A Failure's Tale - Chapter Four
Ceremony
The Republican Hall on Alderaan was were the ceremony was due to take place. I knew myself that their was no chance I was going to get in their through the front doors, I had to think of another way. I decided to find the back entrance. I couldn't take the risk of anyone seeing me, I'd be captured for sure. I would be prisoned, hell, maybe even executed.
I scanned around. It was dark. Two guards with Ion Blasters were placed at the front gates. I walked through the trees slowly as to not attract their attention, it was a cold night and I soon felt my nose go numb as the icyness hit me. All I could think about was Dustil and how proud I was of him. I felt like bantha crap for the year I'd wasted, I realised now that I may have other things to live for.
But the keyword was may have. I had a new life then, if you could call it that. I lived the life of Jaro Kep; drunkard extraordinaire. I doubted that my life was going to change. Too much. After a while of skirting around the area I came to the back of the Republican Hall, the coast was clear and I decided to make a move to get into the place.
I ran towards the railings and I began to climb over as quickly as I could. I didn't know if a patrol was going to come and find me an any moment so time was of the essence. After all these years and after all the training I ever had I never knew that my Physical Drill Instruction or P.D.I. for short would come in handy. I was a Pilot after all, not a Marine and definitely not Infantary.
The truth was I loathed P.D.I and anything physical. Uh, besides the obvious but well, that's something else, isn't it? But to get back on track, I hated Drill Instruction. I came top of my class in the Academy when it came to Math, Physics, Navigation, Tactics and Piloting. But when it came time to learn other skills, for example, scaling extremely large walls. I just wasn't cut out to do it. Five eleven or not, I was not a climbing sort of guy.
However, in all honesty I needed P.D.I. Some of the gravitational forces experienced especially when flying in orbit or down on the surface were horrifying. Without some kind of toned or muscular form a pilot would simply not survive. That didn't stop me from loathing it completely, though. To be honest, I wasn't built like the other pilots. Some of them were built like Wookie bouncers you see on doors of nightclubs and Cantina's. But "good" old me. One of the shortest pilots of the Republic and one of the less *beefy* pilots of the Republic became the one who defied death. Defeated Mandalorian *and* Sith aces. Became one of the high ranking tacticians within the Republic *and* I still managed to keep the morale of men and women going *and* still be a good leader to them.
That was the most self praise that you were going to get out of me.. Period. I finally got ontop the railings and jumped ungracefully to the grassy ground below me. I stayed bent and poised on my knees as I ran towards the shadowed wall. I ducked below the lighted windows and came to a door. I opened the panel and looked to see if their was any possible way I could slice into it. I wasn't the best computer user in the Galaxy but fortunately I'd learned a lot through the years. Mostly from Revan. May the Force rest her tortured soul.
Funnily enough, I actually said that out loud as I thought about it. I managed to slice the panel to the door and it opened, I scampered in ungraciously and looked around. The room was empty. I got my shades out my pocket and placed them over my eyes. Rivu was right when she said I looked different and now quite a lot of my hair had greyed which added to the "cool" exterior I had even more. Truth was, after Revan died, I'd aged. A lot.
Funny how a woman can do that to you. Make you age, that is. Over the past year I never really had any reason for anything other than to get drunk. I wasn't getting drunk thinking of Revan though. I was thinking of.. Thinking of emptiness, hollowness. I had nothing to think about, nothing to do with my life anymore. Seeing Dustil. Being proud of Dustil was now my temporary solace. I popped my head around the corner, a Republican Marine was strolling down the corridoor. Fortunately it was away from me.
I took my chance when the coast was clear and listened at the doors trying to find out which room the ceremony was taking place in. Then I heard it. I slid through the doors and crouched down at the back. Lots of soldiers were there, lots of proud families. And me, the proud failure father. I saw Dustil. He was a *real* man now. I knew that the day I left Manaan a year ago, I knew he had changed and he said he'd forgiven me.
It was wonderful to see him again, to see him there.
"And now may we honour Leuitenant Onasi. He fought for the cause and we won, we are proud to honour you with the highest honour the Republic can bestow." I saw the medal be pinned to my son's chest. He looked so damn proud of it. *I* was so damn proud of it. I'd never been awarded that medal in all my time with the Republic, I was almost envious.
But then again in my day I didn't have Sith Lords with giant sun eating factories running around destroying entire planets.
It seemed fitting. For a while I stayed that way. Watching him. He saluted his Admiral and sat back down. I watched the ceremony pass by. My heart swelled, it ached too but it mostly swelled with pride. At least my son was not a failure. He was *my* son. I saw him turn around and stare in my direction. Then he looked back. Then he realised. He turned and looked me straight in my shaded eyes. He knew I was there and that was all that mattered to me. When he looked again I would be gone. I left promptly.
***
I sat in the dark that night inside the hotel. I had hold of some Brandy in a tumbler and I lay back in my chair. I tried to think, think about anything at all. Again my mind was blank.
Their was a knock on the door.
"Enter." I said. Dustil. I stood up immediately and looked at him, I shifted on the spot uncomfortably.
"Father.. You broke in just to see me?" He asked, I nodded in his direction. I offered him my seat and he took it, he was the war hero now. Not me. I was scum.
I wasn't worthy to be pissed on by my own son if I was on fire.
"You shouldn't have.." He said, he looked down on the floor. I noticed a ring, a wedding band on his left hand.
"Dustil.. You got married?" My eyes lit up in joy, but then in sadness as I remembered that I could never attend his wedding and never see him normally.
"Oh.. Yes.. Yes I did." He said to me as he held his ring up in the darkness.
"Lights." I said and the lights came on in the room. I walked towards him and I stared intently at his hand. "What's her name?" I asked him.
"Her name is Qwenda." He replied. A smile arched across his face at the mention of his wifes name.
"I'm happy for you." I told him as I gulped down my Brandy and placed the tumbler on the bedside desk. "How did you find me?" I asked him.
"Rivu told me you renamed yourself to Jaro Kep.. So all I had to do was flash some credits at the Hotel Manager and sure enough, he told me you were here." He said as a grin creeped across his face. He'd lived rough after Morgana's death so I wasn't surprised that he lived on some bare instincts like that, somewhere.
"I see. I'm proud of you Dustil. You achieved more than I ever could.." I told him, sadness filled my voice up to the very brink.
"I.. Well. Dad. Why are you going around getting drunk? Why have you sunk so low? Rivu.. Rivu told me." The question shocked the core of my soul.
"I.." I needed to tell him the truth, tell him what burned me up so much. "When I was on Rivu's ship.. I heard about.. About Revan and her death." I choked when I said her name. It was the name that caused me so much grief, so much pain.
Their was a long, horrible pause between the both of us before Dustil began talking to me again. "I talked to some of my friends.. My contacts in the R.I.U." I stared at him, I remembered my contacts in the R.I.U. and I certainly hoped he didn't have them for the same reason I had them. "I really shouldn't tell you this-" I nodded in his direction.
"I understand about the oath, Dustil." I said to him.
"It isn't that. It's Revan. It wasn't as it seemed." I stared straight at him, my eyes widened. Was I wrong to give up my hope?
"She's alive."
Half of me wanted to forget her.
The other half loved her to mere death.
Somedays it was okay, somedays I was able to forget.
But a time like this.
*ALL* of me loved her to death.
I darted across the room and grabbed Dustil by his uniform with both of my hands. I didn't realise what I was doing. Dustil just laughed. "I had a feeling you loved her." He said softly.
"Where...-" I composed myself and let go of his uniform. "Please tell me where she is.." I all but begged my son.
"I don't know, but the R.I.U. questioned Canderous Ordo who was badly injured after the attack on Manaan. Maybe you could start there?" He said to me, I nodded in his direction.
"Where is he? Tell me." I begged him again, he just nodded.
"It isn't going to be easy. He's on Coruscant." As soon as Dustil said this I started to leave. My heart thumped at the thought that I may see Revan again. I realised that hiding my identity on Coruscant was going to be hard but it was going to be just as hard if not harder getting information from a Mandalorian that hated my guts.
"DAD.. Wait. Oh brother!" I heard Dustil shout. I heard his booted feet run down the corridoor towards my already running figure. "For crying out loud!" I heard him shout. I smirked and laughed to myself. I turned around, gave him a salute and bade him farewell. He saluted me back.
"Don't forget. You're a true hero, father." He said to me. I smiled.
I mouthed the words "Thankyou" to him and bowed happily before turning and running again.
He was definitely my son.
----------
Gave you two chapters because I thought chapter 3 sucks.
Athena: Thanks .. I got the mail 'n all so ^_^ .. Yeah.. Things will be fun and get better and it does get intriguing I promise ..
Well back to my alcohol :D lol.
Ceremony
The Republican Hall on Alderaan was were the ceremony was due to take place. I knew myself that their was no chance I was going to get in their through the front doors, I had to think of another way. I decided to find the back entrance. I couldn't take the risk of anyone seeing me, I'd be captured for sure. I would be prisoned, hell, maybe even executed.
I scanned around. It was dark. Two guards with Ion Blasters were placed at the front gates. I walked through the trees slowly as to not attract their attention, it was a cold night and I soon felt my nose go numb as the icyness hit me. All I could think about was Dustil and how proud I was of him. I felt like bantha crap for the year I'd wasted, I realised now that I may have other things to live for.
But the keyword was may have. I had a new life then, if you could call it that. I lived the life of Jaro Kep; drunkard extraordinaire. I doubted that my life was going to change. Too much. After a while of skirting around the area I came to the back of the Republican Hall, the coast was clear and I decided to make a move to get into the place.
I ran towards the railings and I began to climb over as quickly as I could. I didn't know if a patrol was going to come and find me an any moment so time was of the essence. After all these years and after all the training I ever had I never knew that my Physical Drill Instruction or P.D.I. for short would come in handy. I was a Pilot after all, not a Marine and definitely not Infantary.
The truth was I loathed P.D.I and anything physical. Uh, besides the obvious but well, that's something else, isn't it? But to get back on track, I hated Drill Instruction. I came top of my class in the Academy when it came to Math, Physics, Navigation, Tactics and Piloting. But when it came time to learn other skills, for example, scaling extremely large walls. I just wasn't cut out to do it. Five eleven or not, I was not a climbing sort of guy.
However, in all honesty I needed P.D.I. Some of the gravitational forces experienced especially when flying in orbit or down on the surface were horrifying. Without some kind of toned or muscular form a pilot would simply not survive. That didn't stop me from loathing it completely, though. To be honest, I wasn't built like the other pilots. Some of them were built like Wookie bouncers you see on doors of nightclubs and Cantina's. But "good" old me. One of the shortest pilots of the Republic and one of the less *beefy* pilots of the Republic became the one who defied death. Defeated Mandalorian *and* Sith aces. Became one of the high ranking tacticians within the Republic *and* I still managed to keep the morale of men and women going *and* still be a good leader to them.
That was the most self praise that you were going to get out of me.. Period. I finally got ontop the railings and jumped ungracefully to the grassy ground below me. I stayed bent and poised on my knees as I ran towards the shadowed wall. I ducked below the lighted windows and came to a door. I opened the panel and looked to see if their was any possible way I could slice into it. I wasn't the best computer user in the Galaxy but fortunately I'd learned a lot through the years. Mostly from Revan. May the Force rest her tortured soul.
Funnily enough, I actually said that out loud as I thought about it. I managed to slice the panel to the door and it opened, I scampered in ungraciously and looked around. The room was empty. I got my shades out my pocket and placed them over my eyes. Rivu was right when she said I looked different and now quite a lot of my hair had greyed which added to the "cool" exterior I had even more. Truth was, after Revan died, I'd aged. A lot.
Funny how a woman can do that to you. Make you age, that is. Over the past year I never really had any reason for anything other than to get drunk. I wasn't getting drunk thinking of Revan though. I was thinking of.. Thinking of emptiness, hollowness. I had nothing to think about, nothing to do with my life anymore. Seeing Dustil. Being proud of Dustil was now my temporary solace. I popped my head around the corner, a Republican Marine was strolling down the corridoor. Fortunately it was away from me.
I took my chance when the coast was clear and listened at the doors trying to find out which room the ceremony was taking place in. Then I heard it. I slid through the doors and crouched down at the back. Lots of soldiers were there, lots of proud families. And me, the proud failure father. I saw Dustil. He was a *real* man now. I knew that the day I left Manaan a year ago, I knew he had changed and he said he'd forgiven me.
It was wonderful to see him again, to see him there.
"And now may we honour Leuitenant Onasi. He fought for the cause and we won, we are proud to honour you with the highest honour the Republic can bestow." I saw the medal be pinned to my son's chest. He looked so damn proud of it. *I* was so damn proud of it. I'd never been awarded that medal in all my time with the Republic, I was almost envious.
But then again in my day I didn't have Sith Lords with giant sun eating factories running around destroying entire planets.
It seemed fitting. For a while I stayed that way. Watching him. He saluted his Admiral and sat back down. I watched the ceremony pass by. My heart swelled, it ached too but it mostly swelled with pride. At least my son was not a failure. He was *my* son. I saw him turn around and stare in my direction. Then he looked back. Then he realised. He turned and looked me straight in my shaded eyes. He knew I was there and that was all that mattered to me. When he looked again I would be gone. I left promptly.
***
I sat in the dark that night inside the hotel. I had hold of some Brandy in a tumbler and I lay back in my chair. I tried to think, think about anything at all. Again my mind was blank.
Their was a knock on the door.
"Enter." I said. Dustil. I stood up immediately and looked at him, I shifted on the spot uncomfortably.
"Father.. You broke in just to see me?" He asked, I nodded in his direction. I offered him my seat and he took it, he was the war hero now. Not me. I was scum.
I wasn't worthy to be pissed on by my own son if I was on fire.
"You shouldn't have.." He said, he looked down on the floor. I noticed a ring, a wedding band on his left hand.
"Dustil.. You got married?" My eyes lit up in joy, but then in sadness as I remembered that I could never attend his wedding and never see him normally.
"Oh.. Yes.. Yes I did." He said to me as he held his ring up in the darkness.
"Lights." I said and the lights came on in the room. I walked towards him and I stared intently at his hand. "What's her name?" I asked him.
"Her name is Qwenda." He replied. A smile arched across his face at the mention of his wifes name.
"I'm happy for you." I told him as I gulped down my Brandy and placed the tumbler on the bedside desk. "How did you find me?" I asked him.
"Rivu told me you renamed yourself to Jaro Kep.. So all I had to do was flash some credits at the Hotel Manager and sure enough, he told me you were here." He said as a grin creeped across his face. He'd lived rough after Morgana's death so I wasn't surprised that he lived on some bare instincts like that, somewhere.
"I see. I'm proud of you Dustil. You achieved more than I ever could.." I told him, sadness filled my voice up to the very brink.
"I.. Well. Dad. Why are you going around getting drunk? Why have you sunk so low? Rivu.. Rivu told me." The question shocked the core of my soul.
"I.." I needed to tell him the truth, tell him what burned me up so much. "When I was on Rivu's ship.. I heard about.. About Revan and her death." I choked when I said her name. It was the name that caused me so much grief, so much pain.
Their was a long, horrible pause between the both of us before Dustil began talking to me again. "I talked to some of my friends.. My contacts in the R.I.U." I stared at him, I remembered my contacts in the R.I.U. and I certainly hoped he didn't have them for the same reason I had them. "I really shouldn't tell you this-" I nodded in his direction.
"I understand about the oath, Dustil." I said to him.
"It isn't that. It's Revan. It wasn't as it seemed." I stared straight at him, my eyes widened. Was I wrong to give up my hope?
"She's alive."
Half of me wanted to forget her.
The other half loved her to mere death.
Somedays it was okay, somedays I was able to forget.
But a time like this.
*ALL* of me loved her to death.
I darted across the room and grabbed Dustil by his uniform with both of my hands. I didn't realise what I was doing. Dustil just laughed. "I had a feeling you loved her." He said softly.
"Where...-" I composed myself and let go of his uniform. "Please tell me where she is.." I all but begged my son.
"I don't know, but the R.I.U. questioned Canderous Ordo who was badly injured after the attack on Manaan. Maybe you could start there?" He said to me, I nodded in his direction.
"Where is he? Tell me." I begged him again, he just nodded.
"It isn't going to be easy. He's on Coruscant." As soon as Dustil said this I started to leave. My heart thumped at the thought that I may see Revan again. I realised that hiding my identity on Coruscant was going to be hard but it was going to be just as hard if not harder getting information from a Mandalorian that hated my guts.
"DAD.. Wait. Oh brother!" I heard Dustil shout. I heard his booted feet run down the corridoor towards my already running figure. "For crying out loud!" I heard him shout. I smirked and laughed to myself. I turned around, gave him a salute and bade him farewell. He saluted me back.
"Don't forget. You're a true hero, father." He said to me. I smiled.
I mouthed the words "Thankyou" to him and bowed happily before turning and running again.
He was definitely my son.
----------
Gave you two chapters because I thought chapter 3 sucks.
Athena: Thanks .. I got the mail 'n all so ^_^ .. Yeah.. Things will be fun and get better and it does get intriguing I promise ..
Well back to my alcohol :D lol.