Almost as soon as he arrived on board the Star Destroyer, Heliwer had been shepherded all over the place. Vama took off once he was clear on board, and as much as he was looking forward to seeing old faces, he felt disappointed. The Weequay was a very good fighter and equally talented pilot, someone the Vast Empire might have benefited from having. Still, she had her own things to do and he had his. For now, he turned his attention to the open door leading into the lounge he was directed to, and the scrawny footman or doorman or whoever he was that was in front of it. He seemed to notice the larger man and held out his hand. He seemed to either be a freshly minted recruit or some kind of officer who had survived through having the brownest nose of any other out there, both prospects being equally as annoying.

“Excuse me, sir,” The little man said. “But I need you to hand over your weapons.”

Heliwer raised an eyebrow and looked past him into the large room. “Did you ask them?”

“Well not every single one of them but-”

“Yeah no. Maybe try again on some other shmuck.”

“But I-!”

Nudging the guy to the side, Garrath finally entered the lounge area, and was moderately surprised to find what basically amounted to a full blown cantina, equipped with bar, tables, and booths. There were quite a lot of people he didn't seem to recognize, and they seemed to be doing an awkward dance of finding people they knew to talk to. Some of them anyways. Others kept to themselves, which he couldn't blame them being a couple of years since seeing anyone else. Scanning around, he could see Havock over with another girl. It was hard to tell but they seemed to be getting along well. He and Hav weren't really close, but at the least she earned his respect. Meant that there was at least one person with a senior enough rank that he could bear taking orders from.

As he extinguished the butt of a cigarette and lit up another, he noticed Karash in a corner also surveying the area. He gave the former medic a friendly wave before walking over to the bar for a drink of his own. Odd as it was, Karash was the only Raider he felt on equal enough terms with, though it was probably more putting up with the ex-trooper because the job demanded it as he always seemed apathetic. Even so, he looked forward to talking with Karash again, especially to find out what he had been up to since Heliwer had left. One shot of whiskey later, he finally rested his gaze on a blonde woman sipping on probably an ale over in another corner of the lounge. She was quite small, and maybe seemed to be making herself seem smaller like she didn't want to talk to anyone in particular, at least not now. A big bag rested by her feet filled most likely with her stuff, and as she seemed to be compilating something, he noticed from where he was that she had a light scar on one of her hands. It was no one he recognized, no one from Raiders at the least, but he felt a little compelled to talk to her. Probably because as much as he wanted to talk to Havock or Karash, he too felt a bit awkward being at this sudden reunion, and he felt like he owed it to try and be a bit more social. As he walked over towards her, she seemed to notice him and shuffled a little at her table. Trying to put her at ease, Heliwer gave his best attempt at a warm and friendly smile and sat to her left at the table.

“I would have liked it if they gave us nametags or something and put us at assigned tables so that we don't have to awkwardly look for people we know to talk to.” He chuckled, trying to make her feel more relaxed. “Don't worry, I don't bite. Hell I don't know who you are.”

“Why are you talking to me then?” She asked. She didn't seem to be overly annoyed, but Heliwer had learned from his experience with Havock and Jaenna to be careful around Vast Empire women.

“Hey, I just wanted to talk, alright? Don't know too many outside of my squad so thought I'd try and be friendly. I'm Heliwer. What's your name?”

The woman paused a moment. “It's Helena.”

“Well, Helena, how did you wind up here?”

“If I had to guess, I’d hazard you must be Merrick. I’m known hereabouts as Havock. This is Aeos.”

Merrick nodded and gestured to the seats opposite her. “Nice to meet you both. Havock, you’re fellow General if I recall correctly. Can I get you both a drink?”

Ayme sat back against the chair and slowly surveyed the scene unfolding before her. She shook her head at a few of the younger troopers she vaguely remembered as recruits before hell rained down. The lounge looked far more decorative than she would have imagined for a star destroyer, even if it was super.

“So then Havock, what do you think of all this?” Merrick waved her hand in the general direction of the room.

Ayme ran her hand through her short blonde hair and made quick eye contact with Aeos. Her sister was far quieter than she remembered. Her eyes held a sadness and almost fear that Ayme could only imagine had to do with the new family she had left behind.

“Well Merrick, I think this reunion was a grand idea, we should have one every year.” Ayme took a long pull from her drink, draining the glass. She held up her hand to stop commentary on her flippant response. “Sorry. Look I don’t trust any of this yet, seems like a great way to spring a trap. Hey I want to kill the last remnants of the Vast Empire, I’ll just call all of them to one location and blow it to hell, call it a party. If I wasn’t the one about to get blown to bits, I’d be impressed.”

Aeos’ hand that was rubbing her temples suddenly slammed to the table. “Havock, that’s not helping.”

Ayme sighed. “Yea, I’m sorry. Really, to both of you.” Her eyes returned to scanning the crowd. More former troopers and pilots had filtered through the doors. She should have been thrilled that her comrades had survived the battle, yet she found herself growing more and more frustrated. Ayme had searched for anyone, any sign hope that someone had survived. She failed, yet someone had managed to track down a room full of people.

The conversation between the other two women at the table continued as Ayme scanned for familiar faces, when she suddenly stopped finding one sitting in the corner attempting to blend in with the wall. The former Raiders medic clearly had seen Ayme and was trying his best to avoid eye contact and he seemed to be checking his medical supply bag.

Ayme was about to excuse herself to go harass Karash when a Zabrak was brought in loudly in binders to the lounge. The man requested the binders be removed then shook off the guards and walked towards the bar.

As her eyes fell on the bar, Ayme remember that she had an empty glass that needed filling. “Hey I’m going to head over to the bar. Ether of you need a refill?”

After she received two negative head shakes, Ayme shrugged and walked over. The only space left available was next to a man with short auburn hair that seemed extremely interested in his brown liquor.

“Hey barkeep, I need another whiskey.” Ayme frowned as the short man next to her visibly flinched.  Her eyes stayed trained on the bartender as he poured her drink. “You okay man, it’s kinda early to be twitchy.”

The man sighed. “Ayme.”

Ayme frowned and her eyes darted to the figure next to her. “Look I don’t know who you are or what file you read but nobody calls me…”

Ayme blinked as her eyes slowly focused on the green star tattoo and eye patch. “Jaenna?”

“Funny thing, nobody calls me that either, heh.” The man took a deep breath. “It’s Jacen now.”

“Right.” Ayme tapped the bar. “Go ahead and make that a double.” Ayme looked back at Jacen then back to the bartender. “Nope just give me the bottle.”

The room was slowly filling with people as her eyes darted across the room. She breathed a deep sigh as she slumped back into her chair. Taking another sip of the ale she had in her hand, she was rudely interrupted by a strange male. She allowed him to take up the seat, but she clutched her bag between her feet nervously. ’Who the hell is this now?!’ He had asked her name, something she wasn’t used to answering but continued anyway a little cautious of the man.

“If we all had name tags, it would be like speed dating” Helena replied, her cheeks turning a rosy colour and her eyes averting to the ground. She twiddled her thumbs before returning back to the conversation.

“I had a message and orders to meet people here. I suppose it has been 6 years since I left the Corps... “ Taking a deep breath she continued. “I’m Helena Leucine, former assistant squad leader of Wraith and Black Jack, and Squad leader of Raiders. Yes, before you say anything, I got around.” She sighed, waiting for the man to have a chuckle at her. She wasn’t proud of the fact she didn’t have a permanent squad, nor the fact she had moved around so much she didn’t have many friends, but that’s the way it was and she couldn’t exactly change it. She also couldn’t change the memories she had of missions with all the squads. Each had their own specialities and each had their own personalities, which Helena enjoyed but there was nothing like having friends you’d had for years around you and nothing changing.

She looked towards the gentleman to study his features. His ice blue eyes were the most striking, not to mention the scar running down his face. It didn’t look fresh, or that’s what the former medic thought. His arm was also striking due to the fact it was cybernetic. Helena broke her stare as she took another swig of her drink. She didn’t want to seem like she was staring the man down but he was unfamiliar to her and she was unsure of his business here.

“So, Heliwer was it? What exactly are you doing here?” She asked, twirling a strand of blonde hair around her fingers, intrigued. 

Helena gazed around the room, she noticed Havock at the bar with someone else. She knew Havock would know her but she was unsure she would actually want to talk to her after she left. Hav seemed to be in much more of a higher position than when Helena departed, and rightly so. She was so hard working from what Hel could remember. Maybe Helena’s time was the right time to leave. They say all things happen for a reason and maybe it was right she took time out when she did.

Placing a hand under her chin, she rested her head on it, her eyes averting back to Heliwer’s,
awaiting his reply.

As Helena talked to him, Heliwer could easily tell that she was maybe a bit more nervous than anyone else at being here, and though he could hear her well, her voice had a quiet quality about it. He couldn’t help but crack a cocky grin when she mentioned about how if everyone had nametags “it would be like speed dating” and blushed, and let off a small chuckle at her getting around the squads, his natural reactions to stuff like that. Internally he hoped he wasn’t coming off as weird to her. Aside from being rather attractive, she was actually interesting. He hadn’t heard a lot about what happened before he came into the Vast Empire himself, and considering the way things were seeming to shape up, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to try and know a few more people than before.

Taking a drag on his cigarette, he noticed that she was looking him over, probably gauging him, sizing him up. Couldn’t blame her for it. He was a large stranger who started up a random conversation with her, and though she didn’t seem uncomfortable, she did seem wary.

“So, Heliwer was it?” She asked him, twirling a strand of her blonde hair around her fingers. “What exactly are you doing here?”

She seemed to look past him at the bar at someone else, but returned her attention to him as she rested her chin in her hand and looked into his eyes with her own hazel ones.

“Bit of the same as you I guess.” He sighed, leaning back and folding his arms behind his head. “Got a message about a big ol’ reunion and I couldn’t pass up that opportunity. It’s been three years since I left, and that was more on my accord than everything going to hell. I just ended up getting tired and took leave for a while, then that shit happened at Corellia and basically meant there was no way I’d be coming back soon.”

He chuckled slightly and puffed a couple small clouds of smoke out of his mouth. “Raiders, huh? I was a Senior Sergeant in Raiders when Joamer was the Squad Leader. Interesting bunch we were. Sometimes I miss what happened back then, the trouble we got into and the scraps that always found us. It was exciting.”

The cigarette was now down to a tiny stump, the end glowing softly like embers while his arms came back down to rest on the table. Gently he laid his hand out palm up towards her and gave her a teasing smile. “Hopefully things get a bit better this time around. Who knows, might end up on the same squad as a pretty young lady. One can hope so, eh?”

Helena seemed to blush at his comment. ”I hope to be in your squad too.” She immediately seemed like she didn’t mean to say it out loud and turned even more red, politely excusing herself to get up for a refill. She seemed to forget about the bag she had between her feet however, and one of her feet had gotten tangled up in the straps, causing her to fall over. Fortunately for her, Heliwer was rather quick on his feet and managed to wrap his arms around her and keep her from faceplanting into the ground.

“You ok?” He asked, the smaller woman held close to him. She took a few moments to compose herself and nod quickly, again her cheeks flushed pink. He gently let go of her and gestured to his seat. “Maybe you should sit for a little bit longer till your legs catch up to you.”

Heliwer extinguished the remainder of his cigarette and looked around as he started to pull out another to light up, and noticed Karash once again. He frowned a little, feeling like he owed it to at least say hi, so he turned his gaze back towards Helena’s hazel eyes. “Gotta go say hi to an old friend really quick. Maybe later we can get together and go drinking or something.”

“Y-yeah, alright. Thanks, by the way.”

Smiling at her response, the large trooper got up and began to head over to the former medic, adjusting the DC-X strapped to his back and ensuring that his new nicotine stick was alight, and leaned up against the wall right next to him.

“Well if it ain’t Karash. How you been old buddy?” He asked with a grin.

Therex sat back in his chair as his ship came in for a landing. Apparently a bunch of his old "army buddies" were meeting at a bar nearby. He hadn't heard the names he was hoping to hear most, but Terre left him years ago, so he wasn't planning on running into her for as long as he could. Shaking her face out of his head, he checked the flight computer. He was just about to touch down on the Star Destroyer.

About goddamn time...

Thankfully his old clearance still held even after these years. Standing up, he donned his coat once again, scoffing at the end dragging slightly on the ground. His posture had failed, and he had put on some weight.

Fucking Faska and his men made me soft.

As soon as the ship touched down, he strolled down the ramp and gave the massive hangar a once over. Not much had changed since his old days, but from what he heard, the fleets were getting some nice upgrades soon. Grabbing the nearest deckhand, he pointed at his ship.

"Nothing fancy with that old girl," and before letting him go, he added, "Say, would you happen to know where some old-timers from the good old days may have gone?"

Once the man had given him directions and scrambled off, Therex debated his next action. Did he really wanna be back? What if he didn't know any of them? What if they had forgotten him?

Probably would be best they forgot who I was.

Sighing, he made his way to the door of the bar and hung there for a second. Memories of old bar fights and romps with his squads came flooding back. Some good, others not, and some he really wasn't sure which parts were true. Chuckling lightly, he took a step in and almost jumped when he heard a voice call his name.

"Hey! It's Therex! I thought he died..."

OOC:

Shitty story / Piss poor word count, but I needed to catch up. RL has me moving an office building across town so my time is limited.

OOC:

Toks, Trevor, Merrick, Starfruit, Havock, please let me know if I did anything that was weird for your characters. Trev, Toks, hope you don't mind that I butted Aeos into that little reunion there, though I'd try and do some interaction with the navy

She kept an eye on Havock who disappeared off to the bar for another drink and subsequent conversation with a fellow seated on one of the stools. Around them, the familiarity of old faces and nostalgia was in full swing marked by laughter, scuffles and hugs. She eyed the Brigadier General seated across her.

“General, we’ve actually met before.” She muttered taking another swig from her glass.

Merrick cocked her head in confusion at this, her eyes narrowing as she scrutinized Aeos in detail.

“I was Jesters’ Squad Leader?” Aeos continiued.
Was she that unmemorable? She had a squad blindly follow her on charges of treason to infiltrate an underworld of drugs and gangs. Her thoughts flashed back to Dar Soocha. She lost a good man on that mission.

“Well, I’ll be damned…” Merrick said with half a smile growing on her face. She lifted a glass to Aeos.
“Of course I remember, I had to book off leave only to be working undercover with you guys. That was one scary mission.”
“Yeah, things were definitelty too close to comfort.” Aeos agreed.

It was quiet for another few moments before Aeos broke it.
“I’m in agreement with Havock however crassly she put it in regards to our current situation. And besides that, it would be a damn near miracle if they can pull of re-establishing the Empire. “

“How come so?”  Merrick asked. She gestured for a refill and turned her attention back their conversation whilst the rowdy atmosphere around them was increasing in volume.

Aeos regarded Merrick with  a frown. The Brigadier General probably already understood the facts far better than she would, granted the woman was several paygrades above her on the roster.

“General, excuse my impudence, but you know what I’m speaking about. “ Aeos replied.
“Humor me Captain.”

“ Look, I’m a simple soldier who did grunt work in the mud with other soliders. And now I am a farmer’s wife still working in mud, but stil, the facts of our circumstances are obvious. We lost a key battle that cost us the war. Our forces scattered.” She paused to take another swig of the golden liquid.

“I don’t know what happened, but it should have been easy to recall and unite back on our key planets, yet we didn’t. It made me wonder about the stability of the Council’s hand. We’ve lost key points across the galaxy, spaceports, planets, territories. Places that generated income in order to finance our wars.  Even if we manage to retake some of those points, we will need to re-evaluate the damage of the infrastructures and physically rebuild  them.  Our currency has crashed, and right now we are too vulnerable economically.  Additionally, if my memory serves correctly, we had  a protocal  on all our facilities to to self destruct all systems containing our records in events like these, however, the damage of hundreds of  administrative drives self-destructing around the same time is collosal.  Not to mention our stocks crashing, or the loss of  our wares. We are not even a skeleton of our former glory right now, and it will take years to reach that form again. “
Aeos leaned back in her stool, resting her drink on her knee.

Merrick quirked  a bemused eyebrow at Aeos.
“You’re not afraid of running with your thoughts, are you?”
“I tend to forget to contain them General. My apologies if I was out of place. “

Merrick shrugged and beckong Aeos to lean in to hear her as she did.
“Your formality is killing me. As far as I’m concerned, right now in this moment, we’re just two women having a drink, neither wearing a uniform or a badge.  While we always inspiredblind loyalty among our ranks, I wonder whether our culture of complete autocracy is what hurt us so much in the end.  The Republicans are fools, but there are some things we could stand to learn from them.

The volume of their conversation has dropped to a hushed intimiate level. They both understood the risk of having a conversation like this. It was borderline idealogical treason, and Merrick could afford even less than Aeos of having that stigma following her, should she wish to continiue her duty with the  Vast Empire.

“But Captain-“ Merrick withdrew away from Aeos, her voice pitched back to its normal alto level.  Vaguely Aeos heard the sound of slap following  by rising voice levels of someone shouting.
“This not the best of conversations to have in public, but we should sometime or another have it again and ho-“

“-what happened. That we all ended up fleeing. I've thought my friends were dead for so long and you didn't even try to reach out to me. You, of –“ Someone was shouting, and was clearly doing a good job of inviting the rest of the Cantina to eavesdrop in on it.

Both their heads spun to where Havock was standing shouting at another man.
Aeos frowned sensing the emotional distress from Havock.
“I better go see what’s up there. Another drink?”
Merrick nodded and Aeos got up.

The cantina was fast becoming crowded with Imperials and she pushed her way through the smoky space of people to where Havock was seated now, still in the company of the man she slapped earlier.

“Everything okay?” she queried, pushing herself in-between their personal space, facing the man with a frown.

“Get off your horse Aeos, everything is fine.” Havock scoffed into her glass.

“Hi there, I’m-“

“Aeos, I know.” The man replied with half a smirk on his face as he scratched the stubble on his chin. Aeos frowned, retracting her extended hand from him.

“And you are?”

He smirked again, his one visible eye glinting in the light.
“Jacen. Havock and I have history. You would know, you regularly saw us screaming at each other.”

“The only person I know that was seeing Havock was…..Star, you kidding me. That you?” She was stunned as she studied the man closer. Even though the voice was deeper, the skin scruffier, not to mention some very obvious other features, she could see it; the cheekbones, the jawline, the slump of the shoulder in certain positions. She had spent many nights with Havock and this man playing sabaac and simply conversing about upcoming mission tactics. Back then he went with a different identity.
“It’s good to see a familiar face.” She started awkwardly.

She could sense Havock’s energy, which was as uncomfortable as hers. What Jacen had done to her, has left deep marks on Havock and Aeos had no idea how one would even begin to mend that bridge. Her presence was definitely not helping.

She turned her back to Jacen, and squeezed Havock gently by the shoulder.

“You want me to stay?”
“Sithspit no Zee, it’s awkward enough as it is just seeing you, not both of you.” Havock muttered bluntly. Secretly relieved Aeos nodded and left the two to try and sort out through what she suspected would be a hard conversation to follow.

She was walking towards to Merrick when she turned on her heels back to the bar again.
Frak, forgot to get the drinks.

It was at this moment that a woman almost fell into her arms as she was stumbling backwards away from another man. Aeos caught the woman by her arms, and helped her re-orientate her balance, barely noticing the help. A blond Navy pilot was zooming into their position, babbling at a mile away while rubbing his cheek which was a bit red. Aeos pushed herself in-between them.

“Stand down, it’s okay.” He muttered grabbing her by her shoulder.
“I can’t do that Sir.” Aeos said, extending one hand behind her and grabbing the auburn haired female by the collar.
“Stand down, we’re friends.” He said again, his icy blue eyes meeting her own blue eyes.

Aeos frowned and shook her head.
“I’m sorry Sir, she’s clearly not in a state to confirm that right now, and I unfortunately refuse to walk away, even though I want to. I simply do not trust males chasing drunk females in a bar. I hope you understand.”

He was seething, rubbing the back of his neck with one hand. Aeos could see the frustration mounting in him.

“Trevor, the name is Trevor if you could bother tell her, I’d be much obliged.”

Aeos nodded stiffening her hold on the woman before swinging in and lugging an arm around her own neck.

“Let’s go get this sorted out.”

“Frak off, frak off.” She muttered through clenched teeth. Aeos increased her grip, half-dragging the resisting woman towards the door.
“I’m not drunk. I just need to get out of here” The woman muttered in a desperate voice.

Aeos paused in her step and stole a glance at the woman’s face, more particularly her grey eyes. They were bloodshot, but not glazed as it usually went with inebriation. However, fear was rolling in waves off from her face through her body along with sweat dripping from her neckline.

She immediate let go of the woman who righted her stance staring at Aeos suspiciously who pushed her by the small of her back towards the door.

The blast of fresh air, and the empty corridor was a welcome relief for both of them.

“I’m guessing your issues are with people, not so much the drink.” Aeos mused. Personally, it looked more like an anxiety attack than anything else in hindsight. Half the Imperials in there came from some form of deep-rooted shit, so she wasn’t going to bother to inquire even.

“Both, but more with the first than the latter.” 
Aeos raised her eyebrows bemused at the honesty and turned to her.
“Look, I don’t think either of us give a damn about who the other is, but I’ll leave this with you; whatever shit it is that you’re going through. Sort it out, we don’t have the luxury of compromising our dignities in public with the Empire. People see it, and they abuse that weakness.”

The woman scoffed and turned her back toward Aeos  walking away.
“And go talk to Trevor, whoever the frak that is!” Aeos called after turning back to enter the cantina again. She shook her head questioning why she even involved herself in that fiasco. It was clearly none of her business.

The noise level exploded as she entered through door again, the smoking intoxicating her. It’s been years since she’s had a smoke, and she was badly trying to resist having one again.

She plopped herself down next to Merrick again who slid over a glass of Correllian ale.

“You took your sweet time and I had to go get myself.” She chastised Aeos who only scoffed in return.

“You’d think that being Imperials, these hooligans could handle their liquor with more class and at least be on form. We’re not on some space-port. This unbecoming.” 

Both women grabbed their drinks as an oncoming body crashed through their table onto the floor.
Aeos sighed and drank from her own glass.
One of the speaker comms in the cantina crackled to life with a high pitch, silencing the rowdy noise down to a decent level before it continued with it’s announcement.

“If either Brigadier General Merrick or Captain Aeos is onboard, please report immediately to the brig. Brigadier General Merrick and Captain Aeos to brig.”

Aeos and Merrick glanced at each other with confusion written across both faces and got up.
“Wonder what the hell this will be about.” Merrick wondered out loud.
“Beats me.” Aeos replied just as confused.

They made an odd pair, him in his abused armour and a definite non regulation stubble, Merrick in her civilian clothes.
“Merr, you most probably won’t believe me, but hey, you didn’t have me shot already, so I’ll stretch my luck a bit further.”, Evis said weary, punctuating it with a bitter chuckle.
And there it was, the famed arched eyebrow of Colonel Merrick. She was pissed, and one wouldn’t have needed to know her to read that. Hands at her hips, legs spread at shoulder width, she was radiating tension.
“Try your luck then, punk.”, she barked, her hand fiddling with the safety of her blaster.
“Ok. I’m sorry, I can’t tell you everything until I have been debriefed, or you order me to.”, he began, and then, not wanting to keep that story in any longer just went on, “Before Dar Soocha, I had been briefed on the possible need for a deep cover operation. I guess HC picked me, because I had enough gang experience. But even though, I was left in the dark. The guy who killed me, I think he really meant to, and the spooks just jumped on the chance.”
He glanced at her nervously, then at the camera, hoping that Aeos was still watching the feed, that her curiosity was still getting the better of her.
“Ae, I know you are watching me. I don’t have a lot of stories to share with Merrick, but with you… we both know there are some. Dar Soocha, you stole my flask. The one with the Jester scraped into it. I chased you. And afterwards…”, he choked for a moment, going back to a memory that had been with him in many of the long and lonely knights after Dar Soocha,”well you know what happened at the end of the chase… you… me… low gravity… the cards… Verkun coming round the corner…”
He couldn’t finish it. Didn’t want to. Not even in front of Merrick, who was smirking already. What had happened had been more than innocent. But the weight of nostalgia had made it into more for him.
Before he could speak another sentence, the door hissed open again. And with the glare from the outside lights Aeos strode in, 1.6 Meters of rage. Merrick was still turning around when she had already crossed the distance to Eviscares and slapped him.
“I cried for you! You slug! I thought you were dead!”, she yelled, and Evis saw, that she was getting for another swing. But just when his former squadleaders Arm was extended all the way back, Merrick caught it, saying with her usual glacial calm: ”Don’t, Captain. But I take it that you are now sure its him?”
He shot her a thankful glance, wondering if what he was seeing was the empathy that Merrick normally kept tucked under her uniform.

"Are you saying you're a threat to the Empire?"

"I'm saying I'm a threat to your mental health."

"If that ain't the truth I don't know what is." Havock took a deep breath and poured the both of them another full glass of whiskey.

Ayme stared into the amber liquid trying to comprehend how her life could become so confusing in such a short amount of time. The imperials kept filtering in, slowly filling the lounge and Ayme knew it was only a matter of time before she would be called into a room so she could be brought up to speed. Then they would brief everyone else and life would return to normal. Whatever normal was anymore.

“Your thing.”

Jacen frowned and turned slowly. “What?”

Ayme lifted her glass to look into the liquid from eye level. “You said, you were told about this reunion while you were doing your thing. What is that exactly?”

“Nothing.”

The glass came slamming back to the bar sending a spray of liquid to the surrounding area. “I tell ya what Jay. I’m doing my best, I’m trying here, but if you don’t want to talk to me just say that. I’ll go, and you won’t have to worry about talking to me again.”

The sea foam green eyes hardened then looked away. Ayme sighed and turned to leave the bar only to be stopped by a soft voice that seemed to cut through the growing ambient noise.

“Spice, drugs, whatever, I made sure it got where it needed to go. So yea the thing we fought about most is the thing I do for a living now.” He finished the words bitterly with a scoff before drowning his glass.

Ayme took a moment to swallow all the anger she felt. She leaned against the bar and filled Jacen’s glass. “Jay I…”

Aeos approached suddenly startling both former troopers as she pushed between them, angling her body to face Jacen.

“Everything okay?” she queried.

“Get off your horse Aeos, everything is fine.” Havock scoffed into her glass.

“Hi there, I’m-“

“Aeos, I know.” The man replied with half a smirk on his face as he scratched the stubble on his chin. Aeos frowned, retracting her extended hand from him.

“And you are?”

He smirked again, his one visible eye glinting in the light.

“Jacen. Havock and I have history. You would know, you regularly saw us screaming at each other.”

“The only person I know that was seeing Havock was…..Star, you’re kidding me. That’s you? It’s… good to see a familiar face.” She started awkwardly.

Ayme looked between her sister and her former partner. The tension was clearly felt in the air. Zasati had always been a protector of sorts, she practically pulled her hair out trying to keep Ayme from getting herself killed.

“You want me to stay?”

“Sithspit no Zee, it’s awkward enough as it is just seeing you, not both of you.” Havock muttered bluntly.

Aeos looked relieved as she walked back to the table with Merrick. Ayme watched her go then turned back to Jacen. “I have no right to tell you how to live your life Jay. I lost all those privileges when you left, just remember, you lost them too. Keep the bottle, I’m glad your not dead. If I’m the reason you’re hiding at the bar, don’t. I want to say hello to friends from our squad that I thought were dead, you should do that too. “

With that Ayme walked away. She walked away from the person who had kept her sane while at the same time driving her mad. It was time to move into the future and stop looking at the past. An announcement requested the presence of Merrick and Aeos so Ayme made her way over to her favorite medic.

“Heya Karash, got enough medpacks with you for me to sit and have a drink?”

OOC:

Not much just keeping up with the convos

Ripples.

They started off so small and yet could spread far and wide. Yet as they because large they became increasingly faint. So for a ripple to spread across the known Galaxy, it had to start as a mighty wave. Apparently Master Skywalker taught the pupils in his new academy that one could either hear the faint ripples or throw the largest stones. Raziel was a listener.

He'd found the nexus of this ripple before it had even started to spread.

He was afforded a view of a twinkling, tight knit cluster of stars from the officer's mess hall. Garbed in tight black robes with no rank insignia in sight it was clear he was not supposed to be here. Yet as he calmly drank his steaming caf and watched the stars no one moved to question him. A young officer entered and moved to sit at his table. From beneath that cowl bright emerald eyes gazed out.

The officer froze in place, a look of consternation spread over his features. The expression gradually smoothed out to be replaced by a distant smile.

“I'm sorry,” he said with a curt nod, before heading off to find another seat. Raziel returned to his hot drink.

There had been no rest, no retirement for him. There never could be. With no cause to latch onto, he'd simply found another one. Piece by piece he'd dismantled the bothan spynet from the inside. Slowly replacing the vast, nefarious intelligence network with connections of his own. There was something deeply satisfying in building a web strand by strand. It was all about influence. You had to find someone's weak spot, a past misdeed or a well kept secret, and use it. Eventually you had the individual tied up in the web. When he tugged on those strands, they would dance to his tune. Anything to keep him focused, keep him busy. Being left alone with his own thoughts was a prospect he could not relish.

Raziel sat and watched the stars, waiting for the next great distraction to begin.



Ooc/ i don't know which star Destroyer Raziel has snuck aboard, but I thought someone might pick me up for a chat down the line.

The Imperial II-class Star Destroyer Adjudicator hurled itself through the alternate dimension that was hyperspace, the crackling blue swirls of energy making the ship’s white hull glow indigo.  The ship’s commander, Admiral Zev Trikarian, stood at the command bridge’s forward viewports, staring through the transparisteel to look out at the flashing vortexes of light.  It was a tunnel, and he was being dragged through it, ever closer to a place he thought he’d never see again.  “Lotaith” he muttered to himself, lost in his memories.  “The Vast Empire.”

As he said the words, Zev’s wandering mind was forcibly brought back to the present: he was overwhelmed by the sudden sensation that something was stalking him.  A predatory presence, very nearby.  His blood went cold as he hurriedly turned away from the viewports, but when he saw that the bridge crew was still giving him a respectful bubble of privacy as they went about their tasks, an involuntary shiver ran up his spine.  He couldn’t see any danger, which made him all the more fearful.

It was a familiar sort of fear, though not one he’d experienced in quite some time.  “Raziel?” he murmured, narrowing his eyes.

It was as if he’d conjured a demon, by speaking its name: the presence resolved itself, in his mind.  It was his old teacher, after all.  In the officer’s mess hall, if Zev wasn’t mistaken.

Grimacing, he left the bridge to the officer of the watch, and headed toward the mess.

***

“Well, I suppose it wouldn’t really be a reunion, without you,” Zev said, minutes later.

The short, out-of-place figure removed the cowl of his black robes, and turned around.  His familiar features wore an enigmatic smile.  “I thought the same thing,” he said.

Zev shifted his weight, nervously.  He’d always been uncomfortable in the shorter man’s presence.  “You could have just asked for a ride,” he said at length.

Raziel merely shrugged.

“Well, we’re due to revert to realspace in the Rheagant System in a quarter of an hour or so.”  Zev pointedly stared at the chair opposite Raziel, and when the latter made no objection, he pulled it out with as much grace and calm as he could muster, and sat.  “Perhaps we could chat, until then?”

OOC:

Is that what you had in mind, Raz?

She was still in shock as the door closed behind Merrick, leaving her alone in the small cramped space Eviscares was being kept in. She fell with her back to the wall, and slid down till she was seated, propping her arms on her knees as she regarded him. The anger was seeping out until nothing but a simmer remained in her gut. He's gotten skinnier since she's last seen him...dead. His eyes had a skittish animation as he met her studying gaze.

"You look like shit. " she said softly.

"You look great. " he replied. She shifted uncomfortably. His silvery hair was greasy with much and his armour cracked and outdated.

"Where the frak were you? Do you have ANY idea what you put the squad through with your death? What you made me and Kami go through?" Her voice was calm, collected and almost queit. She already had her emotional outburst earlier, and now she simply wanted the facts.

"Aeos...I'm sorry. I was under orders above your classification."
"The Prefect personally briefed and debriefed me. He would have made me privy to that information."

"I don't understand. I received my briefing signed by the Prefect." Eviscares muttered in confusion.

"Evis, he thought you were dead. Merrick and I closed your records together. What exactly were you doing there?"

Eviscares slid down on his side of the room to the wall as well, dropping his head in his hands.

"Aeos...I can't tell you. It's classified." His grey eyes met her steel blue ones again.

She fiddled with her hands around her knees, her shoulders sagging in emotional exhaustion at the shock of seeing the old Jester alive. The guilt has nagged at her for years about losing him. She's lost members before, but it hadn't hit home so close before Eviscares. Usually the people died before she got to know them, but she and Eviscares have shared roster history together through several missions and  two squads.

"That a ring?"
His voice broke her quiet reflection and she shifted her eyes to him and back to her wedding band. She nodded.
"You got married." He stated, his voice neutral.
She nodded again and sighed.
"Evi," She started surprised at how easy the familiarity of his nickname rolled off her tongue.

"We barely had time to even acknowledge our attraction....and then you frakking died. You didnt expect me-"

"No, not at all. Of course not. It would be selfish. I'm just surprised." He said shaking his head.

"Come on, let's go get you cleaned up." She said trying to break the awkward tension that suddenly sprung up.  She got up and reached over to him, pulling him to his feet. She tried to ignore the tingling in her hands and busied them by dusting off her pants.

"I think you're in dire need of a change of clothes. And a shower and some medical attention. You're gonna have a couple of shiners in a few hours if we don't apply some bacta strips."

He followed her out, pausing behind her as she turned to the two guards who saluted as she exited the cell.  She stared at them sternly, feeling her Imperial skin slickening back into her psyche.

"The next time you have a prisoner in the brig, you do not take it on yourselves to question him until the appropiate authority has arrived. This was just stupid, and any other times I would have you stripped from your ranks and stationed in the Outer Regions. Think next time." She admonished their still forms still frozen in salute.

"It will not happen again Captain."

"Damn straight. Private, escort Sergeant Eviscares to the medical bay. See to it that he receives the proper treatment for your stupid abuse, and then see to it that he receives a fresh uniform. Afterwards, please escort him to the Officer's mess hall where I will be waiting. You will answer to his beck and call until I relieve you from your duty." She winked at Eviscares who was managing a surpressed smirk on his face at the young Private snapping his heels at Aeos' orders.

"I'll catch up with you in a bit, we can head to the cantina from there. And Evis, it's damn good to see you again." She said as she reached out to his arm an affectionate squeeze. He just nodded in return before jerking his head to the Private to escort him.

Raziel was the blank and empty canvas that was sold for far beyond its true worth. People would look at those pretentious works of art and claim that the viewer looked deep into the emptiness and it reflected what they wished to see. That was very literally the case with the dark jedi assassin. A hollow shell of a man, he skimmed the thoughts and expectations of those around him and simply became what they wanted to see.

It made him the perfect chameleon, able to blend into any setting. Yet at the same time it left him helplessly devoid of any true sense of self. When he tried to contemplate who he really was he soon became tangled in the errant thoughts and emotions of all those he had touched. Somewhere in that tangled web was the remains of what he had once been. Extracting those strands and putting them back together into something that resembled a real person was an impossibly task. Each attempt was grueling, every night was haunted by memories that were not his own. When those around him experienced the most powerful emotions their thoughts were seared deep into his psyche. One of the most powerful empaths in the Galaxy and he was a professional killer. There were few nights now when he did not spend his sleeping hours replaying each murder in turn from the perspective of his victim. He was forced to feel every sensation: the pain he had inflicted upon them and the utter despair as they realised they were at the end of their path.

Wyl still feared that enigmatic teacher who seemed almost omniscient to his eyes. He reflected just that. On the surface there was a facade of a smile that covered an enigmatic, unreadable expression.

“Of course,” Raziel stated, as if he had expected such a proposal. “I decided to head towards the centre of interesting times and this seemed a fitting route. Retracing my own steps… in a way. There is a great deal about to happen. The Republic rattles sabres, yet already parties within their new senate fear another Palpatine in their midst. They push for disarmament of the defence forces, returning military power to member states as it had once been. Yet new threats spring up from the remains of the Empire in all corners.

“So I wonder… where do you think you are heading?” he asked slowly. The corner of his mouth turned up in a wry smile as he finished. “Your caf tasted like kark by the way,” he added before the Admiral could reply.

Raziel's expression gave nothing away as Zev spoke. Dextrous hands tapped out a high cadence drum beat on the metallic table. Yet he turned his head to one side as the admiral spoke of Sharpe again. He wondered exactly what she had been up to since he had headed off into the core to forge his own path.

“Order in the chaos,” Raziel said slowly. “The Republic is already as corrupt and bloated as it once was. They bloviate and sharpen knives as the Galaxy crumbles around them. Politicians more at home in spacious Coruscant apartments than on their home worlds. They take the opportunity to further their own careers without realising what this freedom they feel they have bought has cost their own people,” Raziel said slowly, one eyebrow rising a fraction.

“Interesting times indeed,” he added, a sparkle in his emerald eyes. “There's a proverb about that, I'm sure. Well this will all be very interesting to observe I think. Do you have any better caf machines on this boat?” he asked, looking back out to the cerulean vortex the ship sailed through.

Zev couldn’t help but smile.  He still wasn’t Raziel’s equal, in many ways, but the wildly asymmetrical power dynamic that had defined their earliest interactions seemed to have changed.  Zev was no longer an abject neophyte, desperate and scared.  And he sensed that his relationship with Mistress Sharpe - so strong in the Dark Side - had elevated him in Raziel’s esteem, as well.  That’s probably wishful thinking, his inner critic snapped.  You’re still overeager to impress the man.  Obviously.  Zev’s smile collapsed.

“If you’ll follow me to the bridge,” he said, abruptly pushing back from the table, “I’m sure my personal steward could oblige.  I don’t take caf, myself, but Raytchill is used to entertaining Moffs and Admirals, on very short notice; she’ll be able to offer you the best the Adjudicator has on board.”

He extended one arm to indicate the way, and cocked his head in a half-bow.

OOC:

Aboard the as-yet unnamed SSD

The Wookiee commander believed the holomeeting with Trikarian had gone abysmally, so say the least. The conversation started off awkward enough, discussing the near fatal incident Stormz had encountered two years previous. The ensuing numerous surgeries, physical therapy treatments, and constant testing had made a grouchy old Wookiee just that much more rough around the edges. Betrayal had been the underlying feeling since regaining consciousness in a bacta tank, without his once considered friend beside him, assisting him like the old times.

Ph’rranix remained motionless, staring blankly where the Holo had projected earlier, for some time. Thinking intensively. So much had changed in those short two years. Trick no longer seemed to be the person Stormz had remembered. It was like someone had stolen his form, but replaced the personality and the Wookiee couldn’t figure out why.

The entry to the Naval Commander’s office hissed open, as the blast doors subsided, allowing the silhouette of a tall, slender, human-like individual to protrude as she made his way in.

Without the NCC able to make decisions rationally for a period, and the CNO commandeering a formidable taskforce, as it appeared to the Admiral, a new face needed to be in charge. Even if it was a temporary change.

“Admiral, your reports, sir,” a proud, yet femine voice informed.

The recently appointed Chief of Naval Operations, Sol Cortana, was a brilliant woman. One who earned respect as opposed to demanding such things. As one of only a few female officers in her class, she scored extremely high in several fields, the most prominent being naval strategy. She worked hard for everything she received, in some cases harder than necessary in an attempt to overcome the prejudice the Imperial forces had against anything not human and male. Undeterred, her work ethic and ingenuity on the battlefield allowed her admiration by many of her colleagues, including the Naval Commander in Chief.

Stormz looked the reports over, relatively unenthused. He yearned for more battlefield excursions, but was not up to the physical demands yet.

Sol remained stationary, awaiting further instructions, which came shortly as a short bellow relieved her of her current state and let her get on with what she was doing.

As Cortana left the room, she noticed a small commotion down the corridor to the left. Although her next assignment was adjacent to Stormz’ office, she decided to take a moment to try and calm the small uprising first. Hearing it as well, but attempting to block it out, the Wookiee commander continued to review his reports before going about the remainder of his day. As the commotion’s noise grew, however, the Wookiee grew agitated and decided to deal with this issue himself. The heap of mass slowly rose out of his chair, still leery of his not yet perfect balance. He cautiously limped toward the entry of his office, yet as the Admiral passed through, a faint noise trickled into his ear.

Beep,beep,beep in rapid succession and then a large explosion protruded from his office, knocking the Wookiee down and rendering him unconscious.

Slightly deafened by the explosion reverberating off the walls within the ship, Sol took a moment to recover and then rushed back toward the office that her Naval Commander had just left.

“WE NEED A MEDIC,” the Commodore exclaimed while hastening her pace upon the sight of the unconscious Imperial. As she reached the commander, her pace slowed, cautious of another attack.

Shuffling behind her, rather hastily, a group of medics surged past the female officer, and began attending to the Wookiee with great care. The lead medic gently prodded the furry carcass, attempting to find broken bones, open wounds and any immediate foreign objects before softly rolling him onto a hoverbed and whisking him off to the nearest medbay for immediate medical assistance.

Upon overseeing the safe departure of the NCC, she carefully turned back toward his office. Hoping to find the explanation, or at least some clues to the cause of this atrocity. Tip-toeing in, remaining meticulous to not contaminate any possible evidence, Sol made her way to where the Admiral’s desk once sat. It was apparent, from the markings and level of destruction, that the blast had taken place in this location. The devastation left her staring at the wall behind her, where splintered wood from the desk impaled itself.

So enthralled with the recent happenings, Cortana was startled when a hard hand placed itself on her shoulder. “Ma’am,” a semi-robotic voice announced, “we need you to vacate the room so we can run scans and gather evidence.”

The Commodore remained motionless for another moment, then silently turned to exit the room.

Sol frowned, as she exited the crime scene.  The cowardly attack reminded her of the poisoning plot that had struck the Vast Empire's naval high command, years before.  But just as it had before, the Vast Empire would survive.  Her mind raced.  With Ph'rranix so seriously injured, she was the new acting Naval Commander in Chief.  And her mission was clear: find the bastards who had hit the VE on the very eve of their resurgence, and end them.

Run a genetic trace marker analysis, on the combustion residue," she said as she passed the droids, already crowding into the room.  "And when you have the results, compare them to our own personnel database, first."

So help me, she thought to herself, if this was the work of someone who used to work for us... her thoughts trailed off, even as her hands balled into fists at her sides.

OOC:

I want to give big props to Tryk for several things. First being getting my interested in writing again, with his original post in this story. Secondly, he's assisted me with the plot of this since I proposed it to him. Lastly, he assisted me and actually wrote the last portion of this post, as I was out of ideas for it.

So thank you, Trykon. Keep doing what you do.