“Gizer ale please,” she asked sharply while trying to hide in the shadows away from a merrily blazing sun in the capital of Tadath.
Strong eyes met with the pale green eyes of the waiter, daring him to throw an attitude of laziness with her drink. He only made a small nod.  The canary yellow umbrellas of the café didn’t lighten her mood behind the dark sunglasses she wore.
“Yeah, table for one please,”
That voice!
She turned her head around to glance at the dark-haired female who was now currently talking to a waiter.
“Um, sorry Ma’am,-“
“Dawn, here’s a seat!”
The female turned around, surprised at the sounds of her own name on a apparent stranger’s lips.  Till their eyes, that is.
“Evi!”
“No…”  Aeos sighed frustrated.
Oh please not this all over,
“Aeos?”
“Yep, join me for some ale?”
“I’d take some tea, but sure,” Dawn dismissed the waiter thoughtlessly as she took a seat across Aeos underneath the umbrella.
“I must be honest, I remember you vaguely, “ Dawn admitted while flashing a nervous yet bright smile.
“That’s understandable; we never were properly introduced, though I can imagine that Darr must have mentioned me a lot due to circumstances,”
“Yes, due to the circumstances,” Dawn bit her lip while casting her glance to her long slender hands folded neatly together in her lap.
“Do we really look that much alike?” Aeos asked after a while.
“Like twins, especially since you cut your hair,” Dawn muttered.
Aeos’ hand flew to her short cropped hair curling into wild spiky bangs.
“Yeah, last time it was still a braid at my rear, “she replied as painful memories returned about the cutting of her hair. It was something that happened quite involuntarily.
This was all soon forgotten as Aeos felt something tense in her spark. Narrowing her eyes suspiciously, Aeos glanced about.
Dawn seemed to pick up on, though not by Aeos’ behalf.  The two females glanced at each other for a moment.  A moment later Aeos’ glass shattered a bullet ripped through the liquor.
“Fuck it,”
Both women automatically fell to the ground taking the table with them and tipping it to their defense.
“Not again,” they both exclaimed simultaneously.
“He’s after you as well?” Dawn asked surprised. Aeos ignored her question.
“Now will not be the best time to talk,” Aeos replied after a while, as the bolts of murder kept repeating into their direction. The café has long since been evacuated by the public, Aeos and Dawn could only hope some local law enforcement would pitch.
A few minutes later, much to their relief, security pitched, and as soon as they did, the shooting ceased.  Aeos and Dawn found themselves inside the café another few minutes later, each taking an calming stimulant while the security tried to clear the area.
“He must be after you, because you and Evani look, so much---“ Dawn was mumbling incomprehensibly paling into the shade of a white sheet.
“Dawn, explain yourself, and while you’re at it, calm down,”
Dawn looked at Aeos sharply. Calmed for a second she calmly replied.
“It’s best that you come with me and see Darr-Rann, that shooter is on his case as well,”
“But why? And Darr would not take it good seeing me,” Aeos muttered remembering the last time she met the man.  He paled, stuttered and walked away, hot anger and regret coursing through his demeanor.
“Darr doesn’t have a choice,” Dawn replied sharply.
“Dawn…” Aeos’ eyes widened as her eyes landed on Dawn’s shoulder. Something red was tainting the sleeve and spreading vastly.

They sat around a small circular table, a low light dropped over their head obscuring most of their frames, highlighting the majority of shadows in their faces.  Dawn sighed and shifted around-
“Sit still, you’re arm, it’s still in danger,”
Dawn gazed at her boyfriend. The latter sighed as he ran his fingers through his short military cropped hair. He stole a glance at the other female seated opposite of him.  He winced, the inaudible memory of a friend’s cries of pain ripping through the ears of his thoughts.
“Look all you want,  Rannik,”  Aeos scoffed scowling while she glared at Darr-Rann.
Dawn smiled softly however, if only for a second.
“I know I shoudn’t say this, but Evani used to look at Darr just like that whenever she was in a bad mood-“
“Stop it!”  cried Aeos standing up, balling her fists.
“Shhhhh!”  Darr-Rann hissed as he bolted from his seat to kitchen’s window. He drew back the curtains, slightly and gazed at the outside world already shrouded in a pale light emitting from the moon.  They’ve been cooped up for hours in this room. Aeos was already informed about the Evani’s death, how it happened and why there was a shoot-out at her life as well.

“Rannik, if I may call you that,”
He nodded, closing his eyes, completing the scar that ran across his face.
“Do you have any DNA pf Evani?”
His blue eyes shot open, wide, shocked.
“Yes, “
Aeos  turned around in her chair, and leaned for the floor where her pouch lied. She quickly rummaged through it, and brought out two objects upon which Darr-Rann gasped softly as he recognized it. His eyes lit up angrily.
“You have no right, “
“I have any right, I’ve got a copy phantom, I deserve to know,”
She placed Evani’s whip on the table along with the image caster, she stole so long ago from Darr-Rann.
Darr-Rann bit his lip, frustrated while Dawn sighed again. He caught both females off guard however as lurched across the table and grabbed Aeos by her wrist.
“What-“
She couldn’t stop him as he ripped the glove from her hand and flicked out a small dagger from his sleeve. He stopped in his actions, his eyes resting on the bleach white scar deforming her hand literally inside out in the middle of her palm.
“What the fuck happened there?”  He growled continuing his assault. He nipped the skin open above her wrist expertly and held the blade against the open wound, allowing blood to seep across the blade.
“I don’t know, it was a long time ago!” Aeos retorted defensively pulling her hand back sharply, cradling it away from public view.
Darr-Rann’s eyes narrowed. If he recalled correctly, Evani, in the last days of her life carried a scar most similar to that. He sighed flippantly and turned around disappearing out of the kitchen.

Dawn shocked to the core kept stuttering an apology to Aeos.
“He’s a gentle man, I’ve never seen him like this-“
“Where is he going with my blood?” Aeos asked sharply.
“He’s got his own little private medical lab, giving it to one of the droids to analyze for an DNA match,”
Aeos sighed as she slowly pulled her glove back on before her fingers started playing around with the coil of the whip on the table.
All she could do now…was to wait. For the DNA, and for Darr’s temper to cool down.

Dawn stood up, and sighed.
Aeos could help but repeating that sigh in her own breath.
“It has been almost two  hours since Rannik went off,” Aeos muttered,
“I know….tea?”
“You got any ale?”
“Yeah, got San Dignes 67’ bottle open in the fridge, help yourself,”


***

“Good brand,” Aeos muttered as the elegant taste of the blue liquor ran down her throat. Syrupy sweet yet it left a stale soft after taste. Dawn smiled lightly while she blew the steam that drifted above her tea.
For a moment the two females said nothing to each other. Each enjoying their own cup of drinks.
“I didn’t steal it-“
“What?”
“I didn’t steal,” Aeos repeated setting her empty glass back onto the table in the kitchen.  Dawn placed hers down as well and ventured to the fridge again.
“I know, we never mean for it, do we?”
She pulled the same bottle from which Aeos poured for herself earlier.
“Never meant it, no,” Aeos muttered as she hid a yawn behind her gloved hand.
“Let’s check up on Rannik she suggested after a while.
“Oh…no, we couldn’t, he’s very touchy, even I can’t go down to his labs-“
“It will be fine, come on,” Aeos grinned softly while she pulled Dawn away from her cup of tea on the counter.

Dawn only laughed, but stopped in her tracks, her face frozen. Aeos frowned and turned around to see what she was looking at.
“Rannik…”
“Aee…” it was the first he has pronounced her name different than the standard call-sign pronunciation. 
He rubbed a fist across his stubbly chin, while his other hand remained clutched to a piece of white paper. For the firs time, Aeos really noticed his tired façade of emptiness and bitterness.
The man she saw in the imagecaster was laughing. This one…two different people.

“Honey, what does it say?” Dawn slowly inquired as she bit her lip in anticipation while she took Aeos in her arms. Aeos didn’t bother to shrug the other female’s arms away. Right now, only Rannik’s voice of news mattered.

“Right…you’ll come with me to Ansion?”
“Ansion?...you’re from Ansion?” Darr-Rann asked slightly surprised.
“Yes…why?”
“Evani, she was a rebel...she did several courier messages on that planet,”  Darr-Rann muttered, his thoughts far away from their current location.
“I see,”  was all Aeos could mutter back.
“Right, darling, I’m going with you lot,” Dawn stated throwing Darr-Rann an apprehensive glare, should I dare to protest against her decision.
“Should be nice to meet her parents,” Darr-Rann mused, staring myopically at the wall in front of him.
“Right, I’m still calling charter, if you aint ready to ship me by 1200 hours sharp in two standard days, then I’m shuttling, I still need to put in leave,”
Darr-Rann quirked an eyebrow,
“You need two days to put in leave?”
“Well yeah, unlike you lot, I have a permanent contract to the Empire, “ Aeos spat bitterly.
“I assume, you were drunk?” Dawn asked,
“I wasn’t sober when I signed the papers, yes” Aeos muttered stiffly while she tucked a strand of golden hair behind her ear.
“Silly girl, just let me sign the leash papers,” Darr-Rann murmured.
“Right, well…ciao then,”
She backed away from Dawn and Rannik, back to the stairs. It was time she left. Need to pack.
“Send those stuff via DP, and stay safe!”
“Whatever, listen, whether you like it or not, we’re heading to the scene of Evani’s death and your brother’s,” Aeos ordered crisply before she disappeared through the frame of the door.