Felucia's Open Orbit

Na'an staggered as Adelle latched onto her fist and locked her arm, losing her leverage. Her knees hit the steel hard, and she could feel the skin on one split and start to bleed a little, but for the moment there was no pain. She still had an arm free, and she used it to latch onto Adelle's nearest foot, yanking it out in front of her to pull Adelle down too. Almost immediately she could feel her arm break loose of the lock, letting her use it to push back to her feet.

"It's not just that he's there that's the problem!" she said, breathing hard. "It's that he's there, and he's hurt, badly. And he's there with Rutil. They're together, I'm sure of it, and neither of us can figure out how any of that fits."

She cocked her foot back for a kick, but did not release it; her arms came up in front of her again in the defensive position. "Don't tell me you'd drag someone you cared about into that mess willingly!"


Leigh had been silent from the moment they entered the bunks, preferring to watch the scene as it unfolded, but Na'an was being unfair. "No one is dragging anyone into anything. She chose to get on this ship, same as you and I did."

She didn't expect Na'an to round on her in response. "That's not the same and you know it!" she said heatedly. "Is it just too goddamn much for me to want to keep one thing sacred? Rutil's the last one left, and I'm just supposed to throw Adelle in after him?"

"That is not what I mean."

Na'an had been too distracted by Leigh to react until Adelle was already up. Then there was no escaping it: Adelle had her by the face, using the Force in her voice in a completely unexpected move. Na'an froze like a rabbit in the grip of a fox, eyes locked on her face with a sudden helpless look.


Na'an's frozen state held for just a little longer after Adelle let go. Then she blinked rapidly, and lurched forward for her hands. The healer's palms had been warm against her face, and were warmer still encased in hers, like the air around a candle in the dark. "...Don't be so good to me at your expense," she finally said, quietly. As she spoke, she couldn't meet Adelle's eye again, instead focusing on their hands.  "And if you're going to follow me, don't do it uninformed. Too many people have died, or had their lives gone to shit, just for being around me."

She stepped back and took a deep, breath. "Rutil and Aherk," she said again. "Neither of them should be there. Both of them are. And something's got Aherk in a bad way. Which means we could be walking into anything...and the only one they asked for was me."

Na'an didn't respond at first; just looked at the hand in hers with the same painful, helpless expression. Then she lurched forward again--not to shake Adelle's hand, but to wrap her arms around the Healer, pinning her arms to her side in a hard embrace. She buried her face in Adelle's shoulder, suddenly awash in a sweet, spicy smell like Corellian whiskey. The embrace lasted only a couple of seconds, not nearly long enough for Adelle to wiggle loose or return it, and then Na'an was backing off, turning back towards the door with a red face and a quiet mutter about going to the storage hold to check on her gun.
From the corner, Leigh watched with an utter lack of surprise. Adelle was a good person. She knew Adelle was a good person, by any metric, and Na'an would know the same. Na'an would agree to this, in time, if only because they had no other choice. However, once they were alone, she had a feeling she and her partner would still be discussing protective contingencies.

They were walking into a situation where any uninvited guests could be considered expendable. It would be their job to make sure that Adelle was not.

Leigh had moved aside to let Na'an out of the room; she smirked from the corner now, only milliseconds from real laughter. You are the one who insisted on removing the doctor-patient barrier, Ms. Bastiel," she said smugly. " But I would not worry. Given enough time, she is not that difficult to understand from this angle."

"Tactile contact is fundamental to a healthy human psychological state," Leigh responded. "It is often the last remaining mode of expression to your species, when you are overwhelmed or lack other mediums of communication." She looked out into the hall, making sure that Na'an was long gone, then returned to Adelle with a smile that held something like mischief. "If someone like her...hugs... someone, it is because she feels that she both can, and that she needs to. Beyond that, I cannot say."

If her shoulders could move in that direction, she would have shrugged.

Having finished his check of the ship, Z'har was now certain they would not all die during the jump to hyperspace. He headed back into the front loop of the ship, & as he was re-locking the access hatch, one of the women marched by him to into the storage area. She looked rather embarrassed to his eyes, but sometimes it was hard to tell. A moment later he tapped lightly on the hatch to the room they were bunking in. He didn't want to walk in on anyone changing.

-Z'har
Everything alright in there?

Z'har shrugged, though the occupants of the room wouldn't be able to see it.

-Z'har
Well, we will be jumping to hyperspace shortly if anyone wanted to join me on the bridge.