Last time: The trio arrived to Caranas to find Kait is a Republic Marshall now.
Now: Kyr and Cien arrive at the 19th.
Chapter 2- Why the Sith Temples?
"Unidentified vessel, heave to and prepare to be boarded." The gruff pilot called over the comline.
Kyr rolled his eyes as he brought the Shadow in. "Oh ha ha, very funny Hassen." Kyr said with a roll of his eyes.
"Welcome back!" Bubbles said very excitedly over the comm-line as their two fighters settled in on their wing in escort. "You guys arrived just in time for drinks!"
"It's always time for drinks." Hassen cut in.
"That's what I said!" Bubbles said with a giggle.
"Are you guys supposed to be this chatty over official military channels?" Kyr asked incredulously as he vectored them in towards the Defiant.
"No." the flight controllers voice cut in. "Shadow Runner come right to course one-one-three mark seven. Clearance granted in hangar three."
"Roger." Kyr replied.
"I feel like they have a bit of a drinking problem." Cien observed from the co-pilot's seat beside him. And that made Kyr chuckle.
"Hey!" Bubbles and Hassen said at the same time.
Cien threw a glance at Kyr, she didn't think her voice would be picked up. He started laughing so hard he had a hard time piloting.
They settled into the hangar bay. Kyr leaned back in the pilot's seat for a second, and Cien seemed apprehensive.
"You okay?" He asked her.
"Yes." She replied.
"Is it because of how you arrived last time?" He asked gently.
She looked over at him. "No, just worried how Admiral Sulam and everyone is going to react to, well…" She trailed off as she looked at her stomach.
"She'll be excited and happy for us, everyone will be." He said.
"I know, that's why I'm so nervous." She said worriedly.
He chuckled a little at that. "Well we can keep it a secret for a little bit. Not too long though, otherwise the Admiral might kill us."
"All the hugs and attention just make me feel uncomfortable." She groused as she stood up.
He stood up as well. "You hug people all the time." He observed with a bit of a chuckle.
"Yes, I hug people, they don't hug me." She said in a slightly pouting way which Kyr thought was very cute. "And she always hugs me." She said in an unamused fashion.
"Oh, that makes sense." He said as they went through the lounge. "Well just don't do anything to tip your hand till you're ready."
"Okay." She said, still apprehensive as the ramp lowered. She at least took comfort in wearing her full armor, with her buy'ce magnetized to her back shoulder.
As the ramp lowered, Scamp approached, greeting them with a smile. "Colonel. Cien. It's great to see ya guys," he said with a wave.
"Hey Scamp." Kyr said, pulling him into a hug.
"Hello." Cien said.
Scamp patted Kyr's back before pulling away. He flashed a smile down at Cien. "Hey," he said as he extended a hand out to her.
She took his hand and shook it, with a slight smirk. "Since I didn't get to shake your hand last time?" She asked with a raised eyebrow.
"I guess so, yeah," Scamp said, chuckling. "It's also just a force of habit of mine."
"What happened last time?" Kyr asked curiously as they started walking.
"Oh, nothing." Cien said, glancing away.
"When I first met Cien, our introduction got interrupted by… more pressing matters," Scamp explained, avoiding the part about Sasha fainting.
Kyr looked between them a little strangely, "m'okay." He said, not wanting to press the matter.
"Sasha was a little startled to see Scamp, and I pulled my lightsaber on him." Cien admitted.
"What the hell did you do to startle her?" Kyr looked at him perplexed.
Scamp raised an eyebrow at that. "I didn't say anything to her. I'm a clone and she's a Jedi. The two have a bit of a past, remember? Plus Hassen said my name in front of her and uh… she fainted at that," He said, looking away at that last part.
Kyr looked at him for a second. "Oh, yeah…" He said, suddenly realizing. "I probably should have mentioned the clone thing to everyone at some point."
"It would have been helpful, yes." Cien said with a smirk.
"If I'd been able to introduce everyone I would have." Kyr said indignantly.
"I understand, but don't worry. Sasha and I made amends," Scamp said, smirking. "In fact, we caught up for the first time in ages. Do you remember me telling you about those Jedi kids I used to visit a long time ago and you were curious if your family knew them?"
"Yeah?" Kyr asked, as the three walked down the corridor to the turbolifts. Cien glanced down the corridor where the medbay was, glad to not be going that way again.
"Yeah, turns out that Sasha and Viran were those exact kids," Scamp revealed. "It was really great to see them after so long. But that's also why Sasha reacted the way she did. She recognized me."
"Whoa!" Kyr exclaimed. "Small galaxy." Kyr said, very surprised at that coincidence. "You mean being startled?" He asked.
"You have no idea," Scamp said in response to the small galaxy comment. "And yeah, that's what I meant."
"Yeah, I was very worried when she fainted." Cien said innocuously from Kyr's shoulder.
"Wait, what?" Kyr asked, looking at his wife then back up to Scamp. "She actually fainted fainted?" He asked.
"Yeah," Scamp nodded. "I mean to be fair you guys were exhausted and injured when you arrived," he said, glancing towards Cien. "So that piled on top of seeing a literal ghost from her past was a bit much. But like I said before, we're all good now."
Kyr looked between them a little worried, and perplexed. "At some point you guys need to explain to me what happened during all that time." He groused.
"I think we've given you all the fun highlights." Cien said with a smirk.
"Evidently not, cyar'ika." He replied as they stepped into the lift and Scamp pressed a button.
"Don't worry, we'll have plenty of time to catch you up," Scamp said as the lift started to rise.
Cien swallowed at Kyrs side, and he glanced at her, she was looking a little queasy. She glanced up at him and he quirked an eyebrow at her and she shrugged subtly. Scamp didn't seem to notice as he watched the monitor that read the deck numbers as they passed them.
After a few moments, the lift reached the command deck and Scamp led them off. He took them down the corridor a little ways before coming to a stop before a large door that opened into a conference room. One that he knew Cien would be familiar with. Inside Admiral Sulam and Lieutenant Thrase were talking quietly amongst themselves as they entered.
"Sorry we're late," Scamp said as he came over and took the seat next to his wife.
"Hey kids." The Admiral said with an effusive smile. "Take a seat. We thought we'd start off with a briefing of what's going on and why we called you. You remember Lieutenant Thrase?" She asked Cien.
"Yes, it is nice to see you again." Cien said, far more pleasantly than the last time she had attended a briefing with the Lieutenant in this room.
"Likewise." She replied, a little surprised by how friendly she was. "And it is good to meet you, Colonel."
"You too, Lieutenant." He said taking a seat.
"So." The Admiral said, "I filled you guys in a little bit, but we got pulled off the Caranas assignment to go hunt after some group that's going after Sith temples and archaeological sites. Normally the military wouldn't care, but if someone is going after Sith temples, that raises a few eyebrows."
"Indeed." Cien said, any queasiness she had shown before was hidden away now. "The sites you mentioned, is that the order in which they have been attacked?" She asked, turning to Thrase.
"Kahrahek, Maladrem, and Nosforat?" She asked for clarification.
"Yes." Cien said.
"It is. We're not sure what the connection is, or what they are looking for." Thrase continued, "what they appear to be is a band of hired mercenaries, fairly well armed and apparently well funded. Those three sites were attacked in order, they had small archeological teams at them and had to seek shelter during the raid. They lost a few people during the attacks, and nothing seemed to be missing, though it was evident they hurriedly searched the ruins for something. The teams mentioned a reliquary, though all the sites the reliquaries were already cleared out."
"Can you think of anything they might be looking for?" Admiral Sulam asked. "Did these reliquaries have anything like weapons?"
Cien paused for a moment, thinking. "Reliquaries housed all manner of artifacts, so some may have, and some may have housed items that could be weapons, especially in the wrong hands." She paused for a moment before continuing. "These sites were sites I visited in my time." She started slowly, "and in the same order."
There was a pregnant pause in the room.
"Is there anything special about visiting those temples in that order?" Scamp asked, curiously.
"No." Cien said, "it was just the most expeditious route when I was visiting them. I went to them to do research on the mi…" She paused, realizing Thrase was in the room, "a specific Force power. I don't know what was in the reliquaries, I wasn't allowed in them at the time as an acolyte. But I did stay at each for some time in research."
"How would someone know what order you visited them?" Kyr asked, trying to think.
"I'm not sure." Cien answered, "my ship would still have had navigation logs, possibly, so if someone had gained access to my navicomputer then they may have downloaded the information and be visiting them in that order for that reason?"
"Has your ship ever been compromised by anyone?" Thrase asked, taking notes.
"No. Not that I know of." Cien said, shaking her head, and regretting it since it made her morning sickness a little worse. She swallowed, "for a little over two years it has been at home, except for when we were at Caranas and here last." She said, swallowing again to try to settle her stomach, "but nothing in that time. Perhaps when…" She stopped, looking at Thrase, not sure how much she wanted to share of her past with a Republic intelligence officer in the room. Especially after what had happened with the Admiral's original intelligence officer.
"Perhaps when what?" The Admiral asked. She looked up from her own note taking and noted Cien looking guardedly at the intelligence officer. "She's fully cleared and knows everything I know." The Admiral informed her.
Cien swallowed again. "When I was in the unknown regions my ship was docked in various hangars, with crews from both my time and the Imperial remnant performing maintenance on it. I suppose during those years any of those crews could have pulled those logs." She said the next through a grimace, "especially since my acolyte and my general had always been planning to overthrow me through those years."
"But they're dead, correct?" Scamp asked, trying to remember. "Is it possible anyone else from that time could have taken it? Or could it be possible that these raids are just following that order out of pure coincidence?"
"They're both dead, I -" Cien paused and swallowed, and Kyr noticed how queasy she seemed and stepped in for her.
"I killed Mendax, the general myself." Kyr said, "he couldn't have survived what I did to him, and Ikari was blown out into space so unless she learned to breath vacuum she's just as dead."
Cien recovered, "it could be a coincidence, but that seems highly unlikely." She stated, "there were hundreds of temples, possibly thousands. A lot of them uncharted, now. I only visited a handful in my time. So they may have visited others without us knowing. But it seems improbable that just by chance they would visit these three in that order." She finished.
Thrase nodded, "if that's the case, would you be able to provide us with the other locations? Perhaps if we knew what site you visited next, we could go to head them off before the next attack?"
Cien glanced at Kyr. "The next temple would be on a planet called Morgual, Sasha and I visited there just before the incident on Caranas, and that temple was destroyed during the visit."
"Well." The Admiral said, "not like these raiders would know that."
"True," Scamp agreed with a nod. "It wouldn't hurt to check it out. Hell, we might even catch them in the act of rummaging through the wreckage."
"We'll set a course as soon as we can get coordinates." The Admiral nodded.
"I can have Tac patch through to the Spirit from the Shadow." Kyr suggested.
Cien nodded. "Okay."
The Admiral glanced at her. "You feeling okay hun?" She asked Cien.
"Yes." Cien replied, looking up towards her.
"Okay." The Admiral said, standing. "Thank you Lieutenant."
Thrase nodded as she and everyone else stood, the meeting dismissed.
Cien stood a little too fast and grew dizzy, faltering slightly as the room spun. Kyr shot his hand out to grab hold of her.
"Whoa, what happened?" The Admiral said, hurrying around the table.
"Are you okay?" Scamp asked, worried. "Here, I'll call Kelce." He raised his wrist comm to call the head medic.
"I'm fine." Cien insisted, recovering as Kyr steadied her.
"Sweetie you just nearly fainted." The Admiral said, as Thrase had stopped and looked on worriedly.
"No I didn't. I'm fine." Cien answered. "You don't need to call Kelce." She insisted, looking over at Scamp.
"Are you sure?" Scamp asked as he lowered his arm slightly.
"I think it would be a good idea to get you checked out." The Admiral said in the commanding tone of a mother instead of an Admiral as she approached.
"No, I'm fi-" Cien said, getting annoyed.
"Hun, you should jus-" The Admiral began worriedly at her side.
"It's fine, I'm just pregnant!" She barked out in annoyance, her anger finally boiling over after everyone had been treating her like fragile glassware since they had found out.
Everyone in the room froze for an instant.
Then Admiral Sulam scooped her into a tight hug and Cien let out a small yelp of surprise. "I'm so happy for you hun!" The Admiral said, excitedly.
"Congrats!" Scamp said, smiling as he clapped Kyr on the shoulder.
"Thanks Scamp." Kyr replied with a smile.
Thrase smirked and quietly made her way out of the room.
The Admiral rocked Cien back and forth while Cien stood there awkwardly in her arms, having no idea how to react. "I'm so happy for you sweetie."
"Thanks." Cien said awkwardly with a slight smile.
The Admiral let her go and turned pointedly towards Kyr. "And you." She said in a very accusatory tone as she jabbed her finger at him.
"Me?" Kyr said, taking a step back from the very scary Admiral before him.
"What the hell do you mean you didn't tell me you two were having a kid, especially after you ran off and got married without inviting me to the ceremony?" She demanded, almost shouting.
"Actually it's two kids." Cien supplied out of reflex.
The Admiral turned back towards Cien with an ecstatic look on her face. "Twins?" She asked, and Cien nodded but recoiled from the possibility of getting trapped in another hug.
The Admiral turned back to Kyr. "When the hell did you find out?" She asked in a very threatening manner.
"Just a few days ago!" Kyr said, trying to shield himself, "we were going to call soon, Mandalore's honor!" He said.
"You… you!" She said with an accusatory finger. "Congratulations." She finally said.
"Thank you." Kyr said, a little scared.
Then she turned and scooped Cien into another hug, and Cien yelped again.
Scamp let out a laugh as he wrapped an arm around Kyr's shoulders. "So how do you two plan to tell the rest of the Coppers? Because if Naderia didn't kill you, they might if you don't tell them," he said, grinning.
"As quickly as possible." Kyr answered.
"Imphneerah phrager" Cien said from within the depths of the Admiral's hug.
"What?" Admiral Sulam said letting her go slightly.
"I need the refresher." Cien said, looking very queasy.
"Oh, of course!" The Admiral said, letting her go.
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