Title:  Tourniquet
Author:  NicolaAfyon
Rating:  PG-13
Summary:  Meli Afyon's gotten herself into some trouble, and it's all because of him dying.  She'll turn to the Dark Side and it'll take a familiar face to bring her back again.
Dramatis Personae
Lieutenant Colonel Nicola Afyon (female human)
Major Adra Loran (female human)
Major Bror Afyon (male human)
Calik Celchu (male human)
Liselle Afyon (female human)
Melidere Afyon (female human)
Inyri Loran (female human)

Chapter 1 - Talking Doesn't Really Work

Liselle pushed the door to the Wraith lounge and came to an abrupt halt as she caught sight of her twin sitting on the couch, talking to Ciny. Pursing her mouth, she spun on her heel and stalked back to the training room she'd just come from. She reinforced the mental block for her and Meli's twin bond as she started to punch the training dummy.

Through the Force, she felt Inyri follow her in. Seeing her shake her head slightly out of the corner of her eye, she continued to punch.

"Alright, while I can pick up the basic idea of what went wrong, what exactly happened?" Inyri asked her triplet.

"You want the short version or the long version?"

Inyri took a seat on an out of use dummy and made herself comfortable. "Whichever I'll be sure to understand most from."

Liselle continued to punch the entire time she explained. "Well, you remember how back on that first mission we went on, Meli got really into that Imp boy, Maxen?"

Inyri nodded. "Yeah..."

"Well let's just say that Meli kept on looking Maxen up whenever we went to Bastion and I think she would've slept with him the last time if I hadn't yelled at her through the twin bond."

Inyri gaped at Liselle. "Are you serious? That's...insane. I mean, yeah I can understand if we did something like that with Rane or Dav, in my case, but... Stang..."

Liselle continued to punch and threw in the occasional kick. "Yeah, my point exactly. And of course, we all know how Meli likes to look a lot. Once she finally got it into her head that she could never really date an Imp, she went on to the NR pilots."

"What do you mean? Now she's playing with the flyboy bits of all the NR pilots within 10 years of our age?"

She shook her head as she let her legs fly into a scissor kick. "No, she wasn't playing, just going around from guy to guy, nothing more than a few kisses and a drink. I talked to Doran the other day, he's still in love with her, and he said that all the pilots like her because she's, and I quote here, 'tall, blonde, pretty, a Jedi, a pilot, a demolitions expert, and hot.' Not my words, his. And that was until she met that Casmir Meltzer guy."

Inyri nodded. "Aha. I see what you're saying now." She scowled and shook her head. "She needs to quit playing around."

Liselle glared at the undeserving dummy and used a particular painful double punch on it. "Right again. She's the one who's never had a steady relationship out of us and I'm not counting Cerise in this. Anyways, she goes and sleeps with this Casmir Meltzer guy about 4 months ago and I obviously found out being her glorious twin. We had an argument, she asked me if she thought that she was a whore or something and I said that she was acting like one. We managed to patch that up a bit and be civil to one another."

Inyri's scowl deepened. "Maybe this isn't my place to say it, but the way she's going about it, she is acting like one. Slut, whore, whatever you want to call it, that's what she's being. Play with a guy until he kisses you and buys you a few drinks, and then put a jump to the next open lap." She shook her head angrily. "That's going to get her into a lot of trouble some day. And I don't even count anyone like Cerise right now."

"That's what I told her. The thing I did wrong here was that I didn't tell Mom, Dad, or Aunt Adra about what Meli was doing. And say whatever you want, you're more my sister right now than she is."

Inyri shrugged. "So correct the error and tell one of them. Or all of them. At the rate she goes about this, I doubt any of us could get her to stop unless she fell head over heels in love with someone. However, seeing as she's 'sampled' all the pilots in the NR, that doesn't seem like a possibility."

"Easy for you to say," Liselle said her tone a tad sharp. "Anyways, I cut myself off from her about two weeks ago when we had that really big argument." She paused. "You were there I think. And as much as I don't want to try and justify her actions, I think that she took losing Maxen really hard."

The pilot shrugged again. "Yeah, well, then, again not meaning to get over my head, she needs to figure out if she'd rather an Imperial boyfriend and to fly a TIE or if she'd like to shape up and continue flying in the NR."

Breathing more heavily than she had been a moment ago, Liselle stopped punching the dummy and went to sit on the dummy beside her triplet. "You're right; we just need to tell her that."

Inyri raised an eyebrow along with her gaze, which had been at a fixed point on the floor, and said sarcastically, "Wow, I'm actually right for once." She grinned. "Sorry, sarcasm. But...well... I guess then we've gotta do that. And if the only way it'll get into her head is by saying it directly, we'll do it that way."

"Directly? Define directly?"

"Directly. As in, exactly what I told you, to her face. Not over comm, or other. With Mom and Aunt Adr- Er... I mean, Mom and Aunt Nicola to back us up." She grinned sheepishly.

"Damn, I had a feeling you were going to say that." She grinned at Inyri calling Nicola mom. "And we have been together too long."

"I know." She hung her head theatrically. "And if you don't want to tell her, I will. You have to be with me though."

Liselle put her head in her hands. "We use to be like two parts of a whole and now we're totally separate and it's like we're from separate galaxies."

Inyri fidgeted absently, probably because she couldn't compare Liselle's twin bond with anything beside her own bond with Davin, though that definitely didn't fit here. "I'm sorry... If I could do something, I would. Maybe you should go talk to Garik or Kai. After their little 'Wonder Mission' they were acting something like you two are now."

She shook her head. "That's different, Meli and I use to talk in unison and finish each others sentences; we were the same person in two bodies."

Inyri shrugged. "Yeah, I know. But that was my attempt to console. I don't exactly have a talent for it, considering who my parents are. And as I remember it, you two weren't the only ones finishing each other's sentences."

Liselle managed a slight grin. "Good point." She pushed herself back off the dummy. "Alright, let's go find our moms."

Inyri paused at the plural form of 'moms;' apparently she had forgotten that they weren't on an NRI mission. Most of the times when they were those missions, Inyri had posed as a triplet or sister to Liselle or Meli and not a separate unit. "Alrighty..." She stood up. "Let's go find our moms then." She led the way towards the lounge.

Liselle followed her. "Mom? Aunt Adra?"

Adra didn't look up from the project that was on the table, which had wires sticking out at off angles. "Hmm?" She asked absently, still fiddling with the project.

Nicola looked up and caught sight of her daughter's expression. "Lis? Something wrong?" She elbowed Adra in the stomach.

Liselle raised her eyebrows. "Umm yeah, majorly yeah."

Adra muttered something incoherent before attaching another wire and looking up. "What's wrong then?"

Inyri pulled a chair out to sit. "Well, Meli."

Liselle looked around the room quickly before saying, "Not here Inyri, too many ears." She lead her friend, her mom, and her aunt into a nearby empty briefing room, ignoring her aunt's mutterings about being interrupted in the middle of a project.

Nicola raised an eyebrow at her daughter. "Alright, Liselle; what about Meli? I know there's something wrong but Meli's been keeping quiet and so have the younger twins."

Inyri sidled toward the wall and Liselle muttered quietly to her friend, "Thanks for the support 'Nyri."

Hey, I'd help, but I don't know why you do or don't want me to say.

Adra took a seat of her own and turned towards the teens. "How about both of you start explaining. If it's so urgent, I'm sure you'll find a way to voice it."

Liselle paced for a few seconds before finally sitting down in a chair of her own. "Alright, fine, here goes nothing. Meli's been, a bit, umm, odd lately. Wait, that's not the right phrase. She's been having guy troubles I suppose you could say, though I don't think that's really the right phrase either."

"More than one guy actually," Inyri added. "And they're not all within the NR."

Nicola looked down at her daughter, apparently remembering her own Targeter experiences. "Oh no, please tell me it's no the Imps."

Adra sighed exasperatedly. "Nicola, what other major government is out there but the Imps?"

Nicola's expression grew stony. "Great, just kriffin' great. My daughter's making the same mistakes I did."

"Umm, not exactly." Liselle said slowly. "Not with the Imps at least."

"And no offense, Aunt Nicola, she's also not correcting them as quickly as you did." Inyri added.

Nicola sighed. "It took me four years to correct them and then the next year, it came right back and slapped me in the face. Not quite sure you could call that quickly."

"But you didn't go flirting with every NR pilot you saw in those four years, either."

"Oh Force no." Nicola slammed a fist into the wall.

Adra grabbed Nicola's wrist before she could do it again. "If you do that any more, Tainer and company won't need one of Tyria's devices to listen in." She looked over at the girls. "So what would you like us to do about this?"

Liselle sat silently, her head in her arms as Inyri shifted from foot to foot behind her, looking at her mother. Finally, Inyri said, "I don't know... Basically, we need Meli to figure it out before something, for lack of better word, 'bad' happens. We just need people who have more power than being the same age and your squadron commanders to tell her it.

Nicola jerked her wrist out of Adra's grasp and slammed her fist into the wall once more. "I screwed up Adra, I sithin' screwed up."

Adra looked back over at her friend sharply, trying not to let what she was thinking get out of her mouth. "No, you didn't screw up. You told your kids everything they needed to know, told them what you expected of them, and, like any proper parent, let them make their own decisions. Luckily for you, it was only one of the four who didn't listen to the advice you gave. You didn't screw up Nicola. There is no screwing up when you raise kids. There's no instruction manual that comes with them. Don't even go there."

"Well how do you explain me not figuring out what Meli's been doing? Wait, how long has she been like this?"

Liselle's muffled voice came out. "She started the real bad stuff about 2 years ago, she was in love with Maxen, the Imp boy, since we were 16."

"Oh great, just sithin' great." Nicola said sarcastically.

"Nicola that can easily be compared to three of my four children not being planned. If you're a bad parent, then I'm just as bad." Adra looked over at Liselle and then back at Nicola. "At this rate, your only option is finding Meli and telling her what she can and cannot do." She shrugged. "Now, if anyone needs more help from the 'I-know-computers-better-then-I- know-humans' pilot, let me know."

Nicola sighed and rolled her eyes. "Alright, I need help. That count as letting you know?"

Adra muttered a few Huttese curses underneath her breath before putting on a false smile. "But of course. Now, my advice to you is to march your Lieutenant Coloneling butt out there and to find your daughter. Get what I'm saying? Oh, and does Ritril know? He should've been keeping tabs on this too, considering she was his padawan."

Liselle looked up, her expression torn. "Um, Aunt Adra?"

"Yeah?" Adra said, as she looked over, "You're interfering with my thought process. Continue."

"I couldn't even get into her brain with out a lot of work and in the end, I had to go through the twin bond."

Adra raised an eyebrow at her. 'Until you've taught a padawan, I can't assume you'll get it, but like I told Kai, Jedi Masters are supposed to be able to break past the barriers their padawans put in place and they should be able to do it easily, even after they become a Knight. So unless they're using the Dark Side, it's pretty much impossible for her to keep it up. Especially if more than one person is trying to get said barriers down."

"At this point," Liselle started, her tone a bit dry, "I don't know what side of the Force Meli's using."

Adra glared, apparently no long able to keep her sarcasm and lack-of-sleep-temper in check. "Well then, would you prefer if I just called Mara Jade's mother and asked her to come and find out for us? Or perhaps Master Skywalker? Or the Force presence of Emperor Palpatine himself?"

Nicola groaned. "Great, even better. My daughter might be using the Dark side of the Force."

Inyri slid her chair behind Liselle's. Liselle rolled her eyes and muttered, "Oh this is a wonderful idea, Inyri, just wonderful."

"And I was supposed to know it would turn out this way?" Inyri muttered in return.

"Good point."

Adra continued to rant on, even as she walked out of the room and towards the demolitions range. Inyri jumped up and ran out the door after her mother. "Mom! You can't just go dragging Meli inside because you have half a reason to!"

"I'd like to see you stop me," Adra replied curtly as she kept walking briskly. Nicola followed her friend, and Liselle and Inyri fell into step behind her. Meli looked up as she saw the group heading towards her and just as a grenade exploded. Nicola stepped up front and crossed her arms.

"Meli, we need to talk."

"Actually, you need to listen," Adra added in, her head titled slightly.

Meli looked behind them to see Inyri and Liselle. "Oh no, not this again. Now they've gone for reinforcements."

Nicola raised an eyebrow and shot a glare at her middle daughter. "Melidere, we're talking, you're listening." She gestured behind herself. "They aren't talking either."

Adra bit her tongue, trying hard not to say anything while Meli winced at the use of her full name. "Fine then, talk."

"Without the attitude," Adra said quickly, before shutting up again.

"Listen to your aunt," Nicola said curtly. "Now then, I've heard you've been having some fun with the other pilot boys."

Meli shrugged. "It was just a few drinks and a couple kisses. Pretty harmless stuff,"

"Until it doesn't end there with or without your consent."

Meli whirled around to face Liselle, her expression outraged. "You told them? Liselle, you- you-"

Nicola reached out quickly with the Force to shut both of her daughters' mouths before either one said anything rash. "It doesn't matter what they told us, Melidere."

"At this rate Melidere, you've got no right to talk to your sister like that," Adra broke in.  "Excuse me Nicola, but I've got to make this known right now. Melidere, you're being spoken to without a choice because at this rate, of yourself and your twin, she's the one acting her age. You're acting like you're a fresh-mouth thirteen-year old who's never had anyone tell you anything about bad ways to ruin your life. I know for a fact that that's not true, because not only your mother, but I and your other aunts also have told you, Lis, Inyri, and the rest of your group about mistakes we've all made in our lives. And while we may not be perfect, we certainly know when enough is enough. So either start acting your age, or we'll treat you the age we see you as. Your sister had every right to say something; end the remarks."

Meli shot a glare at her twin but kept silent for the moment.

"And the glares."

Thank you Adra, Nicola thanked her friend with the Force.

I just used up my kid correction quota for the day. And no problem... I was actually more concerned about you contradicting what I might say, truth be told. Adra replied.

I can't really contradict the truth now can I?

* * * * *

Meli opened her mouth again to say something, but Nicola held up a hand, once more silencing her daughter. "We're talking, you're listening, remember?" As Meli slowly nodded, Nicola started talking again. "You're sister was right in coming to talk to us. You need to get out of this rut you've gotten yourself into and you need to do it fast and you need to do it now."

Meli glared over at Liselle again and hurled an explosive down towards the other end, letting it explode in mid air. Adra gave her a hard look as Nicola added. "Don't do that." She turned away, rolling her eyes.

"Melidere Liana Afyon." She winced at her mother's use of her full name. "There are only three ways to figure this out. We can figure this all out between us now, we can get your father and Uncle Cloud involved in this, or we can simply inform the Council and both you, Cloud, and the rest of us will be dragged over there."

"Leave Uncle Cloud out of this! It's not his fault, and I was knighted before of this really happened," Meli retorted, eyes flashing.

"We just went over this," Adra reminded her.

The explosion girl stood up again and paced back and forth before stopping and sitting back down again. "Fine, let's so call 'figure this out' now though I don't know what there is to figure out."

"Could you explain to me why you went out with Maxen?" Liselle asked a bit curiously.

"He's a guy, I'm a girl, we were attracted to each other. What else is there to say?" Meli replied simply.

"He's an Imp and you're an NR pilot along with an NRI officer?"

"Oh yeah, and I almost forgot, he's dead and I'm alive," Meli added sarcastically.

Once more, Nicola used the Force to shut the twins' mouths. "Stop, both of you. Keep going Melidere."

Meli shrugged slightly. "It was about two years ago when my then identity got a comm. Message from the Noors telling me that Maxen was dead. Something inside my head snapped and I went out to a lower-level Couscaunti/Corellian bar. I got drunk and so did more than a few NR pilots right along with me. I wasn't thinking right and I ended up kissing some of them and sitting in their laps; or at least I think that's what happened."

Inyri's eyes widened. "That's why I found you asleep in the lounge the next day ad you had a killer headache then!"

She winced and nodded. "Yeah probably. Well it pretty much stayed harmless and I didn't seriously get that drunk until about five months ago. We'd just won that battle and me, some fresh Academy boys and girls, and some of the other special forces pilots. And you all know how that turned out."

"Melidere, how drunk were you when you and this Casmir Meltzer first started any romantically inclined actions?" Adra asked her holddaughter.

"Not very."

"Melidere, don't lie to your aunt," Nicola said mildly.

"Okay, fine, a little drunk."

"Melidere."

"Alright alright! Pretty drunk, but still decently coherent."

"And how drunk was Casmir Meltzer?"

"A little less drunk than me."

"Okay, continue then."

"Oh thanks ever so much," Meli replied sarcastically. "Not that there even is anything else to tell."

"Tell us anyways, Meli," Nicola said calmly.

Meli's expression grew guarded and whatever headway Nicola might've started to make with her daughter screeched to a halt and a door was slammed shut.

"There's nothing left to tell, Mother. Now if you'll excuse me, I have work I need to do."

Hurling one last explosive, Meli grabbed her bag, slung it over her shoulder, and stalked back towards the building, leaving a flabbergasted group behind her.

* * * * *

Inwardly, Meli fumed at her sister and cousin. How dare they! How dare they! Of all things, her triplets had been the ones to go to her mother, and consequently her aunt, about this! What she did with her life, and her body for that matter, was her own business. Why should her twin give a damn if she slept with a guy she hardly knew? For Force sake, she'd even bothered to cut herself off before she had slept with him!

Of course, she hadn't exactly bothered to correct Liselle just now when she'd said that she'd never slept with Maxen. She had gone back to Bastion about three weeks before he died and they had enjoyed a couple nights together during which she'd completely severed herself from Liselle and the rest of the Force.

Not that that mattered now.

Deciding to head towards the sims instead of her room like she'd originally planned, she pulled out a datacard she'd bribed Koyi into making for her and inserted it into the sim slot. For some not so odd reason, she had a feeling she'd be in there for awhile.

* * * * *

Sighing, Nicola rubbed her temples with both hands. "Does anyone understand what just happened here?"

Liselle winced slightly and made a face. "You really don't want to know Mom; trust me on this one."

Still rubbing her temples, Nicola nodded and turned back towards the building. "Well I'm going to go inside and see if your father has a better idea about this than I do."

Nodding, Adra, Liselle, and Inyri watched her go, the same question on all four women's minds: What the sith was wrong with Meli?