Beyond - Legends Breathless (J/TK) Updated 03/30

When do we get the next post?
Myra

 

CarrKicksDoor: Thanks!

Myra: In two minutes.

Depa

 

This post is for Myra.

*~*~*~*~*

Kalanti was only a short distance away from Dagobah, but the woman hadn?t been planning on making this detour. She was in a surly mood and snapped at anybody who dared interrupt her troubled musings. She had to get back to her destination before people started asking unwanted questions.

But it wasn?t as if she could avoid Kalanti, either. The operation that she headed was a success beyond what she had imagined in her wildest dreams, but it was also growing incredibly large and complex. Money was never a problem?she had all the money needed to head such an operation well into the next decade. But she did need scientists?and it was always difficult these days to find scientists who didn?t care whether their lab rats were?well, whether their lab rats were rats or beings with a brain capable of higher functions.

The woman arrived in Kalanti?s bustling spaceport only a couple of standard minutes late, which was fast for her. She took a turbolift to the basement level of the transportation complex. Access to the basement level was restricted to personnel with the highest security clearance, but an exchange of credits ensured that the woman got the required passwords.

The man that she was to meet here was already waiting for her. He didn?t look at all unhappy that she was so late, just relieved that she had turned up at all.

?This way,? he said in a low voice. He led her out of the cool hall and down a winding corridor. Florescent spider webs glowing from the cracks in the wall and the green spiders crawling along their intricate webs gave the basement a permanently eerie feel. The woman watched the spiders with fascination. She had always thought that there was a thing or two that everybody could learn from spiders.

?In here,? the man whispered, as if afraid they would get found if he spoke any louder.

The woman thought that he was a paranoid fool, but she kept her opinions to herself. For the moment. He was a prospective employee; she couldn?t risk alienating him before he became so deeply entrenched in her little game that he couldn?t get out even if he wanted to.

The room was small but in a no better condition than the hall or the corridor. There was a small table and half a dozen chairs around it in the middle of the room. A thick layer of dust had matted the tabletop and the chairs. The woman looked at them in revulsion. The lights fixed into the ceiling weren?t working properly; they flickered on and off every couple of seconds.

?Sorry ?bout the chairs,? the man said hastily. He wiped quickly with his hands. Specks of dust flew up into the air. The smell made the woman?s nostrils flare. ?Sorry,? the man said again.

?I?ll stand,? the woman said coldly.

The man opened his mouth, apparently to protest, but then he thought better of it, and nodded.

He remained standing as well.

?We can?t be here long,? he said, still speaking in a low, anxious tone. His gaze kept darting around the room nervously, as though he were sure that somebody would spring out of the walls to whisk him off to prison. ?My colleagues will start to wonder.?

?Of course,? said the woman, forcing her voice to be warm and pleasant. There would be a time?in the future?when she could treat him like the dirt that he was, but now was not it.

The woman waited for the man to say something, but he kept his mouth shut, instead electing to play with the chair that he had ?cleaned? for her.

?My name is Noor Rivol,? the man said finally.

?I?m called Phoenix,? said the woman. That wasn?t her real name, of course, and it was apparent that the fact wasn?t lost on the man. But he didn?t insist. He continued fiddling with the chair, swinging it to and fro on its back legs, and watching himself do so.

?I understand,? the woman said, praying for patience, ?that you have some questions about the kind of research you would be doing??

?Yeees?yesss,? said the man, still not looking at her. ?The pay?s good and everything,? he added in a hurry, ?b-but

 

That was harsh of TK but necessary.

 

I take it nobody is, umm, interested?

Depa

 

SilSolo: Missed you earlier. Yeah, it's harsh. But sometimes you have to be harsh, I'm afraid. And, besides, Tenel Ka's just tired of being a door mat.

Depa

 

I bet that memory wasn't TK's, but that it belonged to that woman from Jacen's dream.

No, it wasn't expected, but I think it makes sense.

Keep writing!

 

Ooh...interesting twist you've put in here. Can't wait to see where this leads!

~Carr

 

Oh, plotness....

Yeah, I do like it when characters take matters into their own hands. I can't wait for their, um, "opportunity".

JediFarfy

 

Is this our heavy? Is she in cahoots with factions on Hapes, or does this plot not connect with TK except as it is Jedi business? Is the experiment on Hapes, experimenting on men? This brings up many questions.

 

I'm in agreement with Zeb, very interesting if not slightly desterbing post. If I remember correctly "Pheonix" is the woman from Jacen's dream. I wonder what she's up to. I guess we'll find out soon enough.

Fireyforce

 

but, as always...will wait for more

 

In the spirit of laziness, let me shorten everybody's name.

Misti: There has to be some sort of conflict in this story that isn't romantic, right?

Carr: Thanks!

Farfy: Yup!

ZN: You never know...until I tell you.

Fireyforce: Do you want me to call you Firey or FF or Fireforce All shall be revealed about Phoenix eventually.

PP: Thanks!

Next post coming up momentarily...

Depa

 

This one's pure goofiness, as is the next one.

But just a slight disclaimer: I'm not glorifying alcohol by this post or the next one. In fact, parts of the post say how terrible alcoholism can be to your health. Don't make the mistake of thinking that just because a character acts funny when (s)he's drunk that...well, you get the idea.

At any rate, in case anybody missed this in my ramblings: alcoholism is a definite no-no (though you'll notice that none of the characters in this post or the next one are alcoholics; they merely drink and, occasionally, get drunk).

*~*~*~*~*


Jacen woke up as suddenly and completely as if somebody had dumped a bucketful of ice water on him. He lay in his bed for a moment, staring up at the dark ceiling. A deep chill had settled in his bones that had nothing with to do with the coolness of the room.

He pushed himself up onto his elbow and glanced over at the lighted digits of the alarm clock on the bedside table. 1800 hours. He fell back onto the pillow and released a deep breath. Tenel Ka had been too busy to have lunch with everybody else, so Jacen had gotten his food to his bedroom. After spending all of ten minutes shoveling the food into his mouth, he had gone straight to sleep.

He released another deep breath and pushed himself up into a sitting position.

First, the dream about Dagobah and now this.

He was pretty sure that the woman in both dreams was the same person. She had the same build, the same voice, the same face?Jacen frowned slightly, trying to recall the face, but it was impossible. He couldn?t even remember the woman?s eyes anymore, no matter how hard he tried, though he remembered thinking that the snowstorms of Hoth couldn?t possibly be any colder than her eyes. And she had thought about coming to the planet?Kalanti??from Dagobah. Or something like that?

Jacen waved his hand, causing his satchel to come flying across the room from where it sat near the cabinet; he hadn?t seen the point in unpacking his few clothes into the closet only to pack them again a couple of days later. He rummaged around the satchel until he found what he was looking for.

He pulled out his comlink and opened the protective cover and punched in the first digit. Then, he frowned. Who should he call anyway? He would have to go through the Jedi Council to reach any of the Jedi Healers. Uncle Luke had gone to places unknown. Mother and Father had gone playing without as much as giving Jacen a number. But that probably was because they couldn?t reach him in the first place. They had probably given a number to Anakin?Jacen cleared the comlink screen and punched the correct sequence to get a connection to Coruscant, and then hesitated again. Getting Mother?s number meant talking to Anakin. He loved his brother, but visions were something Anakin simply didn?t understand and didn?t care to understand.

I don?t even know if Anakin believes in visions. Come to think of it, Jacen didn?t know if he believed in visions! Maybe they?re just dreams, maybe I?m overreacting?

All the same, he thought with a sigh, he would feel better if he talked to someone?Jaina? Last time he had talked to his twin, she had been a high-ranking officer in the Rogue Squadron. He punched in her number, hoping that she hadn?t replaced the comlink in the last four years? She wasn?t anymore of an introvert than Anakin, but at least she had had visions before, so wouldn?t dismiss his? outright.

Ring 1?

Ring 2?

Ring 3?

Please pick it up. Please pick it up?

Ring 4?

The ring broke off halfway through. ?Solo ?ere.? Groggy. Slurred.

?Jaina!? Jacen cried happily. ?How are you doing, sis??

?I?m doin? jus? fine,? came the reply. ?Here?s your sista. She?s waitin? to talk to ya. Hang on one sec. I?ll go get her, okay? She?s in the ?fresher.?

Jacen pulled the comlink away from his mouth and stared at it. Then he put it back to his mouth. ?Uhh, is this Jaina Solo speaking??

But Jaina apparently wasn?t t

 

Man, Jaina's trashed. I have only known with two people who have reached that level of intoxication when I was present. One picked a fight with me and was too drunk to fight well, which was good for me because this guy was as big as Chewbacca. He'd often get too drunk to stumble fifty feet to the bathroom. Not pretty. The other was my former roommate. When ol' Dan was sober, he made Palpy seem a model citizen. When he was drunk off his ass, well, take Palpy, add Nom Anor, TC, and Lando, and you get his 'tude. I hope Jaya was better behaved as those morons while she was three sheets to the wind. And I hope she didn't try to drink any full-blooded Corellians under the table, let alone Wookiees or Barabels.

 

*scolds self for missing last post*

Oh no, Jaina! I hope she's okay.

Wait a minute...who was the unfamiliar voice? Guess I'll just have to wait to find out.

?Your what??!!? For a horrible instant, Jacen, terrified, stared at the satchel in front of him. Had he missed his sister?s wedding?? Then, reason caught up to him. Jaina sure as hell wouldn?t have gone ahead and married anybody without him being present. He took deep, calming breaths.

lol!

Beautiful description, btw!

 

There has to be some sort of conflict in this story that isn't romantic, right?

Of course.

---

I must admit, I'm confused by Jaina. Then again, I have never seen anyone get drunk. Call me sheltered, if you like, though I don't think of it that way.

But it's interesting, and I'm thinking that the strange woman's an OC.

If she isn't, I'm lost.

Keep writing! :)

 

Sorry I missed the posts, Depa. I was out of town. Thanks for the dedication.

I loved them. Will we find out why Jaina was drunk?

Again, great work,
Myra

 

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!! Jaina was SOOOOO wasted. That was funny. Sorry I missed the last few posts, I didn't get a chance to do ANYTHING on TF.N for a week. They were all cool, though.

 

We get a post today?

 

I don't think not drinking is like Jaina... She drank with Kyp and Jag in either Rebel Dream or Rebel Stand and she was drinking something (Corellian Ale, I think) in DW. But I still like it since I'm not a huge fan of alcohol (tasted a wine cooler by mistake once and that was the worst thing that ever touched my tongue).

I'd like to see TK shopping, even tho I doubt you'd find scaly armor in a mall.

 

Preliminary notes: I never had an ounce of alcohol in my life before -- no, not even wine -- nor have I been around anybody who has had more than half a glass of wine. So, if I exaggerated or totally misrepresented how drunk people act, I apologize.

Now, onto reader responses:

ZN: Huh! We'll see how good Jaina behaved in the next post.

DA: An OC.

Misti: Well, my experience with drunk people comes from reading other stories, so I don't know how accurate my portrayal was...?

Myra: No problem! Why did Jaina get drunk? Because it's the one-year-anniversary of her getting her own squadron!

Draconarius: trying to figure out how to abbreviate your name -- don't want to do Draco in case I offend you. No problem, btw. Respond when you have time!

DA: Of course.

SilSolo: Well, Jaina in the AU never -- I don't think -- suffered through a friend dying out of alcoholism, did she? TK shopping coming up in the post after next one.

Depa

 

Tell us how you really feel about your brother, Jaina.

*~*~*~*~*


Jaina Solo listened to the conversation between Kalinda Kittiga and her brother with interest. She sat on the couch, cross-legged, with her arms around Kalinda, who was sitting on the floor, leaning back against the couch. The room was bustling with Rogues, Wraiths, and a dozen other squadron units, as well as some generals and those who had no business being here at all.

Jaina leaned close to Kalinda so she could listen to the conversation. She had a strange feeling that she knew the man on the other side. Jaina straightened up suddenly when she sensed Gavin Darklighter sneaking up behind her. â??Hey!â?? she said angry. â??Rogues play fair!â??

â??Says who?â?? somebody shouted from the other end of the hall. Everybody laughed.

â??And besides,â?? said Gavin, who was also quite drunk, â??Iâ??m not even part of the Rogues, anymore.â??

â??Yeah, Gavin,â?? Tycho shouted. â??How the hell did you get in??â??

â??Charm,â?? Gavin said, plopping down onto the couch beside Jaina.

â??Be quiet!â?? Jaina shouted. â??Iâ??m tryinâ?? to listen!â?? She pointed at Kalinda, who had a finger in her ear. Realizing that Jaina and Gavin were looking at her, she pulled the finger out of her ear. She covered the comlinkâ??s mouthpiece with her hand and proclaimed, â??This isnâ?? my brother, but heâ??s hot!â?? She gave Jaina a thumbs-up sign and then went back to her conversation with the guy who wasnâ??t her brother but was hot.

â??How hot?â?? a woman shouted, coming bounding over to the couch were Jaina and Kalinda were sitting.

â??Very hot,â?? said Kalinda with a big grin.

â??How dâ??ya know?â?? the woman asked, sounding puzzled. â??How can you tell whethaâ?? somebodyâ??s hot by talkinâ?? to him?â??

â??Well, itâ??s really simple,â?? Jaina said knowledgeably. â??You listen hard to the guy. If he sounds like my twin, heâ??s not hot. If he doesnâ??t, then he is hot.â??

â??Ohhhâ?¦â?? the woman said, a look of comprehension dawning on her face.

â??But this guyâ??s claiminâ?? to be Jacen!â?? Kalinda said in protest, looking over her shoulder at Jaina.

â??He must be an imposter,â?? Jaina said earnestly.

â??Hmm.â?? Kalinda thought for a moment. â??I like him all the same.â?? She went back to her conversation with the guy, whoever he was.

Gavin, meanwhile, tried to force another bottle of alcohol down her throat.

â??Hey!â?? Jaina said, offended. â??Hey!â?? She pointed an accusatory finger at the bottle. â??Alcoholâ??s bad for your health.â??

â??How bad?â??

â??Itâ??s really bad,â?? said Jaina. â??Cilghalâ??s gonna murder me when she finds out I got drunk, ya know? Sheâ??s gonna chop me up into tiny pieces and throw them into boiling oil and leave me there until Iâ??m nice and brown and crusty and tasty.â??

â??Can I eat you?â?? Tycho wanted to know.

â??Be quiet!â?? Jaina said. â??Guys, guys, guys!â?? she shouted, jumping to her feet on the couch and clapping to get their attention. â??I have an announcement to make.â??

â??Youâ??re gettinâ?? married??â?? somebody shouted from the back.

â??Whoâ??s gettinâ?? married??â??

â??Jaina is!â??

â??WHAT?! To whoâ???â??

â??Hey!â?? Jaina roared. â??Mr. person-who-sounds-a-hell-a-lot-like-Jagged-Fel, Iâ??m notâ??â??

â??Hey!â?? an offended voice shouted from the other side of the room, sounding, miraculously, sober. â??That drunk was NOT me. Get your facts straight!â??

â??Yeah, umm, anyway. Nobodyâ??s gettinâ?? married! I was just sayinâ?? thatâ?¦I was just sayinâ?? thatâ?¦I was just sayinâ?? thatâ?¦â?? She looked at Gavin. â??What was I gonna say?â??

â??You were gonna say that everybody can get stone drunk and pass out,â?? Gavin said with a big grin.

â??Yes,â?? said Jaina, looking back at everyone in the hall. â??I was gonna say that everybody can getâ?¦no, I wasnâ??t.â?? She looked down at Gavin again.

Gavin sighed. â??Well, it was worth a try,â?? he said regrettably.

Jaina glared at him. â??A

 

*stares blankly at post* Depa, no offense meant, but what just happened? Something with Jagged Fel and Jaina was all I caught.
Myra
PS--have you read any of the fics that I gave you links to?

EDIT--Speeling

 

I feel like I'm drunk after reading all that stuff. Where'd all the wierd characters come from? Your comp drink a few too many? I'd be surprised if Jaya remembers this in the morning.