[Coop Fiction] Atra Ventus & Calindra Hejaran

Hi everyone!

This is a coop fiction that myself and Atra wrote for Judecca World (sp?), but inadvertently got disqualified for (should have read the word per participant). At any rate, we both enjoyed writing it and felt it was worth sharing with the community.

Please don’t post until we’re done with the thread as we’ll be taking turns to post our parts in order.

For a bit of background, this story was inspired by the Red Fury event between CSP and CNS. In one of his submissions, Atra had decided to write in Calindra who apparently left him to die in the caves under the Red Fury Base: https://www.darkjedibrotherhood.com/system/competition_submissions/000/030/956/4045dfb332024310b08fc6362b2ad266955060f4.pdf?1431874195

Of course, after reading that I said it was the perfect setup for an ACC Match (found here: https://www.darkjedibrotherhood.com/acc/acc_battles/261), and this is the denouement from that match.

We hope you enjoy.

Cheers,
Calindra

Calindra floated between pain and delirium, between dreams and wakefulness, where the mind refuses to impart to the fatigued and battered body that it needs to wake. The body meanwhile is screaming from the pain and trauma it had experienced, a throbbing pain in the jaw, a bruised sensation across the abdomen, and cold dampness on the cheek.

She was having that frightful dream again. That of an older Mando woman and a nightmarish figure, cloaked in darkness as it plunged a lightsaber through her heart. Every time she wakes up screaming, but not this time. This time, her body didn’t let her, though a moan escaped her. The dream changed, and she was suddenly in the deep lush jungles surrounded by red muscular warriors.

“Do you have a name?”

Calindra felt a softness on her cheek, like she was sprawled on some silken sheets, her hand registered a cold smooth surface, her finger resting over the edge of a gap. The contrast between the smooth surface and the granular texture of the gulley was exaggerated in her mind which was suddenly swirling with questions that could no longer be ignored. A sharp pain radiated from arms and face. 'Why do my arms hurt…?’

“What’s your name?”

‘What is my name? Who am I?’ the knowledge escaped her like a slimy eel in a bucket of water, slipping through her fingers. “Who am I…” she managed, though her voice sounded more like a rasp. Her throat was too hoarse, her mouth too dry.

“Yes, what’s your name…?”

“Cal… Calindra. My name is Calindra,” she realized, catching hold of the eel and with it the rest of what happened. She was suddenly awake, the softness she felt pressed up against was actually a large bed. She propped herself up and turned to face her captor.

“You!” she yelled, recognizing Atra; but the word came out in a soft hoarse rasp again. ‘What…Where am I…?’ her mind screamed.

“Me,” the captor exclaimed with a dry, almost mocking lilt, somehow managing to gleam her intended yell. The man turned slightly, leaning back against the wall. His hair parted mid motion and swapped which eye was visible, and which was hidden. Scars forked along his flesh, forming a mangled tapestry that seemed to claw at the visibly corrupted eye, its yellow and red tones seeming to almost glow in a sinister way. His claw-like, cybernetic arm lifted slowly, adding to the menacing aura filling the cramped space of what appeared to be a suite of some kind.

In an instant, that all shattered. A half-grin formed across his lips as he gave a slight waving gesture with his hand. “So, sleeping beauty finally woke up.”

Calindra’s eyes narrowed as she felt herself relax slightly, her hand loosening its grip upon her blaster pistol – a grip she had no memory of forming. The ache that pulsed through her head told quite a different story, however, than his casual statement implied. “Do you knock out all the girls you meet?” the woman asked with a single raised eyebrow.

“Just the fiery ones,” the Sadowan muttered as his datapad beeped impatiently, demanding his attention. The man glanced down quickly, brushing his hair to the side and revealing his pale, grey and gold eye as well while scanning the message. “So, I was going to return Xen’s lost property, aka you, but…” Atra sighed mid-sentence before continuing, “yeah… Did you know how expensive shuttles were?”

The man muttered a little more before tossing the datapad across the small space to Calindra, a list of attractions scrolling across its surface. “Knocked out or not, hopefully you’re rested up. We’re leaving within the hour and, according to your Rollmaster, the place gets a touch crowded.”

Atra wasted no time kicking off the wall and striding away from the bed towards the connecting lounge, where a service droid was already busy at work as the doors opened. Calindra’s mind was still processing everything that had transpired. On the one hand, she was thankful to be alive but on the other she was very, very confused. As she took in the words ‘Judecca World’ displayed upon the datapad in her hands, another realization came over the Palatinae.

She was wearing a completely different outfit than she had back at the Massassi temple.

“Did you change my clothes!?” she called after him.

Only the sight of a dismissive wave responded from the lounge chairs just before the doorway slid shut with a hiss.

If Calindra had had something to throw she’d have thrown it at the door. Instead, she let out an irate growl as she painfully climbed out of the bed — WHAT WAS SHE DOING IN A BED OF ALL THINGS?! She then rushed towards the closest body-length mirror the room had, now that ‘captain dramatic’ was away.

Wincing in pain as she lifted her blouse, Calindra gave a quick cursory glance to look for tattoos she didn’t remember having previously. She took that same time to examine the state of her ribs, her face, and double checked her back one last time to ensure a tattoo hadn’t sprouted while she’d been looking elsewhere.

There didn’t seem to be any, which meant she might not just outright kill her captor…

She gave a quick blessing to the fact that she had been on a covert op. Once again, the first rule of covert operations — “bring no ID” — had saved her, though it seemed she’d have to train some more to avoid inadvertently giving away intel. Speaking of that first rule, she searched the room again, this time hoping to find clues of their whereabouts which looked suspiciously like a hotel. ‘A fancy one at that.’

She crossed the room to look outside, picking up what looked like a courtesy commline. Pressing zero, she pressed the device to her ear, looking over her shoulder to ensure she was still alone. To her pleasure, the concierge was quick to answer.

“Hi! I’d like to order two of your best bottles of Alderaanian whiskey. Can you charge the room? Oh good. Can you leave them at the front desk? I’ll pick them up on my way out,” she looked over her shoulder again. When she noticed Atra wasn’t back yet, she chanced another order. “We’re feeling especially generous today given it’s our honeymoon. Please extend our warmest wishes to your guests at the restaurant. We’ll pay everyone’s drinks as a thank you. No. No…! It’s our pleasure…!” she pretended to listen a few more moments, and thanked him again before hanging up.

By the time Atra came back into the room, she had fixed her lip and bruises with a Force technique she’d learned, and though she had no makeup on her, she had managed to alter some of her features to downplay the injuries she had suffered to her face. Her long blond locks were now curled and a wonderful shade of red. Her locks fell loosely around her shoulders, and the split lip she had suffered was camouflaged with a very discrete lip ring. They were only small illusions, but those where often the best ones.

She smiled when she noticed him, and twirled to give him a good look at what she’d done in the little time he’d given her.

Just as Calindra began to twirl, the artificial lighting in the room suddenly cut out. Finding himself in darkness, the Sadowan Rollmaster eyed the woman for a moment, as if trying to decide something important. Finally, his eyebrows knit together in suspicion as he gave her a steady glare. “What did you do?”

Calindra stopped mid twirl and affixed Atra with the most overly innocent stare he had ever seen… It all but confirmed his suspicions. A soft sigh escaped his lips and he glanced around the room, searching for something amiss, his Umbaran eyes having no issues without added light. His eyebrows seemed to be performing some sort of dance as his eyes flit about, betraying words of confusion and suspicion that he had not voiced.

“You know, you haven’t given me your name… Not so good on the manners are you?” the Palatinae chimed in from where she was standing.

“It’s Atra,” he muttered as he crouched in front of the courtesy commline, his eyes flicking between its current perch and where it had been left, “Atra Ventus.” One and two came together to form three within the man’s brain, piecing together what had occurred. He rose to his full height and started to turn when something outside the window caught his eye.

“Huh… Mayda really went for the ‘interactive’ angle on this place,” Atra said.

This time it was Calindra’s turn to be confused, tilting her head to the side before striding over to stand beside him. The pair seemed to tilt their head this way and that in a unified front of confusion, eying the crowds below as the park’s visitors began to swarm. From the hotel suite, they had a clear view of what appeared to be — to them at least — the mingling of man and animal under the illumination of emergency lighting. “Do we have to pay extra to get in on that?” Atra said with a striking amount of honesty.

“You know, most people go for dinner and a holo…” she replied, “you’re different, I’ll give you that.”

The Umbaran’s arms folded quickly across his chest as his spine straightened. “What, you thinkin’ this is some sorta date,” the man stated defensively, “I don’t do dates.”

“Sure you don’t…”

“You know what, shush… Let’s go get a closer look.” Atra spoke quickly, spinning about and giving his lightsaber a pat of self-assurance before proceeding out of the room.

Calindra picked up her weapons, which lay in a neat stack on one of the chairs in the room. She hadn’t expected that. ‘Maybe I shouldn’t have…’ she thought briefly as she tied the belt around her waist, and joined Atra at the turbolifts.

“They don’t work… There’s no…”

“Power,” she finished for him. “Right, but stairs are terribly boring…” she added as she lit her lightsaber to cut through the turbolift doors.

Atra stared at her as she worked.

She pretended not to notice. At least, she forced herself to not turn around grinning: ‘Doesn’t do dates, right…’ But before she could turn around and point out that he’d been staring, Atra passed her and jumped into the darkness. With a sigh, she leapt in after him.

Moments later, the pair were in the hotel’s lobby. At least, what was left of it.

Pandemonium. That’s the only way Calindra could describe the scene before them as they forced their way out of the turbo shaft. All around them, people were screaming as reptiles roughly the size of a large Wookie broke through the lobby’s glass windows. ‘They hunt in packs, and they’re quicker than Hutts!’ she observed while several of the reptiles cooed and chirped as they cautiously sniffed the air, noting the tender humanoids suddenly running away.

“Stop where you are! Do not run…!” she tried to warn the patrons, but it was too late. The velociraptors’ predatorial instincts kicked in and they started 'chase-jumping’ after the frantic clientele. Two of the raptors jumped on one such fat client, slicing him from behind with their vicious talon-like toes, then immediately started tearing him apart.

Atra whistled in admiration. "Doesn’t that make anyone else hungry?” Atra said, his grin far too wide for Calindra’s comfort. “I’ll definitely want some fries with that, for sure.”

”Sir,” said a metallic voice coming from behind them, “please don’t antagonize the meat eaters…”

“Yeah, Atra… Why are you antagonizing the meat eaters, why not the poor herbivores too!?”

Atra ignored the tirade, but turned around to see who had spoken. Behind them was a shiny protocol droid, his chrome all polished and glistening in the shadows. “Shiny…! Chrome… You’ll do perfectly!!” With a wave of the hand, the droid floated from the corner he was hiding in, and was suddenly dangling upside down in front of the dinosaurs. The droid was making quite the fuss, a slew of vexed jargon mixed with frightened “Oh my, we’re doomed!” as it was dangled to and fro to catch the large cold blooded hunters’ attention.

“So let me get this right, you wanted to impress me by using a protocol droid as a doll in order to get us better acquainted with the local predators on a first date…?"

“This is not a date…!” Atra said tersely as he concentrated on what he was doing.

“But I’ve always wanted a dinosaur,” Calindra whined. “Do you think we can get one as a pet? Like for keeps?”

“You’re kidding, right? I’m not sharing…! They’d make a perfect addition to my collection!”

Calindra blinked. She started working her jaw and closed it again. It was probably best that she not voice that thought…

The helpless droid flailed as much as its servos would allow, the raptors drawing cautiously closer before nipping at the droid. They were animals after all, and such creatures often satisfied their curiosity first and foremost with: does it taste good? The protestations mattered little as limbs were removed one after another and tossed aside to spark fruitlessly.

“Atra… I think they’re bored now…” Calindra grumbled from beside Atra.

His grin fell as he stopped bouncing what remained of the droid in and out of the raptors’ reach. “Huh,” Atra replied as he glanced at the Palatinae, then back towards the raptors. Several of them had taken the opportunity of his distraction as their own, repositioning themselves towards advantageous striking positions. “Um, I don’t think so,” Atra barked, “as delicious as she may look, we’re not the meal you’re looking for!”

He flicked his wrist and released his hold on the droid in the Force, paying no mind to the resounding clang-crash as he brought his saber to hand. The cerulean light hissed to life and was answered just as quickly by Calindra’s own weapon. However, before either could assert themselves as the new alpha for the hunting pack, a loud roar neither had ever heard before reverberated from outside. Raptor and humanoid alike snapped their heads to the entrance in an instant, the raptor’s wasting no time as they chirped amongst themselves and hastened their exit, chasing easier prey deeper into the hotel.

“So… That happened,” Atra remarked, toggling the power switch on his weapon. He turned to look at his blonde companion to find her all but pouting as she watched the last of the raptors disappear around a corner. The Sadowan’s lips parted, about to say something when he felt a heavy tremor. What was that, he mentally remarked, turning around just as another tremor shook the ground in time with a massive, scaled foot coming to rest outside. Atra spun about with haste, all but tackling Calindra as he wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her into the nearest cover — which happened to be an assortment of overturned tables.

The woman wasted no time opening her mouth to protest, but Atra secured his palm across her lips before any words were formed. “Shhh…” he hissed, only vaguely aware that he was positioned on top of her. The Umbaran raised his head slowly, eying what could only be some variant on what his datapad had described as the King of Tyrants, the Tyrannosaurus Rex. The massive creature was sniffing away near the entrance, drawn by the mixture of blood and fear that all but permeated from within.

“New plan,” Atra whispered, “you can have the little ones… I want that one.”

His hand still firmly in place, muffled sounds of frustration were all that answered him. The dinosaur was a moment away from entering when another roar was heard, not too far off, that caught its attention. Pulling back and answering in challenge, the monstrous creature began its journey anew, and away from where they hid.

It was then that a heavy weight slammed into his groin. “Son-of-a…” he gasped, rolling to the side and losing awareness of the world for a moment.

“I’m no damsel, as you might recall,” Calindra’s words faded out slightly as Atra grimaced, as if she were walking away.

“You wouldn’t have caught my attention if you had been,” the Rollmaster grumbled as he found his footing, an ache pulsing through him that he knew wouldn’t go away any time soon. Looking around, he noticed Calindra in the midst of typing quickly behind the abandoned reception desk. “What’re you doin’?” he called.

“Nothing you need to worry your overly dramatic head about,” came her answer as she finished inputting what amounted to a full reimbursement of the charges she had racked up earlier, plus a little extra.

“Remind me to keep a closer eye on you,” Atra grumbled.

“How you gonna do that when I’m gone?” she responded with a grin, lifting up a bottle of whiskey in her right hand and swirling it around in a flourish. Without another word she winked and spun about, taking her prize with her as she made her way through the rubble and out into the park. Atra let out a long sigh, his eyes tracking Calindra as she departed. He walked over to the reception and leaned against it, eying the remaining bottle of whiskey. Next to it he found a note, with the scrawled words ‘thanks for the date!’ upon it. He couldn’t help but laugh to himself.

“If it had been a date, I’d have savoured the view a little longer back in the room.” Atra spoke to himself as he stared towards the ceiling. The sudden sounds of distant chirps and clicks caught his attention once more. “Oh well, let’s join the party.”

The Rollmaster rested his palm against his hilt and turned in the opposite direction from Calindra, heading deeper into the hotel where Judecca World’s attractions had escaped to.

-=-

FIN