Atris. Please. "
Her hand went to her forehead again, pushing against her aging skin as she tried to make herself appease Sereti's request.
When she wasn't having a moment, Maarani was actually pleasingly attentive and quiet, close to being an ideal student in those phases. Her other phases were an ordeal to deal with. The droid she had brought with her was irritating all of the time.
"This is the last favour. Dealing with her has drained what little sanity I had remaining. I assume that the archives are still waiting for a new overseer?"
" Long overdue, though the padawans have been patient. "
"Patience is not a word I associate with padawans." The frustration had waned enough for Atris to relax back into her chair at last. There was some level of relief in finally knowing when her time to leave Telos had come. "I will discuss it further with Dana then. Just make sure that this does not all go to waste, please."
" Not one among us wants to see our best hope for a peaceful future go to waste, believe me. Force be with you Atris. "
She barely had time to get out of her seat before Dana appeared at the doorway. "Two more weeks. I assume you know where you are going next?"
A shrug came from Dana as she made her way into the room, sitting on the edge of the table. "We didn't think she'd be this unstable. Even before her exposure to the inhibitor device I don't think she was nearly as wild. And her military record gave no indicators of this kind of behaviour either."
Atris half nodded as another oddity occurred to her about Maarani's past. "Why was she not pulled from the military on arrival anyway? If she had calmed down by then, she might have actually been easier to train than this juvenile mess."
"She'd ask too many difficult questions, with answers that would hurt in dangerous ways. Now she's made assumptions, we can tell just enough to let her fill the rest in for herself. Until she's ready for the whole truth." She cracked a smile as she pictured where Maarani was at that very moment. "Maybe she just misses having a heavily structured lifestyle. Would explain why she seems to enjoy doing supply runs so much. Lots of schedules to keep track of." That was about as blatant a lie as she could bring herself to tell, but it did spare Atris further grief.
Issues with the cargo loaders had left Maarani with a spare hour to explore the station of her own accord. Normally she barely had time to wander outside the docking bay before she had to return to the Distant Star , just enough time to look around the long corridor running through the section.
The sense of wonder that came as she stepped into EM81 was immense. There were a few marks and gouges in the walls that she passed by, labelled in various scrawls as belonging to Sith boarders or Surik and her companions. Signs of history that had been left as they were, just as Dana had described since their arrival.
Mixed feelings began to take over as she approached the cantina. It was clearly exploiting its historic fame to attract customers, something she actually found to be amusing. It was also exploiting animated images of Twi'lek women, which left a very uncomfortable feeling in her stomach. Brought with it was also a level of disgust that she tried to swallow back down.
Even when she timidly stepped through the doorway into the bustling atmosphere within, she could hear Cecile wailing on about the dancers. From halfway across the planet somehow.
"We ain't hiring, lady."
Maarani's fist tightened as her eyes very slowly slid towards the bartender. Disgust was something she had to overcome to join the ranks of the Jedi, but the sheer nerve of implying she-
"She wants rycrit juice, Soogo, not to dance. Get your eyes fixed already."
"Shut up boy!"
Her arm was quickly tugged to the bar by a bright pink hand. Once seated, the man to her right turned his head to her, glancing at her.
"Ex-military? You're trying way too hard to look like a hired gun y'know, lot of dismissed soldiers make that mistake." He took another long gulp from the glass in his other hand, sliding it across the bar as he twisted around more. "Soogo's not that much of a misogynist, don't let it bother you." He went quiet as the bartender returned, scowling at both while slamming a tall glass of puréed rycrit meat in front of the Twi'lek.
Maarani waited for him to turn his attention to another customer before leaning towards the 'drink'. It smelled about as unappealing as it sounded. "Why would anyone want liquified meat?" After glancing around, she retrieved a straw and cautiously dipped it into the fleshy mess. A layer of fat was already starting to congeal on the surface. Her lips were trembling as they approached the end of the straw. She had always been told to try something before refusing it outright.
"I thought Twi'leks don't like food they have to chew."
She made no attempt to hide her relief while pushing the tall glass away. "We don't like refusing food. I'm not sure this is food." A handful of credits were tossed onto the counter before she twisted herself around to the stranger at last. "So, should I be jumping to conclusions, becoming a hypocrite in the process, or do you help Twi'leks in distress just for the sake of it?"
A slight grin followed as the stranger poured himself a fresh glass and lifted it up between them. "You don't talk like a hired gun either. Too much rambling, not enough 'uhh', 'nuh-uh' and 'uh-huh'." He lightly jabbed at her arm and poured out a glass for as well, having an apt knowledge of where fresh glasses were located behind the bar. "Izan, barfly, bad shot, and rescuer of Twi'leks suffering from racist assumptions about their species. That more your speed?"
After a quick sniff from the glass, she rolled her eyes and took a sip. Nothing she found particularly appealing, though when compared to the meat smoothie… "Maarani. Ex-pilot, and I'm more of a personal bodyguard actually. Feel a lot safer when I know who I'm protecting." Another sip from the glass followed. It wasn't actually that bad, though she relented from further tasting upon noticing his wandering eyes.
"Looking for something? I'll tell you right now that you're not my type."
Izan's attention had settled on her blaster pistol, noting the clean body but surprisingly worn grip. Often held but rarely fired. "I suppose that does make more sense. Try to look tough, but rely more on wits and general knowledge, or intimidation over violence. Don't know many pilots that go from fighters to bodyguard though." His gaze lifted back up as he noticed some less desirables beginning to glance in their direction. The sort even he knew not to tangle with.
"So, apart from being offended by dancing, what brings you here alone? Boss going to be in important meetings for so long that you've got time to get drunk and grab women's flesh for a few hours?"
Maarani was about to complain again when she noticed the movement of his eyes, glancing over her shoulder and to her face repeatedly. Subtlety that even she would have a hard time matching with moving the tips of her lekku. "Well, this is going to sound tourist-y, but I actually came here for the historical draw. Hard to ignore all the stories and legends when you grow up as a military brat. Kinda weird to think there were Jedi sitting here however long ago."
"Oh, I believe it. That Jedi bitch stabbed my mother in the gut."
It sent a chilling feeling right through Maarani's body, which she did her best to conceal by taking another calm sip from her drink. The sudden note of anger in his voice was very unsettling after his quite friendly demeanour. "Really? I'd say I'm surprised, but desperate times and all that crap. Guess that's the hard truth about legends huh?" She glanced at his bright pink skin again. Something about that detail was nagging at her.
"Sorry if this is in bad taste, but it sounds like you were lucky that Jedi didn't aim lower. You don't look over thirty, though I'm bad at guessing age."
"Zeltrons look young until they shrivel up." He took a longer drink from his glass. It was placed down on the bar firmly, though his grip gradually relaxed, the anger subsiding again. "Not a fun story in short. I'm sure you've got far better ones, flying out amongst the stars and shooting at red dots on a screen."
The relief she experienced was covered by a nervous laugh. "I've got a few notches on my belt, not that many though. Nothing like flying through asteroid belts or skin dancing a destroyer." Noting his confusion, she sat up a bit more and used her hands to visually demonstrate her explanation. "Basically, you fly up to the target with less than a metre between your hull and theirs at top speed. Pretty much impossible for them to hit you without collateral. But it's also called suicide skimming for a reason."
A change in the music gave her a convenient window to turn her head in the direction of the band and dancers. The direction in which Izan had been glancing was on the edge of her vision. Some rather nasty looking thugs were sitting at a table right next to the wall, paying close attention to them.
"I think I know this track. Mind hopping over?" She looked back to him, both relieved and a little worried as he nodded to her proposal. The warning about their observers was apparently justified, but that helpful caution could easily change if he discovered her connection to the Jedi.
Her eyes remained focused on the dancers as they left the bar for the lounge. It was extremely difficult to avoid showing any kind of acknowledgement of their observers, though much easier once seated. Now her focus was on trying to enjoy the sight of green Twi'lek gyrating their bodies instead of being bothered by the whole mess.
It lasted all of a minute as one of the dancers shot her a mean look.
"What gives? Am I not allowed to look at your butt because mine's just as big?"
"Seela koa kuri'au runan, rutian chi'kan!"
Maarani's jaw dropped as she found herself on the verge of swiping her arm at the dancer's ankles, wanting very much to see her fall and break her nose, or worse. "You little bitch!"
"Schutta! Schutta schutta schutta!"
"Get down here and say it again to my face!" She was only just stopped from drawing her pistol on the dancer by Izan's timely intervention. Aggressive shouting from Soogo rang in her ears as they pushed through into the corridor outside the cantina. With a few moments to breathe unpolluted air, she quickly found herself overcome by guilt at the outburst.
"You don't take insults well. Shooting someone because they called you a pervert ain't blowing past any judge around here." He looked to the now closed doorway before urging her further up the corridor, just enough to avoid being seen from within the cantina. "The dancers don't like you, and the local thugs think you're up to something. You really need to loosen up whatever it is that's been grinding your gears."
Again, Maarani found herself feeling conflicted on how she was supposed to feel about him. It was sound advice, but came dangerously close to encouraging her to open up about more sensitive matters. "I got kicked out of the military because I'm too emotionally unstable for them. As in I refused therapy. Normally I try to not drag others into my mess-ups." She gripped onto his arm as she took a deep breath, allowing herself to calm down properly at last. "Guess you saved me from a bad situation again. Kinda wish I could actually stick around longer now."
"You struck me as a decent person when you walked in. Not something you get to see around these parts very often."
Both looked to the cantina doors as they opened again. The farce they had begun to display quickly returned.
"Have fun playing guard then, I guess. Maybe you'll swing by this sector again sometime, I'll be here."
"Maybe. If I'm not dead, still tied to the job or serving drinks to pay off a fine." She kept her eyes focused on his face as the thugs they had noticed beforehand left the cantina, headed back towards the transfer shuttle without a passing glance at them. It was entirely possible they would be waiting to ambush her there, for whatever reason. "Before I go, don't suppose you know who or what those guys work for? They're not Czerka, are they?"
Izan gripped her arms back, leaning his head down a little to whisper briefly. "Much worse. I'd watch your back and front at the same time around them. Tread carefully Maarani."
"And you I guess. Not sure I want to say anything native after what came out of that…" She closed her mouth and stared at him for a little while longer before returning to the transfer shuttle. There was no sign of the thugs in the waiting area, or on board the shuttle itself. For all she knew they lost interest when she made a big fuss. Or Izan had been misleading her.
While the shuttle crossed over towards the docking module, she closed her eyes and went over the facts in her head again. A Zeltron man whose mother had been stabbed by Surik during her visit to the station, for whatever reason…
"He stays in the same cantina she did, before it happened." The opening doors snapped her out of the momentary pause for thought. Several Ithorians and other various people were eager to board, forcing her to escape quickly before she was overwhelmed by the surge.
Over the intercom, she could hear references to a starliner sending smaller shuttles to and from the station to transfer passengers. They would be more pushy than usual to get her ship out of the landing bay now that there was a lot more traffic to deal with. Her very abrupt departure from the cantina had not been such a waste after all.
" Mistress, they are loading the last crates on board now. Will you be returning soon? "
Maarani dived her hand into her pocket and retrieved the comm unit while moving to a less crowded spot in the waiting area. "I'm right outside, just wait for me-"
"Warning: Any attempt to contact security will result in the removal of your head from your body!"
Over a dozen HK droids appeared in the midst of the crowd, all bearing heavy weaponry. The ensuing panic was brief as blaster shots took down those who attempted to retaliate.
A very heavily armoured one appeared in front of Maarani. She didn't even need a second warning to know she had to drop the communicator to the ground. The sound of it being stepped on made her wince a little.
"Instruction: Get down on your knees and place your hands on your lekku. Make any attempt to reach for your sidearm and we take both of those limbs off."
"What is it with you Sith droids and cutting off limbs…" She went quiet very quickly as the rifle was shoved right between her eyes. Somehow her first worry was that Cecile would wander down from the ship and get shot to pieces as soon as she entered the corridor. Rather than the fact that she was apparently the target for the deadliest droid group in the galaxy.
The other droids had the rest of the crowd kneeling amongst the multitude of bodies. All were wearing stealth nets, which she soon realized were identical to the one Koor had recovered in the Sarkan jungle. A solved mystery she wished she could share with Dana and the others at that moment.
"Announcement: You will all be free to leave once we have departed. Remain silent and you will not be harmed." The armoured droid turned its head back down to Maarani, pulling the rifle out of her face just a bit. "Statement: You will come with us to our ship when it arrives. No questions will be asked, no attempt to escape will be made."
"Yeah, like I'm just going to hand myself over to a bunch of homicidal droids. I'm getting the impression that getting shot in the head is just a quick version of what's waiting for me." As the rifle was shoved in her face again, she stuck her tongue out and glared back at the droid. "Why am I worth shooting civilians over? Twi'lek slaves are a credit a dozen in some places."
The lead droid turned its head to the others, speaking to them in a unique form of binary before looking back to her again. "Exasperated explanation: Our contractor instructed us to track down a woman known as Tegama'Arani and bring her to designated coordinates, at any cost. We are merely following the guidelines as we see fit."
It sounded even more suspicious to her now. The Sith would have wanted them to make a statement in blood, but she hadn't the faintest clue about anyone else in the galaxy who could possibly want her. And while surrendering to the droids would save those civilians around her, it was completely at odds with her own sense of survival.
She needed another option.
"You sure it wasn't Segami'Orona? I don't know how it is with you droids, but I misread and hear stuff all the time. If so, you've just killed a bunch of people over a faulty translation."
"Observation: You are making a very poor attempt to delay your extraction from this situation." The droid turned towards the nearest landing bay where the others had begun to gather. "Statement: Our ship has arrived. Every attempt to delay us further will cost the life of another innocent bystander. Your parents would not approve of you jeopardizing their lives."
It cut deep into Maarani's being, but for once she was ready cover the pain up with her usual kind of sarcasm. "You really went there, didn't you? So much for heartless machines." With one last passing glance at the others, she bowed her head and very carefully stood back up. "Fine, you got me. I still maintain this is a waste of everyone's time, and some people's lives."
"Statement: Your opinion does not matter to us in this case, merely your cooperation. Personally we would enjoy nothing more than a touch of target practise, but that is not part of our contract." The droid took hold of her shoulder with such strength that she had to cry out in pain, shoving her out of the waiting area into the corridor. More encoded binary was exchanged between the droids as the outer door was opened.
Any time now Dana… Just be standing there behind that second door and destroy all these droids with your fancy Jedi powers. Gods forbid that Kiarna just happens to be standing there instead…
She could hear the door close behind them, locking into place before the inner door began to open. To her dismay, there were two more droids waiting there, rather than any kind of rescue.
"Query: Is this our designated target?"
"Confirmation: Facial scans, vocal records and DNA analysis confirm this is Tegama'Arani."
"Statement: Very good. Then your services are no longer required."
The droid on her left hurled a grenade right at the leader just behind her, while the other made two precise shots and downed the ones further back. After a brief shock through her shoulder, the painful grip fell away, followed shortly after by the loud clanking of heavy metal.
"Query: Are you alright, great Lady?"
Above all else, being referred to as a lady caused no shortage of confusion for Maarani. It was quite easily the last word she would use to describe herself. "I'm fine, provided you don't call me lady. Mind if I ask why you suddenly turned on your boss?"
The two droids turned to each other, exchanging more binary. After a lengthy conversation, the one to her right turned back and spoke normally again. "Explanation: We are part of a small group within the assassination, humanoid disposal and monetarily motivated violence conglomerate of Hunter-Killer Mark 50 droids that have been reprogrammed to ensure your safety, and that of a woman you may already know as Kiarna."
Her stunned silence deepened further upon the mention of her name. Of all the people in the galaxy that could have been mentioned…
"Why her? She's a Sith Lord, or very close to being one. Why would she even need help from within… your conglomerate? And why me?"
"Deflection: We would be more than pleased to explain at length, great Lady, but time does not permit such an activity. The other droids will have grown suspicious by now, and will not hesitate to terminate us when our treachery has been discovered."
The other droid was quick to follow up on his counterpart's point. "Suggestion: Leave Telos immediately, continue to move about the galaxy at irregular intervals, throw off your pursuers. The others like us can only do so much to protect you in your travels."
Both droids readied their weapons again, beginning to move past back towards the airlock. They ignored the binary communication being sent to the disabled leader.
"What? That's it?" Maarani was half-tempted to grab one of their arms and demand actual answers. Pushing her miraculous luck was likely to end very badly. "Someone reprogrammed you. Can you at least point me in the right direction so they can give me answers?" She stepped back a little as the droids looked to her again, this time silent for the most part.
"Cryptic: The Lady, the Seer, the Witch and the Silent have two things in common amongst them. Seek out what lies in between. You will find your answers." The speaking droid's eyes flickered right as the message ended. "Confusion: I do not have any recollection of being programmed with such an obtusely worded instruction."
"Agreement: I have no recollection of such a message either. But it will not matter in a few hours." They closed the inner door once Maarani was back inside the airlock and brought their blaster rifles to aim. The outer door began to open again.
"Battle cry: Yeargh!"
Right after they charged out, Maarani drew her pistol out, more as a precaution than an intention to join the fight outside. There was a new flurry of screams and other sounds of panic to drown out the gunfire being exchanged between the droids. Jumping in and trying to help would only make it all the worse for everyone involved, but she had to be ready to defend herself.
"Just stay low, dodge droid attacks, get to the shuttle. Easy right?" Her voice was shaky as she tried to reassure herself. Even if she did her best to avoid attracting attention, she was bright blue, and had a very large head shape.
A volley of shots rushed by in front of her face as soon as she peeked just around the corner. Station security had broken into the module by that point, waging a tense firefight against the droids while they did their best to evacuate the civilians still trapped in the corridor.
"Alert: The target is attempting to escape!"
"Big mouth." She took a quick shot at the nearest droid gunning for her before diving to the floor. Sparks and shards of hot metal flicked around her lekku as she awkwardly clambered over disabled droids and all manner of objects hurled across the room.
At the threshold of the airlock, she came to the horrible realization that the outer door was closed. The control panel was on the other side, a good three metres of complete exposure to attack.
"Hey! Someone mind shooting that panel? Or just making the door open would do. Anyone?"
A distinctive green shot struck the panel in question. She could hear and feel the magnetic locks releasing, allowing the door to open just a little. With a little effort she could create enough space to slide underneath.
There was strong apprehension while twisting around onto her back and slowly pushing herself towards the gap. If the door came back down on her halfway through, she would be trapped. And she didn't want to think once about what would happen if the magnetic locks were switched back on.
As soon as she placed her hands on the door and began pushing upward, a new dread settled in. It was far harder to budge than she anticipated. Through the floor plating, she could hear the mechanisms grinding against each other, all lacking the usual power provided to keep them in operation. At any moment, one of the assassin droids could walk over and end it all.
"Hold up!"
She twisted her head to the right as Izan dived down to the floor beside her. After everything else that had happened, she wasn't too surprised that he was once again coming to her rescue.
"Don't expect a kiss for good luck."
"Now's not the time for sass. Go!" He pushed up against the door with every ounce of strength he could muster. After a few strained growls, it began to budge up out of the way. With enough clearance, he slid further under the door to push directly up from his shoulders.
Maarani took a bit longer to shift herself underneath, needing a little more clearance for her head and chest. "Just get through and find my droid! She'll help!" She watched him work his way under the door quickly, only to start lifting it up from the safety of the airlock. It was enough for her to roll back onto her stomach and drag herself underneath as well.
"HK droids! What in the galaxy did you do to get them hunting your ass?" Izan took hold of her arm to hoist her back up onto her feet, only to release it in a display of anger. "Hidden Hand pirates are nothing compared to that! Those droids go after Force users and deadly assassins! So which is it tail-head?"
She was almost tempted to use her open hand to strike his face, settling for the fist instead. While he collapsed to the floor, clutching at his bruised jaw, she took hold of his jacket and tugged him back around to look at her. "First, don't you dare call me tail-head. Second, I don't owe you any answers. Saving my life only goes so far to make me not distrust you. And third…"
The bitter tone in her voice faded as she heard Cecile calling out from the safety of the ship. For the moment at least, she had to be careful about what she said. "I don't know why they're after me. I'm not a Force user. But they clearly have a reason, so chances are I'll have to hide and find out why." She took her turn to help him back up once he had seemingly calmed down as well. The sound of blaster fire from underneath the door was quickly fading away.
"You're following me for a reason, and right now I don't care, because I could use some Czerka help. If you want on my ship, you shut up and sit in a room until we leave Telos."
"I follow people of interest. Interest dies off quickly when the deadliest group of killers in the galaxy gets involved." Izan sighed, about to turn away when the blaster fire stopped altogether. Either security or the droids had won the fight, and neither would lend themselves to a pleasant resolution. "Bureaucracy, torture, or the fugitive life. Where's your ship?"
Maarani tilted her head to the open airlock while making her way into the landing bay. The hangar doors were still open at least, and Cecile was waiting at the foot of the ramp for her.
"Mistress Maarani, what was all that commotion outside? And why do you have a male date by your side? I thought-"
Without stopping in her step, Maarani grabbed one of Cecile's hands and yanked her back up the ramp, only releasing it when they were in the main room of the ship. "Don't say a word to him. Not until I've sorted this all out. Understood?"
After the nod, she pushed past to the cockpit and prepared for a very quick take-off. "Believe me, Izan, look out the window or step out of the ship and I will kick you into space!" The communication system flashed briefly as she prepared to launch out. With a flick of her hand it was shut off altogether. Being questioned by station security over the incident would take far too long, and expose her to far too many intrusive questions.
