Chapter 4: Aquaintces in the Right Places
"What was that about?" Jan asked as she sat in the co-pilots chair.
"Well...I need to process it all myself first." He ran a hand through his brown hair. "I need you to stay on watch right now. I sent a message to the chief rock, I should receive a return one soon."
"Gotcha." She watched his retreating back; "You want me to wake you when it comes in?"
"In fact patch it through to my bunk screen, she'll have questions of her own."
He left Jan to the controls and took a short walk back to his cabin. Not intending to he stopped by the door to Avingale's room. He stood there for several minutes, wrestling with his own thought before entering. He moved to where the girl rested. "I left that life long ago Padawan. I chose this time because I could start fresh. No disappointments and no memories of failure to plague me. I am Master Miohs Tamsis no longer. I'm not master nor even a Jedi. I am Kyle Katarn, Captain of the Moldy Crow and that's all."
She rolled over in her sleep placing her back to him. Then sent to him. 'Believe what you will Master, but the Force has thrown you in deeper than you know.'
He strode out of the chamber wondering mildly why her turning her back to him hurt a little. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Avingale suffered in silence. He had admitted it. Then slapped her in the face. Insulting her with the most ancient of terms. She was half tempted to let it all go, to become the complete blank that so many favored once returning to the flesh. Though she knew the reason that she had been allowed to remember. Not that it did her much good, the pain it was causing right now wasn't worth all the knowledge she had store in her head. She wished she could be so lucky as to get deja vu and flashes.
She blinked twice. Deja Vu. That is all that much of this had been until recently. Until her coming of age trial, that's when the hallucinations began. Three days in the desert with no food and no water during storm season.
The first had come at a day and a half. It was nothing more than her chasing her new adopted sister through the camp. It should have been a simple task to bring a three year old to the meal and prepare for a brief rest, however things became all confused. She instead felt herself being chased by another. A person not much older than her. He caught her by her red hair. His other hand grabbed her shoulder and turned her around...and she was back in her village. At it's edge being reined in by an adult before she ran too far.
Her second fever dream was nothing more than a rapid succession of recent memories of her recent desert trial. The thing she hadn't realized before was that she had caused the sandstorm. Her irritation at her situation bled to her surroundings creating the one thing that would annoy her even more. Or was it something more than her will that caused the storm right then...maybe it was meant to be that she was here with the soul of her former Master.
That's when it hit her. Her ability to read object histories by touch must have triggered this. It was a rare gift among her people. She looked back into her past memories. There was one that stuck out and it explained perfectly why this incident happened. She had been the chief interrogator for intelligence. She had been an expert at manipulating and peeling memories from people. It was that, to a somewhat lesser degree, which led to her current innate ability now. That which had caused her to recognize the soul within CPT Katarn. It, which tore down the transparisteel walls that sectioned off the soul's memories from the flesh. To patch that back together would be to lose everything.
"Ugg. Nothing worse than someone who won't face destiny."
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~~ ~ ~ ~ ~
His sleep was fitful. The half remembered past causing him to toss and turn. A snippet of a young woman, eyes fairly crackling with her anger, a dull gray skinned Twilek falling to his death...an argument between Master and Padawan resulting in them parting...falling in love, marrying and despairing at the death of that person.
A quiet chirruping interrupted his sleep. "Kyle, the Head Rock is on the comm. Wants to talk to you." Jan's voice imposed itself for a moment into the dream. It came from the dead woman's lips and felt right being there.
He shook himself from it. "Give me a minute, then patch it through."
A few minutes later he was decent enough to present himself in front of the transmitter. "What you got?"
Her look said 'a good swift kick for you Katarn' but she said, "Nothing in my normal search base." His crestfallen look made her hastily add, "But other searches turned up interesting facts. The data was extremely old and difficult to decipher but it associated the name Shae Nival with the ancient sport of Grav-ball."
He let out a low whistle. "That sport changed drastically around 15,000 years ago didn't it?" He knew full well that it had he just needed to hear conformation. While he waited for Tionne to reply, which was not long, he poured himself a cup of caf.
"Yes. That's why it took me most of the day to find so dreadfully little...hey are you all right?"
He took a sip from his mug, "Yeah, fine. Was there anything else?"
"Just that she disappeared after the last grand championship held before anti-grav units were introduced into the game..."
He took another sip of caf to push back the nausea that had suddenly overcome him with the memory that statement evoked. Tionne did not catch this one because he had his gaze locked o his cup.
"...I haven't consulted the Holocron's yet, just the public access and old temple records..."
He cut her off. "They weren't that meticulous with the records yet. Please check the rest and get back with me."
Noting that he was becoming rather impatient she asked, "Why is this so important?"
He leveled his gaze at her. "Because we have a thirteen year old, desert-brained girl on board that believes she's this person reborn. The trouble is I am beginning to believe her."
She arched an eyebrow. "Oh, well I'll be back with you on that as soon as I can. Head Rock out." She smiled as she switched the transceiver off.
"Moldy Crow out."
"What was that about?" Jan asked as she sat in the co-pilots chair.
"Well...I need to process it all myself first." He ran a hand through his brown hair. "I need you to stay on watch right now. I sent a message to the chief rock, I should receive a return one soon."
"Gotcha." She watched his retreating back; "You want me to wake you when it comes in?"
"In fact patch it through to my bunk screen, she'll have questions of her own."
He left Jan to the controls and took a short walk back to his cabin. Not intending to he stopped by the door to Avingale's room. He stood there for several minutes, wrestling with his own thought before entering. He moved to where the girl rested. "I left that life long ago Padawan. I chose this time because I could start fresh. No disappointments and no memories of failure to plague me. I am Master Miohs Tamsis no longer. I'm not master nor even a Jedi. I am Kyle Katarn, Captain of the Moldy Crow and that's all."
She rolled over in her sleep placing her back to him. Then sent to him. 'Believe what you will Master, but the Force has thrown you in deeper than you know.'
He strode out of the chamber wondering mildly why her turning her back to him hurt a little. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Avingale suffered in silence. He had admitted it. Then slapped her in the face. Insulting her with the most ancient of terms. She was half tempted to let it all go, to become the complete blank that so many favored once returning to the flesh. Though she knew the reason that she had been allowed to remember. Not that it did her much good, the pain it was causing right now wasn't worth all the knowledge she had store in her head. She wished she could be so lucky as to get deja vu and flashes.
She blinked twice. Deja Vu. That is all that much of this had been until recently. Until her coming of age trial, that's when the hallucinations began. Three days in the desert with no food and no water during storm season.
The first had come at a day and a half. It was nothing more than her chasing her new adopted sister through the camp. It should have been a simple task to bring a three year old to the meal and prepare for a brief rest, however things became all confused. She instead felt herself being chased by another. A person not much older than her. He caught her by her red hair. His other hand grabbed her shoulder and turned her around...and she was back in her village. At it's edge being reined in by an adult before she ran too far.
Her second fever dream was nothing more than a rapid succession of recent memories of her recent desert trial. The thing she hadn't realized before was that she had caused the sandstorm. Her irritation at her situation bled to her surroundings creating the one thing that would annoy her even more. Or was it something more than her will that caused the storm right then...maybe it was meant to be that she was here with the soul of her former Master.
That's when it hit her. Her ability to read object histories by touch must have triggered this. It was a rare gift among her people. She looked back into her past memories. There was one that stuck out and it explained perfectly why this incident happened. She had been the chief interrogator for intelligence. She had been an expert at manipulating and peeling memories from people. It was that, to a somewhat lesser degree, which led to her current innate ability now. That which had caused her to recognize the soul within CPT Katarn. It, which tore down the transparisteel walls that sectioned off the soul's memories from the flesh. To patch that back together would be to lose everything.
"Ugg. Nothing worse than someone who won't face destiny."
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~~ ~ ~ ~ ~
His sleep was fitful. The half remembered past causing him to toss and turn. A snippet of a young woman, eyes fairly crackling with her anger, a dull gray skinned Twilek falling to his death...an argument between Master and Padawan resulting in them parting...falling in love, marrying and despairing at the death of that person.
A quiet chirruping interrupted his sleep. "Kyle, the Head Rock is on the comm. Wants to talk to you." Jan's voice imposed itself for a moment into the dream. It came from the dead woman's lips and felt right being there.
He shook himself from it. "Give me a minute, then patch it through."
A few minutes later he was decent enough to present himself in front of the transmitter. "What you got?"
Her look said 'a good swift kick for you Katarn' but she said, "Nothing in my normal search base." His crestfallen look made her hastily add, "But other searches turned up interesting facts. The data was extremely old and difficult to decipher but it associated the name Shae Nival with the ancient sport of Grav-ball."
He let out a low whistle. "That sport changed drastically around 15,000 years ago didn't it?" He knew full well that it had he just needed to hear conformation. While he waited for Tionne to reply, which was not long, he poured himself a cup of caf.
"Yes. That's why it took me most of the day to find so dreadfully little...hey are you all right?"
He took a sip from his mug, "Yeah, fine. Was there anything else?"
"Just that she disappeared after the last grand championship held before anti-grav units were introduced into the game..."
He took another sip of caf to push back the nausea that had suddenly overcome him with the memory that statement evoked. Tionne did not catch this one because he had his gaze locked o his cup.
"...I haven't consulted the Holocron's yet, just the public access and old temple records..."
He cut her off. "They weren't that meticulous with the records yet. Please check the rest and get back with me."
Noting that he was becoming rather impatient she asked, "Why is this so important?"
He leveled his gaze at her. "Because we have a thirteen year old, desert-brained girl on board that believes she's this person reborn. The trouble is I am beginning to believe her."
She arched an eyebrow. "Oh, well I'll be back with you on that as soon as I can. Head Rock out." She smiled as she switched the transceiver off.
"Moldy Crow out."
