Taung H'rel
Retired High Councilor 
Posts: 469 
Affiliation: Galactic Empire
|
Post by Taung H'rel on Oct 3, 2013 17:27:54 GMT -8
"Most of that is true."
Taung took his helmet off and set it aside.
"You were cloned from Lord Sinistra, with the original intent on replacing her, rather than simply trying to get back at her for revenge. Revenge is easy, removing the threat of an entire Dark Side organization is much more complicated. The Sith in their own self righteousness were completely uncaring for anyone that they hurt, and needed to be checked at the time. And so you were cloned. That however is only part of the story. The other part is that Dark Tide ceased to be a threat after their fleets were shattered, never rebuilding and their power declined and continued to decline, and so there was no reason to continue the plan. With the plan no longer needed, there were two choices that fought each other as I watched you in the cloning tank. The first was the pragmatic choice, a clone of a Sith is inherently dangerous and unpredictable, the second was that this was an innocent girl who had done nothing to deserve death. So I made the choice to decant you earlier than originally planned, and took you as my daughter."
He stood up and walked over to her, sitting down next to her on the floor.
"I have kept you isolated and hidden to protect you. The clone of her apprentice, De'nia, she killed as soon as she saw her face for the first time, without a second thought or allowing a word in edgewise. If she knew that you existed, I have little doubt that she would do the same to you. Its possible I am wrong in this, but until you were able to defend yourself against her level of power and galactic reach, it was better to have you hidden to protect you. From the moment you were...born...you have not been expendable. Its also not true that it is impossible to clone a stable Force User. All such attempts have been rushed, experimented on in ways that encourage psychosis in normal individuals, Force Users just have more ways to act out and more strains on their minds. When you were grown it was both with a slower growth rate, and your own, for lack of a better term, memories to anchor you, and then given as normal a life afterwards as I could give you while still keeping you safe, perhaps a bit overdone on the safety, but one can never underestimate a Siths' reach."
He sighed again, looking out into the stars for another few moments.
"I have been planning on letting you know all of this, I just had hoped that it would be on my timing, whenever I was able to bring myself to do it. To give you the full choice of your own destiny. Which would include your choice to experience, if you wish, the holocron of Sinistra. The other..."
He pulled a small hypo from an armored case from a pouch on his armor and holding it in the palm of his hand.
"Is to slow your metabolism to the rate of human norm. You would age like everyone else. You might be thinking that this is impossible, but genetic manipulation works both ways. Included in your genes is a currently dormant gene that regulates your aging. With you still growing there didnt seem to be a pressing need to give it to you, but I see that the brains that you have that waiting to have this discussion was a mistake on my part."
He fell silent, waiting for her to let all of that sink in, wondering how she was going to take it.
|
|
|
|
Post by Gaeza H'rel on Oct 3, 2013 18:43:56 GMT -8
She took the hypo from his hand and stared at it long and hard, turning his words over in his mind. Questions sprung like frisky hares to run in all directions through her fog of confusion. She felt emotionally drained and she stared down at her hands, the hypo rolling back and forth between her thumb and forefinger. She looked up at him with deep, mahogany eyes; the black limbal ring around her iris gave her a mysterious and somewhat exotic look.
"The way you say you had me engineered and genetically changed makes me feel like a science experiment. Do you keep and protect me because you invested so much money in me?" She took a deep breath in the pause before she continued. "Or because you love me? Am I an asset or your daughter?"
A tear spilled down her cheek again, her right arm reaching up to wipe her nose on her sleeve. Her world revolved around his answer, her need to know that she had a meaning and a purpose beyond the selfish purpose she had read in those files.
|
|
Taung H'rel
Retired High Councilor
Posts: 469
Affiliation: Galactic Empire
|
Post by Taung H'rel on Oct 3, 2013 18:53:17 GMT -8
"Money is nothing to me but useful. I try to plan for every eventuality..."
He reached over with a soft hand under her chin, gently pulling her face up to look into his green and silver flecked eyes.
"What started as a need for revenge, has become a young woman that is my daughter, that I care for deeply, and that I am terrified to lose to the dangers of the galaxy that I cannot control."
His eyes reflected the emotions that his controlled voice could partly portray. He wasnt an emotional man by nature, and there were few things that he didnt view as expendable, those few though, meant everything to him. Beneath his mostly calm exterior boiled all the loves, anxieties, and fears that raged in side of him like a violent storm crashing into another. He was afraid for the future, afraid of losing this life that he had taken upon himself to guide and protect even from beings such as himself and the most powerful in the galaxy. He knew he could do it, but he didnt the balance for letting her live her own life, and he was scared to near breathlessness just thinking about that path, the one that was now her choice.
|
|
|
|
Post by Gaeza H'rel on Oct 3, 2013 19:06:39 GMT -8
"Papa, I don't want to hide anymore. If I am going to live, you have to let me live."
She considered the hypo in her hand another moment before she raised it to her neck and injected herself with the concoction. She launched herself at him, throwing her arms around his neck, her puffy red cheek pressed against the cool pauldrons of his armor. She felt comforted and the beasts had been sated for now, the fears calmed with her father's admission. She whispered to him, her voice low and tired from holding the demons in for so long.
"What about the table? It scares me and there's nothing I can do about it. Will it always be like that?"
|
|
Taung H'rel
Retired High Councilor
Posts: 469
Affiliation: Galactic Empire
|
Post by Taung H'rel on Oct 3, 2013 19:19:05 GMT -8
Taung wrapped his arms around his daughter comfortingly holding her to him and rocking slightly, leaning his head down on top of hers lightly.
"I'm afraid that the table is going to be like that. But no, using the Force will not always be like that. We'll find you some help and someone capable of teaching you how to use it, rather than be used by it. I don't have the training to be able to, so we will look for someone who does. How about we get some sweet ice and talk about what you want?"
|
|
|
|
Post by Gaeza H'rel on Oct 3, 2013 19:43:04 GMT -8
She sat back on her haunches, shaking her head at him. Her hair was getting long, brushing the bottom of her chin, the dark brown color akin to a shiny, chocolate ganache. It fell in waves, curling in on itself at the end. The hypo was forgotton on the carpet as she holstered her weapons, grateful for the lack of a lecture about proper firearm safety. He had come in to tell her to get ready, he was always busy and probably had somewhere to be. She had taken enough of his time.
"It's ok. We don't have to. You're an important man." She pulled herself up to her feet, her leg muscles crying out in agony for her extended stint on the floor. She was a little stiff and she moved slowly as she fetched a towel to clean up her vomit. The mess mopped up, and the towel in the laundry, she retrieved her buy'ce. She was short, like her original, a hair above 5'2", petite but so full of emotion. She stood, tapping the helmet against her thigh subconsciously, her eyes staring out at nothing in particular. She didn't like the prospect that she would need someone to teach her something that her father could not. She definitely didn't want to learn from Sinistra, even though he had mentioned her holosomethingorother. She changed subjects quickly, perking up, her expression panicked again at an entire new prospect she hadn't voiced in her outburst.
"What if learning to use it makes me like her?"
|
|
Taung H'rel
Retired High Councilor
Posts: 469
Affiliation: Galactic Empire
|
Post by Taung H'rel on Oct 3, 2013 19:56:08 GMT -8
He stood up and picked up his own bucket while she cleaned up the vomit, all the thoughts of her future and his own flying through his head at speeds usually only seen in the swirling of hyperspace.
"That will be something we will face together. Just because you are a clone of the original, does not mean that you will follow in her footsteps. You are your own being, I know you will choose the path that is meant for you."
He put his arm around his daughter's shoulders, the other slipping his helmet over his head and sealing it with a soft hiss.
"C'mon. They will be waiting for us, and we can talk on the ship."
|
|
|
|
Post by Gaeza H'rel on Oct 4, 2013 6:28:25 GMT -8
She nodded and pulled on her buy'ce, but immediately changed the settings of her vocoder to stop altering her voice. It was something small, but it was a step towards being her own person. That was the greatest gift she could ask of him and he gave it willingly. She followed him out to the the waiting ship wondering where this hunt would take them.
|
|
Taung H'rel
Retired High Councilor
Posts: 469
Affiliation: Galactic Empire
|
Post by Taung H'rel on Oct 4, 2013 19:12:05 GMT -8
By the time they arrived at the ship, Sep had the Corellian Engineering VCX-700 heavy courier warmed up and preflighted. Everyone had their gear already stowed in their quarters and Taung gave Sep the nod for takeoff, flicking his head at Gaeza for her to go ahead and sit in the copilot seat if she wanted while he went to stow his equipment and prepare for the jump.
|
|
Taung H'rel
Retired High Councilor
Posts: 469
Affiliation: Galactic Empire
|
Post by Taung H'rel on Oct 6, 2013 15:39:10 GMT -8
Without further ado the ship jumped for Ilum.
|
|
Taung H'rel
Retired High Councilor
Posts: 469
Affiliation: Galactic Empire
|
Post by Taung H'rel on Oct 9, 2013 14:07:45 GMT -8
The work on the Mishmure'cya was completed in the cloaked section of the shipyard. The ship now once again looked normal except that it was missing its primary armament, and much of its secondary battery as well. Its crew was reduced to a mere handful, with most of its weapons being able to be run by a mere handful of crewers. The lack of external weapons however was not what made this ship truly unique...it was now a superweapon. Not a superweapon in the conventional sense, but anything can be made to be a superweapon, this one was one of the later, something made to look like and feel like a superweapon. In this case in the clamshell opening nose of the ship there resided a holographic projector of immense proportions and strength. When activated it would create a powerful blue beam that appeared to be a turbolaser tens of meters in diameter that would streak away from the ship and appear to disappear into hyperspace.
The ship left the cloaked section of the yards and moved back into open orbit docking position with the other three ships of her class.
|
|
Taung H'rel
Retired High Councilor
Posts: 469
Affiliation: Galactic Empire
|
Post by Taung H'rel on Oct 10, 2013 9:11:36 GMT -8
Admiral Holland toured the inside of the Mishmure'cya looking at the modifications, the armor had been cut on the inside so as to break into mostly uniform pieces when forced from the inside, which in this case would be conventional explosives, and reactors. The whole ship had been carefully crafted into a giant shrapnel bomb, that when detonated would send chunks of heavy armor plate with a superheated plasma coat, outward in sizes ranging from molten liquid droplets, to several hundred tons at high velocities, combined with the powerful radiation pulse that would reach shielded vessels mere moments before the debris, would potentially cause the deaths of many enemy ships. He had approved of Taungs idea, and still did. That man seemed to have a knack for the unconventional...
|
|
Mel Tervho
The Vegemite Enclave
Posts: 169 
Affiliation: Vegemite Enclave
Traffic Light: Blue
|
Post by Mel Tervho on Oct 31, 2013 20:18:12 GMT -8
The Soul of the Fire dropped from hyperspace and headed for the docks, the team aboard glad to be back home.
|
|
Taung H'rel
Retired High Councilor
Posts: 469
Affiliation: Galactic Empire
|
Post by Taung H'rel on Nov 2, 2013 18:27:43 GMT -8
After the commando team and Taung returned to Sienar, Taung found himself in his quarters, staring out at the curvature of Lianna below, and the depths of space beyond. His mind wandered over the mission and everything it encompassed. Gaeza being on the mission with a team and being known as his daughter, adopted or otherwise didnt make a difference to Mandalorians. Her new found abilities at apparently being able to see bits and pieces of the future. The woman who was a...what...hole?...void...?...devoid?....stripped? of the Force on Garqi that now knew that Gaeza was Force Sensitive and a Mandalorian. A need to find her some training materials that would help her control her powers, whatever they turned out to be at their full strength. The loss of the trail by nearly making a horrible and life ending mistake, not only for him but his team, and one that would likely have delivered Gaeza right into some Sith Lords hands. His thoughts turned to Mel, the night that they had walked back to the ship, the cover flirting that had flared into outright flames of desire before the end of the short walk. Flames that they both had let continue to burn and would now explore the heat of that fire. His mind drifted to her eyes and her soft breath on his cheek. His eyes slowly slipped out of focus as he stared out into space and thought of the night they had spent in each other's arms. Nothing had happened really, except that they had slept side by side, both too exhausted to do anything with the stress of the mission bleeding off. He wanted more nights like that...though perhaps with a bit more energy put into it...maybe next time...a small smile creased the corners of his eyes at that thought.
|
|
|
|
Post by Gaeza H'rel on Nov 2, 2013 19:42:51 GMT -8
Gaeza was happy to be home, the trip had been all over and somewhat traumatic at times. Her dreams had been strange ever since Garqi. She couldn't tell what anything was but it was disjointed and whirlwind. She had finished putting away her things, and walked out into the living area. Her father was at the windows, staring down at the planet below. He hadn't said anything about their trip but he seemed to be in a better mood. She wondered what it could have been, but then again, when the ship was landing and the team deboarded, she saw the look Mel gave him. She joined him at the window, looking down a little playfully curious.
"Why do we live up here? Why not down there?"
|
|
Taung H'rel
Retired High Councilor
Posts: 469
Affiliation: Galactic Empire
|
Post by Taung H'rel on Nov 2, 2013 19:51:18 GMT -8
Gaeza's voice pulled him out of his reverie, and he glanced over at his daughter before looking back out the viewport.
"I was always up here going out on ships and overseeing research projects, it was just simpler in terms of travel time. I still do a lot of work here, since most of the ships arent atmospheric capable. How are you doing? You had a few experiences on this trip."
|
|
|
|
Post by Gaeza H'rel on Nov 2, 2013 20:16:47 GMT -8
"I'm ok."
The look on her face was one of being a little incredulous to his question, but she didn't look up. She felt like he might have had a more traumatic trip than she did. The bizarre woman on Garqi had been in her dreams and it was finally starting to make sense if the crazy stuff she read about the Force was right.
"I know who she was. That woman at the university. She is related the prime. I can feel it."
She pulled her eyes away from the planet below and looked up at him, a calm expression settling on her features.
"You are worried, but she won't come for me."
|
|
Taung H'rel
Retired High Councilor
Posts: 469
Affiliation: Galactic Empire
|
Post by Taung H'rel on Nov 2, 2013 20:29:00 GMT -8
Taung's eyes flicked back towards her once again before slowly shifting back out to the view in front of him. The recognition he had realized when they had gotten back to the ship seemed to be confirmed. The woman on Garqi was related to Sinistra. Now the question was...would word get back to her...and would she come looking?
"The woman on Garqi or your Prime?" He didnt expect an answer, it was more rhetorical as the woman on Garqi more than likely didnt have the resources nor the desire to offer harm to Gaeza. Sinistra though...she was another story entirely. Though a Sith Lord and her...estranged...Forceless daughter were most likely not on speaking terms. Hopefully.
"I'm always worried for you. Its my job as your father."
He reached out and wrapped his arm around her shoulder and held her to him, showing the tender side of himself as he shared this quiet moment with her.
|
|
|
|
Post by Gaeza H'rel on Nov 2, 2013 20:38:11 GMT -8
"Garqi. I can't see the prime. I'm kinda okay with that."
She leaned her head on his shoulder as he pulled her close. Gaeza decided to delve into something a little more interesting than talking about herself.
"Mel likes you. Are you gonna tell her?"
|
|
Taung H'rel
Retired High Councilor
Posts: 469
Affiliation: Galactic Empire
|
Post by Taung H'rel on Nov 2, 2013 20:43:10 GMT -8
Taung looked down at the top of her head on his shoulder. He decided to play coy for a moment. There werent too many things he could effectively tease Gaeza about.
"How do you know that? Wouldnt she tell me?"
|
|
