Beyond - Legends [ 2/23 ] - On The Shoulders of Giants - post-NJO - ensemble cast

Dusk was approaching in Coronet City, and Kyle Katarn was probably flying a bit too fast through the skylanes of Corellia's capital - but he truly wanted to reach the industrial district before his quarry decided to leave the planet again. He pressed the throttle a bit more, trying to make a little better time without causing panic in the throngs of workers sharing the skylane either making their way home after a long day's work, or making their routine commute to begin one.

After finding the building he was looking for, paying for a place to leave his speeder, and making his way to the appropriate floor in the office complex, he was afraid he'd missed his man once again. Kyle checked his datapad to be sure the suite number was correct, then sighed at the locked doorway and darkened windows.

Some people in the galaxy couldn't deliberately evade their own spouses for more than a few hours - but Arvis Tercion was nigh impossible to track down even when he didn't know you were looking for him. Kyle shook his head in disappointment.

Behind him, another office door opened and a rather puny-looking man in a HoloNet News Service jacket stumbled out, trying to recover his balance.

"Easy!" the man protested, turning around to look back at the doorway. "It was just a question!"

"That was no question, welp," a gruff voice objected, the man owning it showing himself in the doorway with an unlit cigarra protruding from the corner of his mouth. "That was a kriffin' declaration of war."

The little man in the news jacket held out a recording device. "Then you don't deny the charges of profiteering on the backs of refugee families?"

The other deliberately removed the cigarra from his mouth. "Would you like to find out if there really is an afterlife?"

"Is that a threat?"

"Yes - now get your scrag-end out of here, little phlarg-sucking runt maggot."

The reporter apparently got the hint and sulked off down the hallway, heading toward the lift.

The man in the doorway put the cigarra back in his mouth and his blue eyes fixed on Kyle for a moment. "Great kark. What the blazes do you want?"

"You're a tough man to find, Arvis," Kyle remarked.

"I like it that way," the other replied, turning and walking back into the office. "C'mon in."

Kyle walked into the spacious office and glanced around, finding the entire place littered with pictures of people - some holographic, some printed on flimsiplast, and still others little more than sketches. Some had notes attached, including one sitting on a desk near the doorway.

Thank you for bringing my daughter home to us - I hope you rot in hell.

"That one's probably my favorite," Arvis noted. "Pretty much sums up my life for the last year."

"I hear you're into 'refugee relocation' these days," Kyle said. "I never pictured you getting by on blue-milk runs."

"I don't." Arvis plopped down into a hoverchair and put his feet up on the desk. "Not everyplace that accepts war refugees is in the Galactic Alliance - and they're not all friendly, either. My men and I do recon, find out where the refugees are, who happens to be there, who their families are..."

"And you tell the wealthiest families that you can bring their loved-ones home, for a hefty fee." Kyle sighed deeply. "I know. I've seen the news stories."

Arvis shrugged and leaned back, clasping his hands behind his dark-haired head. "Somebody has to pay the bill - and it gets some of the refugees reunited with their families."

Kyle supposed there was at least some merit to that.

"Besides," Arvis continued, "we seldom ever just bring back one person. For every family that pays, we probably bring four or five home for free - and I'll bet those HNN misery-whores conveniently forget to report that little fact."

Kyle smirked. "Yeah, they leave that part out. Still, it doesn't seem to fit your style. Whatever motivated you to..."

Arvis grabbed a small holoprojector from the desk and tossed the little disk-shaped object to Kyle. "Her."

Kyle thumbed the project

 

OMG I this story!

 

Hey, TCR! I'm glad you found it again

 

Argh... dialogue post from hell.

---

With only the cargo-lights on the shuttle and phosphor-lamps attached to their environment suit helmets for illumination, moving the necessary equipment around was an appallingly painstaking procedure.

Lumiya watched patiently as the engineering team tried a number of techniques to pry open the ancient doors of the docking bay, without success. That didn't concern her, though. The deserted Jedi enclave would soon offer up the secrets she wanted.

"What's taking them so long?" Destu inquired. "Why not just blow the doors open?"

"Patience," she admonished. "The inside of the facility is pressurized. That air might be breathable."

"Why does that matter? We have E.V. suits."

His incompetence was beginning to draw her ire. "Our search of the facility will be much faster and safer if we don't have to wear the suits. If they blow the doors, we have to blow the interior airlock as well."

"Assuming it's even sealed," Destu snorted. "We're wasting time."

Lumiya pull the man's lightsaber from his own utility belt, ignited its crimson blade, and slashed a small gash in the fool's E.V. suit.

Destu stood dumbfounded for a moment while he watched his air escape in a vaporous trail.

"A facility like this wouldn't run a continuous magcon field to keep the air in," she explained, closing down the lightsaber and holding it out to him. "The airlock is sealed. Now get back inside the shuttle before you die."

He took a moment to consider this before taking his lightsaber back and hurrying toward the safety of the shuttle. "Yes, my Lady."

Lumiya returned her attention to the hangar doors and allowed herself a slight smile to see the seal break and the doors begin to yawn open slowly, yielding to the engineers.

"We're in, Lady Surok," one of them informed her.

[hr]

"Acknowledged," Cheriss said blandly into her comlink. "Out."

Kali followed her lead and came to a stop in the middle of the corridor.

"Sorry," Cheriss said. "They need me in astrogation."

Kali frowned. "And so the ritual begins."

Cheriss nodded. "Every time an Admiral comes aboard, I end up feeling more like the ship's concierge than the Executive Officer."

"You could always retire."

As expected, Cheriss snorted at the suggestion. "That reminds me - Colonel Solo will be assuming command of [i]Chaser[/i] squadron once your resignation is official."

"I thought Pops was going to be promoted to C.O."

"Captain Genutri hasn't passed a physical evaluation in three years," Cheriss reminded her. "Solo will be in command until he does, or until General Darklighter appoints a permanent replacement. I'm sure she'll be tracking you down for a rundown and the duty roster."

Kali twirled a finger in the air in mock celebration. "I can hardly wait."

"Just be aware," Cheriss noted, lowering her voice, "that Solo's attitude toward you may be rather... [i]short[/i]."

"So I've heard," Kali remarked. "It's odd, because I always considered her a friend."

"Friends can be angry with one another."

An awkward silence followed. Kali frowned when Cheriss looked away. "We're not talking about Jaina now, are we?"

"I need to get to astrogation," Cheriss answered, turning to leave.

"Hey, no," Kali insisted, moving into her path. "We talked about this. We agreed..."

"I agreed," Cheriss interrupted, "to support you in whatever decision you made - as a matter of honor between friends. But that doesn't mean I have to be happy that you're leaving yet another promising career just because you want to do something different for a while."

"I don't regret any of the choices I made," Kali said in her defense.

"And you shouldn't," Cheriss pointed out. "You've done a lot of good things."

"But?"

Cheriss shook her head. "You're capable of so much more."

"You're starting to sound like my father."

"No," Cheriss corrected. "Jev did nothing but try to hold you back."

Kali's face flushed in anger, but Cheriss didn't give her to opportunity to respond.