[Inahj] A Trip Home

Desperation drives people to do things they’d never imagined. The wild idea of staking a vague claim to an idea or even a person rarely comes to those of sane thought.

Tumbling profits and the need for an heir makes many of the aristocracy and the nouveau riche turn to alternative methods for their goal. The negative stories of the media can turn a company from success to disaster, where the positive stories can drive a company to an all time money high.

One family were desperate for their heir. Grasping nearly ten years into the past - an agreement with the Ortega family regarding their now affluent and attractive daughter. Their youngest son now a last hope with a last ditch attempt to tame a lavish rogue.

A twitch of a curtain revealed a cloudy sky as the patriarch sat like a lord at the head of his table. His wife was uneasy after the reports, and it was starting to get a little damning. His eldest son was dead, murdered in the ruins of another family’s mansion eight years previously, ironically the same family that he was meant to be marrying. Susan Ortega had been an excellent businesswoman, she had never experienced failure aside from her marriage it was commented, and now it was her daughter that the patriarch was studying a photo of. She was practically the spitting image of Susan, albeit the blonde hair was a smouldering chocolate shade on the young woman. Saskia had left Cirrus for work six or so months after her father’s death, and had never returned. The business had been left in the same hands that Susan had left it with, though there were now rumours arising that a new guardian was needed.

If a new guardian was needed, then Saskia would also need to return to Cirrus. Their dowry for the woman’s hand in marriage had long been paid, now it was the time for redemption.

Signalling for a messenger, the patriarch summoned the services of a close deceiver, and ensured the demise of the guardian of the business for Miss Ortega.

Saskia let herself into her dad’s place, taking care to make no extra noise than necessary to avoid waking the twins. She’d had some disturbing news from her home planet, and wanted some advice. Not something that she was keen on either way.

The sun had not long broken as she made herself a drink using the herbal tea bags that sat next to the kettle. The watercolour painting of a sky breaching through the clouds The evening sky was more ornate to the woman, but she could also appreciate staying up all night to watch the sun break the night.

Andrelious looked as though he had not settled well once he made his way towards his eldest, the look of surprise on his face before she handed him over a letter.

Dear Miss Ortega,

It is with great regret that we inform you of Mr Towarni’s sharp decline in ill health. It is feared that he will not last the month.

As dictated to yourself upon your 21st birthday and upon receipt of the family business, you are the only one who can appoint the next guardian. The board has decided that the stress of the job would do Mr Towarni no good to improve upon his health for the future.

You need to return to Cirrus immediately and appoint a new guardian. Please find enclosed the top three recommended candidates by the board, though we are contract bound to remind you that you are under no obligation to select one of the enclosed.

Kind regards,

Lord Talbot

“Fancy a trip to Cirrus again?” The Epis asked her father with a querying look.

Kooki adorned the sofa in the Mimosa-Inahj homestead in a rather relaxed manner. She placed her feet up on the seating adjacent to her, in a way that ensured no one could possibly join her. Sipping at her much needed Ebla beer, she slyly cast her head round and carefully watched her spouse and his eldest daughter remain in the other room, yet within eyesight, conversing about a trip to Cirrus. Andrelious was seeming to avoid looking at his beloved a few feet away from him. He was not pleased that the last bottle of Ebla beer was in someone else’s hands. Instead of scowling he just took a reassuring swig from his hip-flask. The nearby Alderaanian had very acute hearing and could hear most, if not all of what the father and daughter were talking about.

“So… we going to go and sort all this mess out?” Saskia questioned.

Originally the Warlord opposite her was a little apprehensive, since the tension between the two grown up women in his life was very apparent. However, since Kooki had callously devoured the final alcoholic beverage in their apartment, he felt slightly vindictive. In the back of his mind, he knew he outranked her, but the Priestess could be quite feisty when she wanted to be, and very slightly intimidating.

“Umm…” he began.

“Of course we are!” chorused and interjecting Kooki, who was refusing to move.

“He’s barely been around for most of your life, he might as well start now!”

Saskia swallowed hard.

She didn’t know what to say.

She was speechless.

To laugh or to cry.

Andrelious too was a little surprised at her dominant statement.

Kooki rose to her feet and joined the pair in the kitchen.

“And besides the twins could do with a few new things,” she stated, producing a piece of paper that unravelled into a list that was at least half a metre long.

An awkward silence loomed.

Kooki glared at Saskia.

“Oh! Close the door on your way out. And do so quietly.”

Again, an awkward silence loomed.

Andrelious sighed and gestured politely to his daughter that maybe it was wise she left, since tensions were running high.

“I’ll head out too. We need some more Ebla beer,” expressed Andrelious, a slight agitation in his tone of voice.

He tried to avoid eye contact with his spouse.

As they turned to leave, a loud high pitched wailing could be heard echoing throughout the lodgings.

The Qel-Droman mother rose to her feet rapidly, ready to nurse her two twin daughters back off to sleep.

The front door was quietly closed, just as Kooki placed Poopy onto her left breast, and Etty on her right. Almost in unison, the identical baby females slurped the nutritious milk happily, yet sleepily as their tiny lips pursed onto their mother’s bountiful chest.

Their mother stroked each of their tufts of jet black hair as she shushed them back off to sleep.

Moments later, she delicately put the twins into their baby basket they shared, since they didn’t like to be separated.

“Night night girls. Sleep well. We have a holiday to prepare for.”

A crackle of fire in the background was the only noise in the room. An aging hand gently swilling some of the fine whiskey in the dimming light as the rest of the family had gathered in the room, not daring to utter a word.

“I had fearful news today,” the patriarch croaked, as though he had not spoken for a decade. “Our business is no longer keeping afloat-”

“It’s that Ortega woman isn’t it?” Snarled a young man, grey slithers through his dark hair defying his true age.

“You point the finger Montgomery,” the old man snapped, his free hand slapping the air within millimetres of the other man’s cheek. “This is the game of business, the one you never understood. Ms Ortega is not to blame, she has left the place in the hands of a gnarled and poisoned mind. She knew no better.”

“So, what is the plan?” A middle aged woman asked, seated on the edge of the long sofa in front of the heavy curtains to the outside world.

“We made a deal with Marlo Ortega. He promised Ms Ortega’s hand originally to Mercutio, but he failed to woo the girl. I suspect it was her own hands at which he suffered his fate,” the patriarch continued, his tone flat as though discussing the weather instead of his grandson’s death. “Romeo is to woo the girl. She has had no successful romances. No one has been able to track her down since her departure. Any man worth half his weight would be on Cirrus to keep an eye on his wife’s money.”

“Romeo will not do your wishes well,” Montgomery hissed, pained to keep his distance from the patriarch’s reach. “He would rather run off with the girl and the money and keep it out of our hands.”

“Perhaps, but he is only two years older than Ms Ortega, and you would only suffer the same fate as Mercutio should you try,” the aged man said, his eyes narrowing to slits as though encouraging the other to talk against him once more.

“Romeo would not attend this evening sire,” a servant spoke from the sides. “Claimed to have alternative plans for the business.”

“He would. Wake me when he is home. I must talk to him,” the patriarch stated before rising to take his leave.

“Romeo would do our family no good, I would at least secure us funding-” Montgomery clammered at one last attempt before falling silent. There was a heavy press on his throat, making it much harder to breathe, an invisible hand tightening and crushing his windpipe.

“I told you that you are not fit for the task, do not make me regret letting you live.”

A youthful man slide through the kitchen doors, the servant’s entrance technically but they never bothered him if he was caught. A childish grin and a lighthearted comment and the maids would scuttle back to bed anyway.

“Romeo, your grandfather wishes to see you,” the head servant spoke across the gloomy kitchen.

“I didn’t think you would be waiting up for little me after all these years Baron,” the man replied, a lopsided grin on his face. “And why would he want to see me at this hour, surely morning would better suit-”

“It is not a matter you can worm out of this time I am afraid, or it would be my head and job on the block for not bringing you as soon as you arrived sir,” the servant replied.

“Ah, very well then. Lead the way.”

“Romeo, you are our last chance at salvation this time. The banks will lend us nothing, we need the Ortega business as originally promised. You must woo Ms Ortega. I have already arranged for the poisoned mind who currently holds her business to slip from this life and into the next. You must merely persuade the woman when she gets here to leave it in our care,” the patriarch croaked, his mouth and throat dry from sleeping heavily with the assistance of alcohol.

“Why me? I thought I couldn’t organise a piss up in a brewery according to my dearest cousin.”

“He is a weak minded sloppy fool who would end up the same way as your brother. I have better uses for him than as a corpse just yet. He makes a good decoy, yet he tries to play his strengths elsewhere. You have the charm to make the deal. Baron will give you the file on Ms Ortega-”

“What’s her first name? If she’s anything like what I’ve heard, then being called Ms Ortega will not sit well with her.”

“Saskia, Saskia Ortega.”

“She looks cute from these ones.”

“They are the last confirmed sightings of her. She’s two years younger than you. And fairly naive when it comes to business I believe, I’m almost certain she’s a ship’s mechanic. Probably just uses the money from the business to keep herself afloat during quiet times. My contacts are on the look out for her arrival. She’ll probably arrive alone, or at least leave the crew she’s with almost immediately so you may need some extra charm…”

The identical twin girls were soon soothed by the essence of their mother’s milk. Kooki tandem fed her daughters and tried to conceal her inner feelings towards this latest venture. She was feeling very mixed up towards her spouse right now. Before Saskia turned up, things had been just the two of them. Well two plus a bump. The Alderaanian couldn’t help but feel resentment towards the Epis. And now she was almost playing stepmother to her. Kooki remembered sleeping with Saskia many years ago, but things were now very different.

Once the twins were fed, they were soon asleep and the gentle movements of the ship helped Poppy and Etty soothe. Silently she helped herself to an Ebla beer and went and sat down away from the father and daughter duo, who were otherwise occupied.

Kooki looked out the window and heaved a heavy sigh. She couldn’t help but wonder why she was even coming along. Surely she was much more use back on Selen. The Priestess had recently returned to Galeres and Soulfire, but she just didn’t feel quite like she was ‘with it.’ Adjusting again with the current changes and political shifts, just made thing even harder. She was just a spare part on this mission, yet hoped her skills were put to good use. Her head was all over the place and hurting lots. All Kooki wanted to do was to go home. And get a cut of the Ortega fortune. Maybe if she was extra nice to Saskia, but without making it obvious, she might be lucky…

She walked through to where the others were sat.

“Anyone for a sandwich?” she piped up.

Entering the port on Cirrus was a scene Saskia had long forgotten. Everyone and everything had changed it seemed in her absence as she stepped off her father’s ship. She was feeling uneasy and certainly not welcome back in the same place she had started out as a mechanic. The Epis rubbed the back of her neck, glancing about momentarily whilst she waiting for Andrelious, Kooki and the twins to gather themselves together.

“Miss Ortega, so glad you could arrival so promptly!” An elderly man grasped her left hand in his clammy one, shaking it as firmly as he could.

“And, who are you?” She snapped, retrieving her hand back and wiping the sweat off on her trousers. Keeping a look of aloof disgust on her face, the young woman poked her nose in the air as several assistants came up to the aged male.

“Lord Talbot, m’lady. You look very much like your mother,” he continued, unphased by the Epis’ actions. “I was the one who sent you the letter that is in the hand of that gentleman… Andrelious? You have aged well,” he chuckled, slowly hobbling over to the stunted Battleteam Leader. “Though Susan never did specify your height, I do have a discussion for both you and Ms Ortega. Aside from the business I stated in the letter.”

“So let’s just get it over with, I want to know what needs doing and what the options really are. You’ve been the ones running it since mother’s death,” Saskia snapped, trying to mask her eagerness to get going as a short temper.

The Battlelord looked stumped as to how the old man knew him, though his eldest daughter gave no time to allow for him to question anything.

Romeo was sat on a low wall whilst he watched over the local farmer’s market. His parents hated that he liked to mingle amongst the commoners, as they referred to them, though he found them much more interesting than his family. He grinned as one of the market stallholders started to try and push her wares onto a passing through family, before nearly falling off the wall in surprise.

He frisked himself for one of the photos, and compared it to the tall woman who was following a crippled Lord Talbot through the throngs. The man remembered about the worth of the company, but made sure to keep his distance as he followed them. There was little conversation happening, especially going from the expression on Saskia’s face anyway. She looked unimpressed, though it was just as likely that she didn’t like the market.

The two people following her looked like her servants. Something that surprised him, but then again money would do incredible things to people. His family was the first example that came to mind. His grandfather was the only one who had any degree of sense, because he was the one who had made all the money.

He smiled, thinking of how his cousin would react to the idea that he had not followed them from the start. Subtly was the key to winning this one, that much he did know, though his cousin would also gloat if he found out that Romeo was considering just running off with the girl and her money. But that would be a decision to make once he had gotten himself into the woman’s inner circle. There would be no rush as far as he was concerned, Saskia would be going nowhere until the deal was sorted.

The fact that Lord Talbot appeared to know who Andrelious was caused a great deal of distress to the Warlord. As the ageing man was Force-blind, he could easily read the man’s thoughts: he knew the truth. He knew that Marlo was not Saskia’s real father. Andrelious decided to keep this quiet, though he suspected that Saskia, an expert at reading and playing with the minds of others, also knew that Talbot was aware.

As the entourage made their way slowly through the area, Andrelious began to remember a few of the events that had eventually led to Saskia’s conception. He had arrived on Cirrus, still technically in the service of the Empire, when the Star Destroyer that he had been assigned to had been ambushed and destroyed. The forty-six year old recalled that he was already drinking heavily, but the loss of the [I]Zathura[/I] had dragged him even more deeply into that world.

23 years earlier…
Lieutenant Inahj examined the city streets. He realised that he could almost overhear the conversations that passers by were engrossed in, though there was little to nothing of interest. Once he and his squadron had hyperspaced clear of the battle that had doomed their command ship, he had released them from the bondage of Imperial Service and allowed them to go their own ways, though he suspected that many of them would find their way back to Imperial Space and resume their careers.

For now, however, the Imperial pilot needed to take the weight off of his shoulders. He needed a drink.

Spying a nearby club, Andrelious smirked.

[I]Perfect.[/I]

“Are we keeping you up, [I]Dad?[/I]” Saskia questioned, snapping Andrelious back to the present day.

“Sorry. All of this happening is bringing it all back to me,” the Sith answered, noticing Kooki scowling.

Kooki looked over at her spouse who looked deep in thought. He was clearly reminiscing about his past experiences the first time he was here on Cirrus. It was at times like these the Priestess really did not like having the ability to see into others’ minds. Especially when what she was seeing was Andrelious getting drunk and having to find alternative methods of payment to settle his tab. In all fairness, she didn’t have any moral high ground, having been quite the promiscuous sort when she was younger- even with the other adult female accompanying them on the mission.

Suddenly the twin baby in the front purple and black sling began to wail. Being close to her mother’s bountiful bosoms didn’t seem to provide solace for baby Poppy. Her identical sister on Kooki’s back was soon woken by her slightly older sister’s tearful state. Very soon, she too was participating in the noise.

Andrelious shook his head, almost ‘coming to’ and regaining full awareness and consciousness.
“So nice of you to join the rest of us!” mused an irritated Kooki, who had already undone the front sling as was beginning to change Poppy’s soaked nappy.

The Warlord swallowed hard. He had annoyed his spouse. And he didn’t like to do so. She was quite a feisty character when agitated. He thought he ought not to say much more in case his daughters were to witness a temperamental Alderaanian. Instead he nodded quietly. Poppy was soon wrapped up again and Etty was being changed.

Once the twins were peaceful and resumed being worn, the Inahj family began heading towards their destination, unaware of any future events. The city was starting to slow down, as the main pedestrian congestion rushes were long gone. The sky was beginning to slowly darken and street lighting was starting to flicker on.

Nightfall was approaching…

“Dad? She called him dad?” The patriarch asked, a boom of astoundment in his voice as Romeo was leant against the fireplace in the main reception area.

“Indeed, there seemed to be some resemblance as well between the two,” the younger man replied, casually smoking a pipe. “I thought this may throw a spanner in the works since it is likely to be argued that since Marlo was the one who arranged the deal-”

“Marlo was her guardian at the time. The deal is legitimate in all eyes of the law, I had already prepared for that at the time of the proposition and exchanging of money,” the patriarch sharply retorted. “Get friendly with her father if you cannot get close to her,” he ordered, before swiftly standing up and departing from the room.

Romeo was left in the warmth bask of the flames. He had a half-hearted smirk on his face. His grandfather wanted the world to bend to him, getting friendly with people at such times would be an issue, though it would be easier when the investor meeting was on tomorrow. He would not be the only outsider there, and to blend into a crowd of strangers was the natural for him.

“Gentlemen, ladies, please settle!” Lord Talbot’s voice was hoarse and scratchy, and barely audible over the noise created by the board.

Saskia was feeling rather short tempered about the politics, and had opted to leave the rest of her family out of the meeting, instead pressing for them to relax and enjoy time without her. She smashed one of the glasses on the top table. An echoing silence blanketed the room.

“Thank you…” Lord Talbot croaked. “Ladies and Gentlemen,” he begun, taking his seat to the left of the Krath as his age and ill health was being to show. “We are here to gather thoughts on the progression of the company, as well as to host an opportunity to meet the owner, Ms Saskia Ortega,” he paused, allowing for the smattering of applause to the stiff woman. “We are having a period of boom with the three clubs all experiencing a large increase in volume of patrons. As such, Ms Ortega believes that continuing to advertise to three very different types of individuals would benefit us all, although we are gladly open to suggestions…”

The Epis tuned out the male, and chose to study those present instead. A male majority present, with the large percentage of females only there as secretaries or trophies on the arms of the serial bidders. Most of these were looking to become part of the company, or buy the brand from her. Early twenties, and she was portrayed as a lamb to the slaughter to them all the Krath was willing to bet. Leaning back in her chair, she could pick out the ones who would approach her in the post-meeting coffee break.

Romeo was itching to get out of the pressed suit and tie. He had been sewn into the outfit to avoid him ruffling the image as a business savvy man. Running a finger under his collar, the man tried to ease the airway from the tightness of the tie as he wished for the final minutes to pass for the coffee break. At least then he would be allowed to undo his top button and loosen the tie that was currently choking his freedom of breathing.

After what felt like an age, the boardroom meeting was finally called to an end. The male was desperate to get hold of some coffee, patiently waiting for the queues to sort before taking in the sights around him.

The object of interest was floating about in the centre of the room. She had touched only water, and even then it had been out of necessity it seemed from the expression on her face. He was graceful in the acceptance of his cup, before continuing to study the woman as she began to become bombarded with information and offers. People were fishing, desperate to cling to anything that meant they could grasp their hands on even a strand of the fortune. He wandered closer to the edges of the circle.

“Would you be interested in a new guardian?” A barefaced cheek of a lad asked, one of the uncultured who had fell into money Romeo was guessing. A mere smile in response, before being physically brushed off. “Fine then,” he muttered, standing next to Romeo.

“Charm and tact, that is what you miss,” the young man told him before swarming his way straight into the middle of the crowd. He lifted Saskia’s hand and pressed his lips to her fingers. “Romeo Tipvei,” he gently murmured, his sparkling eyes locking onto hers before releasing her hand back to the woman. “I was hoping to obtain a meeting with you regarding some ideas, when you are available of course,” he bowed, leaving a card with details to Lord Talbot.

Out of the corner of her eye, Saskia spied the man’s swift departure as the throng of the crowd tried to push in to get their charms noted. Turning to Lord Talbot, she ignored the remainder of the crowd. “You take care of these people, I’m bored of playing nice and contact me to make appointments,” she shortly stated before taking her own leave.

“So just how much is that daughter of yours actually worth?” Kooki asked as she wandered through the streets with Andrelious in tow.

The Warlord shrugged helplessly. “Honestly? I’ve got no idea. I don’t like to talk about the Ortega side of her heritage. I remember she said her mother had quite the business sense.”

The Alderaanian peered into the sling wrapped around her body. Poppy was fast asleep, and the lack of noise from her sister suggested that Etty was, too.

“Shall we go for a bite to eat and a drink?” she questioned.

The Mimosa-Inahj couple began to search for somewhere suitable. Many cantinas were full, and others did not offer the right kind of food or sneered when they saw that Kooki was with children. Eventually, they came across a tall, imposing building. Its neon lit sign declared proudly that it was currently serving diners of all shapes, sizes and ages.

“Perfect! Come on, dear!” Kooki announced, almost dragging her husband into the building. She didn’t notice that the Warlord had gone a little pale.

“I’d rather not, actually. I don’t like the look of it. I’d rather find somewhere else.”

“What are you on about? This is perfect, and I’m hungry! Do you know how much feeding two growing babies takes out of me?” the Priestess snapped.

“Alright, alright! We’ll go in! But only because I’m starving, too!” the ex-Imperial hissed back.

The aging bar manager peered at the small family. He noticed that the mother, with her unusual purple tipped hair, was casually feeding two tiny infants. That didn’t bother him; he’d had too many run-ins over the issue. What did trouble him was how familiar the babies’ father appeared to be.

“Something wrong, sugar?” a barmaid queried.

“See the man over there?”

The bronze skinned female peered over. “The one wit’ a face like thunder? What about him?”

“I think he’s been in here before,” the male stated.

The barmaid appeared unbothered. “So? Most of our customers are regulars. Some have been a’comin’ for years, sweets.”

“I know. But this man. He’s only been here once. I remember that Mrs. Ortega had taken a particular interest in him.”

23 years ago

Andrelious nursed a large glass of Ebla Beer. The pilot had spent the last of what little money he carried on civilian clothing, but he had not dared tell the bar staff that. His plan was to run up a large tab, before making flight near to closing time. This had worked before, as the Lieutenant’s tiny stature allowed him to duck into a crowd and disappear. The fact they had demanded he gave his name had left him more than a little nervous that the trick would not work this time.

Susan Ortega had been working all day. She was having a particularly hard time of it at home - her husband, when he was at home was rarely interested in her, despite her relative attractiveness. The belief he had only married her to attempt to gain control of her business was one that the tall female could not shake off. Susan had noticed Andrelious. To her, though he was small, there was something a little interesting about him.

“That man on his own. Keep an eye on him,” the club owner ordered.

“Yes, ma’am!”

The establishment’s manager nodded to himself. “Yes…that’s right. He came in here about twenty years ago. Didn’t have means to pay the bill. Mrs. Ortega seemed to just let him go the next day. Can’t remember what his name was. Something a little hard to pronounce - Tryhadj, perhaps. Just make sure he’s got the credits.”

Kooki continued glaring in her spouse’s general direction. Every so often, she would break her piercing gaze to reciprocate her annoyance, but at the bartender who kept looking over at the couple and their small bundles accompanying them. This was arousing suspicion in the Priestess. By now, Andrelious was beginning to gather his final flashbacks together and notice his wife’s odd behaviour.

Just as Kooki had settled both twins once again, the Sith boldly confronted his spouse and her strange mannerisms.

“Care to explain what exactly it is that you’re doing, love?”

“Oh. Welcome back to the land of the living!” She responded with an edge of sarcasm to the tone of her reply.

“Call me suspicious, but that bartender keeps looking this way. He either fancies one of us, or is up to something.” She continued.

Andrelious attempted to tease his spouse to distract her.

“Well, you Alderaanians tend to be quite suspicious,”

Kooki stared angrily at him and blinked slowly. This always created unease. She returned her frustrated, yet confused face to the shady bartender.

“Right that does it!” she stated assertively.

“We have ample time on our hands. I’m going over there to interrogate and find out EXACTLY what is going on. After all this place is Inahj property now!”

“Kooki, love….wait!” the Warlord pleaded to reason with her, despite knowing this would perhaps be futile.

To his utter surprise she turned round as the couple held hands at the end of two outstretched arms.

“I have a few things to tell you…”

Saskia twirled a pen in her hand, her feet up on the desk as she gazed out of a window overlooking the city. Lord Talbot was suffering from the same disease which had racked Tristan Towarni. She had received news that morning of his death, and it had been one of the few occasions the Epis had considered breaking out a bottle of alcohol. Lord Talbot had stepped in where Tristan had not been able to, and now she was set to lose her trusted advisers.

Her luck was running out, either she would need to leave her father and Kooki to return to the Brotherhood without her, or she would need to find two new advisers and fast. She was vaguely aware that the other adults were in one of her own bars anyway, the family friendly one which boasted some of the best food in the area reputedly. But now was not the time to disturb them. Kooki would not help in the situation most likely either.

Lord Talbot was in no shape to advise any further on the situation. He’d made up a few profiles and folders for her to look at, but what she needed was the professional opinion of someone she trusted. Which at the moment had boiled down to a dying man and her father. Right now, the Krath was nearly showing emotion. Her nerves were getting the better of her. The only decision was to put out for applications. Apply references, meet them all in person. Have them pass a test of sorts.

“Right now, a father is what I need, and I don’t think I can go to him,” Saskia rued, a dry laugh escaping her lips.

Andrelious paused as the family’s food order had arrived. The waiter quickly served up the two steaming plates, before leaving as briskly as he had appeared. The general intention seemed to be serve customers as fast as possible, leaving little time for pleasantries.

“So, as I was saying. The reason that I was so reluctant to come in here is because I’ve been here before,” the Warlord stated.

“Oh? Is this THAT bar?” Kooki questioned.

The ex-Imperial nodded. “Yes. It’s even still under the same manager as it was back then. I’m sure you can sense that he recognises me. I wonder if he or any of his staff know about what happened,” he replied.

23 years ago

The barman handed Andrelious a rather long reciept. “That will be six hundred and eighty-four credits, Mr. Inahj,”

“LIEUTENANT Inahj. I’ll have you know that I’m a serving member of the Imperial Navy!” the shorter man retorted angrily. The barman swore that the pilot’s eyes tinged slightly red for a moment or two.

“That means nothing here. Do I have to get the manager? Or the owner herself?”

“Yes. They will have more respect for my status,” Inahj answered, his anger beginning to subside as he noticed who he suspected was the manager approaching.

“What’s going on here, Rectar? Another tab dodger?” the older man asked.

Rectar chuckled. “He claims he’s an Imperial Navy pilot. Thinks that’ll get him off the bill.”

“You think wrong, Mr Inahj. Do you have means to pay your surprisingly hefty bill?” the manager declared in a matter-of-fact tone that made Andrelious want to punch him in the face. Instead, the Imperial just glared at the two men behind the bar.

“Very well. I’ll go and fetch Mrs. Ortega. She’ll find a way to make you pay up.”

“As for the next chapter, I think you know that one well enough.” Andrelious said with a smirk.

“Alright! Why don’t you actually tend to that message you just got on your datapad? I’ll pay up and go…though I don’t see why I should. Your daughter owns this place!” Kooki stated indignantly. Her husband peered at his datapad and saw that Saskia had sent him her typical brief communique asking for his attention. He noted he’d see what she wanted once they had left the club.

Kooki was already heading over to the bar, apparently to talk over ‘payment’ with the manager. Andrelious decided to wait outside, fearing that the Alderaanian was about to start a ruckus.

The female stood propped against the bar counter, her long, unusual hair in a high ponytail, with only two thick strands either side of her face. One baby in deep slumber being worn on her front, and the other also asleep, but on her back. After what felt like forever, the manager came over.

“About time,” Kooki scowled.

“Umm…sorr….” Began the manager.

“Don’t even waste your time apologising to me. My step-daughter owns this place!” Kooki interjected.

The male looked blankly at her.

“With all due respect madam, the original owner of this place is long dead. However, the ownership is currently under threat. I’m not THAT stupid, that I’m going to fool for such trickery.” He responded.

“Oh, that will be fifty five credits please, miss.”

Kooki handed over the exact amount without fuss.

“Have a nice day now,” the manager piped up.

The Alderaanian pressed her index finger into the back of the manager’s hand with just enough strength to cause pain and discomfort.

“I think you forgot my change,” she demanded, in a rather demonstrative tone.

“My apologies,” he replied.

“Seventy five credits I think you’ll find it was,” Kooki hissed.

The money was handed over without fuss.

“Sincere apologies for that madam. Have a nice day now.” The manager repeated, unaware of the foolery before him.

The Priestess smiled smugly, turned round and left the bar.

The Epis frowned as the message came through on her datapad. Tristan and Lord Talbot had now both passed on. Suspicious deaths the police reckoned, but they could find nothing in either of them to press any further. Folders were scattered across her desk, people vying for favour of the woman as she idly flicked through the papers. She’d had a report from the bar that her father and step-mother had been in, saying that the manager had been shorted the money from them and was raising a rant over it. Saskia had told the man that if he truly cared about the money, he wouldn’t have pressed for it from them. He was also told to pack his bags and leave, she was bored of the man anyway.

A knock at the door interrupted the woman’s thoughts. She was surprised to see that it was Kooki who entered, and not Andrelious. The twins were asleep in their combined cot, and the man was presumably looking over them. The Priestess took a seat without word from her step-daughter, and held eye contact.

“You want to know how much I’m worth? I’m worth three huge businesses. Three kinds of bars which are nowhere near to coming under. That could change without a second thought if I pick the wrong people. I’d be scurrying around for jobs to make money again, I wouldn’t touch you or Andrelious for it,” Saskia finally broke the stoic silence between the two women. “I’m not that thick. That man was about to be fired anyway, it was one of the last business decisions made by the two dead men.”

The two sat in silence, broken only by the sound of rustling papers as the younger woman analysed the profiles in front of her. It’d been several years since they had spent the night intimately, and neither had crossed paths until Saskia had come into the Brotherhood nearly eighteen months ago.

Romeo Tipvei had an extensive profile, and a rather colourful one at that. The Tipvei family also ran a chain of clubs and bars, though they had received some bad press a few years back, and had yet to recover. They were a big family, and reputedly also dipping into the black market to keep afloat. It was unsurprising they’d send the charmer to woo his way in.

“I didn’t think toyboys were your thing,” Kooki snidely remarked, noting the file that the Epis was looking at.

“Ah yes, I forgot I was swayed by looks and charm,” Saskia sarcastically responded.

The Priestess snorted and folded her arms before leaving the room again. It was easier to look through things in your own company, the Epis decided as she started dividing the files into consideration, interview and dump.

As he watched his younger daughters sleeping peacefully, Andrelious enjoyed a cool Ebla beer. The girls were moving their lips as they slept: Kooki had explained that they would often dream that they were being fed. The Warlord wished his own dreams were so peaceful. Since returning to Cirrus, the male was already being plagued with flashbacks to the point that he knew exactly what he’d see when he slept.

Finishing his beer, the ex-Imperial wandered through the room where his wife and eldest were sat, apparently conversing. He managed a small smile at both. Kooki returned it, her expression indicating that she wanted a drink, whilst Saskia remained as emotionless as ever.

Grabbing two more beers from the refrigeration unit, the Arconan found his mind wandering.

1 year earlier

The pregnant Dark Jedi Knight was fuming. She had been told that her husband, Andrelious, the father to her as yet unborn children, was not going to be a first-time father.

“How can you be sure? She’s probably trying to trick you!” Kooki yelled, throwing a nearby drinking vessel in the direction of the Warlord.

“Darling, please, calm down! It’s true. The records don’t lie. I even asked Atty. She ran the DNA again and she’s certain. Saskia Ortega is my daughter. Why does this bother you so much? You knew when we became a couple that I had a chequered past. As did you,” Andrelious responded softly.

The Alderaanian collapsed into a nearby chair. “That’s why I’m so bothered! Saskia’s an old…[I]friend[/I].”

“So? That makes no difference, even if it is just an incredible coincidence,” the Warlord answered, not realising what the woman was implying.

“Babe, I mean, she and I were quite [I]friendly[/I] with each other,” Kooki answered snappily.

The realisation hit Andrelious. His wife had mentioned parts of her past life before, even that she’d had several rather dubious encounters. Now it appeared that the two women in Andrelious’ life had a past…together.

Andrelious walked back through into the room with Kooki and Saskia. Handing his wife a beer, he took a seat next to her.

“So, who’s going to tell me. What happened between you two?”

Saskia froze, her eyesight still looking at the file of Romeo before slowly looking up at the two adults across from her. Kooki was avoiding her husband’s gaze, and the male had taken to looking at his eldest daughter. The emotions toiling through his eyes told the Cirran that he wouldn’t drop the subject.

“It’s… complex,” the Epis started, trying to figure a way out of telling him anything.

“Well, the girls are settled, and we have all night,” Andrelious replied with a shrug.

“It started on Gargon, I had just found out that you were my real dad and I’d spent more than a few months working to please the slave drivers that I knew nothing of what my boss had really been doing. Being the ship’s mechanic meant that I was repairing and upgrading all their droids and ships,” Saskia started after a heavily pregnant pause, “I had no money, but I knew I couldn’t stay. So I started up on mechanics, just like I had on Cirrus. I made things out of scrap and sold them, I earnt enough to pay for food and a bed, but nothing major. Funny that you never asked where one of your favoured, and very unusual, gadgets comes from.”

Andrelious blinked. One of his prized possessions from his wife that was always displayed carefully. It no longer worked, but it was a work of art in a way. It was able to detect nearby movements through walls, handy for trips, though its outward disguise was that of a pocket watch. It had ceased working not long ago.

“People like individuality and disguise. I would find old things and transform them. You could hide many things as a watch, or a coin, or items of jewelry. Not everyone looks too closely at things which appear normal,” the Krath snorted. “That ‘watch’ caught Kooki’s eye. She liked the look of it, but she knew it wasn’t just a stall of decorative items I was selling. She was trying to get me to admit what it really was,” Saskia stopped as she realised she had begun to twirl her hair around her fingers and mentally slapped herself. “Long story short, she caught my interest as I caught hers, we had a few steamy nights and then never saw each other again until I came to the brotherhood. And a lot of things were said during those steamy nights.”

A silence fell over the trio, along with a suffocating sense of wanting to break free from the room. Saskia could see her father was heavily conflicted over actually finding out what had truly happened, though he could never quite realise the effect of the pairing. That his daughter and his wife had once found their solace in each other, before being ripped viciously apart and the pair of them damaged as a result of the brutality of it all.

Saskia could think of nothing else, and chose to leave the room and opt for the balcony off the living space. The fumes of the late evening floated through the air as she sat down in one of the chairs. She had left Gargon without being able to tell Kooki why. It had been the first time that she had accepted love, only for her old slave drivers to intervene, claim that the deal for the young woman’s freedom was that was to leave the planet. It had been at this point where Xathia had come to the rescue with a large amount of money, but she was immediately then on a ship to Naboo. No chance to say goodbye or leave any trace of an explanation for an empty room. At nineteen, she had vowed that she had been an idiot and that love was for fools. Life was cold and would destroy any sunlight. Kooki would be back that evening to resume their love, and only find a deserted house, and would move on, because what else could have happened afterwards.

It was so quiet all that the Priestess could hear was her inhaling and exhaling. She was stood outside where the Inahj family were staying whilst on this planet, which harboured secrets from her past. Well, they weren’t secret anymore. In a relatively short space of time, Andrelious had discovered another one of Kooki’s past indiscretions.

At times like these Kooki tended to look up to the stars in a vain attempt of seeking solace f some sort, but this time all she could see was into her soul and flashbacks of the past. It had been only four years previously, but the Alderaanian had done her best to forget the pain and sorrow she had felt. The rejection. The anguish of just being abandoned with no reason as to why. She had blamed herself over and over. She was usually the one who deserted the other, yet this time the polar opposite. Part of her had wanted to find this mysterious young female. In her Kooki had seen a younger version of herself. Maybe not for a full time partner but just an occasional arrangement would have been more than sufficient.

Closing her eyes, the Priestess remembered the sacred item she had purchased on that fateful day. And she had gone and given it away to her spouse not that long ago, due to his fascination of said object. Only now was she unearthing all those unwanted feelings from before.

Meanwhile, Andrelious sat alone, sipping slowly at his tumbler of Corellian brandy and handling the ‘pocket watch’ that his wife had presented him with not long ago. He wanted to know more, but clearly neither woman in his life wished to disclose any further information.

Kooki knew her twins wouldn’t wake for a good while as yet, so she remained staring at the stars. She too, sipped slowly at her own tumbler of Corellian brandy. She broke her gaze from the small sequined dots, to stare at the warming chestnut coloured liquid in her glass. The female knew there were a lot of unanswered questions that others wanted solutions to, but those raw feelings were not ready to be felt just yet.

Andrelious carefully peered outside at his spouse. He hadn’t seen her like this before. He was about to sneak back inside, but Kooki had already felt his presence and without spinning round or saying anything she signalled to him to come accompany her. The Warlord nervously did so.

“I see you seek answers,” Kooki stated, rather stoically.

“Well…” Andrelious tried to hide his feelings, and tried to appear sensitive.

“I can see you are desperate to know EVERYTHING!” his spouse exclaimed.

“I can see you are not ready to open up, love. In your own time…” the Sith whispered, reassuringly.

“But?” Kooki questioned, suspiciously.

“Okay….If you insist… but how did you not sense who she was? Surely when she came back? When you saw me?”

“Hush!” Kooki hissed.

“Life is a journey of experiences, some good, some bad, and some we choose to forget,” the Priestess whispered, rather wisely.

Slightly shocked at his wife’s words, Andrelious managed to utter, “I’m amazed you forgave her. Not wanting to offend, but you’re not the most forgiving person I’ve met…”

“Hush!” the feisty female hissed again.

“When you forgive, you do not erase the memory. You simply choose to forgive to free yourself from the bitterness. The memory stays, not to be forgotten but to be remembered as a valuable lesson.”

Some time later, the three adult members of the Inahj family had returned to their lounge.

“So. We’ve told you our story. It’s about time you finished telling us about what happened all those years ago,” Kooki stated.

“I really don’t need to know how I was made!” Saskia replied, horrified at what the Alderaanian wanted.

“She’s right, darling. I don’t think telling you what sort of lover Susan Ortega was will change anything. I’m sure you’ve got an idea, anyway…” the Warlord trailed off.

“Dad, please!”

“Alright. I suppose I can tell you about the morning after…”

Ortega mansion
15 ABY

The morning sun streamed in through a small gap in the curtains. The warmth was enough to stir Andrelious. The Imperial immediately noticed two things: the bed he was in was far more comfortable than those he usually woke up in, and secondly, he had two arms wrapped possessively around his body. The events of the previous few hours began to come back to him as he studied the bedroom. Clearly, it belonged to a person who wasn’t short of a few credits.

“Good morning, Mr. Inahj,” Susan Ortega began, releasing the male. He quickly turned around to regard the woman he had spent the night with. He wanted to find her attractive, but he just couldn’t shake the feeling that she had used him. Used him to fill a void that her own husband had created.

“So you do remember my name. You weren’t exactly being kind to me last night,” Andrelious snapped.

“Last night was business. Besides, why would I be kind to a dirty little whore?” the Cirran answered stoically.

The comment hit the Lieutenant hard. Susan had proved as aggressive in the bedroom as she was elsewhere. The encounter had been entirely about her satisfaction - he was told that his didn’t matter.

“That was perhaps a little harsh, sweetie. I’m sorry,” the female continued.

“Harsh was telling me I was only worth three hundred and fifty credits,” the Imperial replied, finding he was having to hold back tears. It had been a few years since he had met a female with such a dominant streak. Susan Ortega reminded him of someone he had once been very close to. And yet, to this female, he appeared to be little more than a business transaction.

“Andy, sweetheart. Three hundred and fifty is a great price. You’re premium goods. In fact, I want you working for me,” Susan declared, resting a hand on Inahj’s leg.

“I really think I should go. Your husband might come back any minute,”

The businesswoman smiled. “Think? Why not think about what this could mean? You’re quite small. For a military man you don’t look like you could put up much of a fight. I have regular customers who like a man that just, well, lays down and takes it. You could make me thousands!”

“Give up a career in the Imperial Navy to become a streetwalker? Tempting…” Andrelious hissed.

“You’re too pretty to hide in one of those Imperial space suits. What’s not to like about hanging off the arm of a strong, confident woman, knowing you can eat and drink what you like and get lucky at the end of the night?”

Susan began to stroke the man’s thigh. The way in which she did it made him feel even more like a piece of property.

“What? Then waking up and finding they’re gone? And how do I know you won’t stop with just females? Or Humans? I could find myself tied up in the back of a ship by a bunch of frakking Wookiees,” the Imperial replied.

“We don’t get many Wookiees here, especially not in my clubs. Besides, as an employee of mine, the least I could do is look after you. It’s a steady job, too,”

“The only thing that’ll be steady is your income stream. And what happens on a quiet night? Or if someone runs off without paying? I’m sorry, Mrs. Ortega, but I don’t want to be part of this sordid little game. I’m a pilot. Not a prostitute,” Andrelious stated.

“You don’t have many options, Andrelious. I could easily just report you to the authorities. I don’t hide Imperial pilots,” Susan warned.

“That’s a risk I’m prepared to take. Being thrown into prison will at least spare me the hell of being screwed by some horny Twi’lek.”

Present Day

“And then I found my things and ran. Good job, too. The man who called himself your father was on his way back. If Marlo had caught me…who knows what would have happened?” Andrelious continued.

“How did you avoid Susan reporting you, babe?” Kooki queried.

“I used what few credits I had to refuel my TIE and headed to Corellia. I ended up living with my parents again.” the Warlord explained.

“Dad. First your story is disgusting, then it gets boring,” Saskia complained. She had been listening to the story with a little more interest than she usually showed in others.

A knock at the door to the apartment broke off all of the Krath’s thoughts. She was reeling from the sounds of her mother acting towards her biological father. Susan Ortega had been born a business woman, a good head for money and profit, and she had been barely home for the majority of Saskia’s childhood when she had not been tucked off at boarding school. Then again, with having to keep up with Marlo’s addictions and frenzied spending habits, there was little point in coming home to an empty bed and a cold marriage.

Caught off guard, Saskia was slammed backwards against the wall after opening the door carefully. Before she could comprehend what was happening, a pair of lips crushed hers, her throat pinned to the wall by a male hand as the kiss deepened.

Moments later, the male figure disappeared back out of the door, leaving a business card in the Krath’s hand. Dazed, she glanced downwards at it.

“Apple doesn’t fall that far from the tree, does it?” Kooki icily commented.

Romeo was grinning as he sat down in the lounge area of the family home. His grandfather was being roused from one of his afternoon relaxation sessions. His dearest cousin had been ranting at the young man in an effort to undermine their grandfather’s choice for courting the young woman, and it had slipped out about Romeo’s little kiss and dash, forcing the servants to disturb the patriarch.

The elderly man was moving a little more slowly than yesterday, but the majority of the family took no notice. He was a little gaunter, a little more tired looking, and the spark in his eyes was a little dimmer. Romeo lost the smirk, and immediately switched to concern, though he had no chance to intervene before the patriarch snapped his fingers, an act which demanded attention and immediate obedience from those around him.

The head servant placed a piece of paper in front of the patriarch and then one in front of the young man. He frowned as his grandfather started to talk, though the words did not sink in. It was the old man’s will, one that named Romeo as the sole beneficiary of his businesses and his estate.

Anger was all around the room. Distrust, and temper explosions. The air thick and blue around them both before Romeo looked up. Everyone was waiting for him to talk, refuse the change.

“Why?”

“Because you understand the market. Plus, your tactics today have shown that you are able to think outside of the box and leave your impression in a way that no one else can in this family. I have no interest in doing the same things if they are not profitable, but the rest of you are mindless drones. You live for the money, something that Romeo has never done. If anyone lays a finger on him, I will make sure you have nowhere to go,” the old man swore, pointing an arthritic finger towards the hostile people in the room. Despite his age, the patriarch was still a heavy political figure, and would think nothing of ruining his own family. “I am going back to my study, and Romeo will be resuming his work. There is no need to bother either of us.”

As though on cue, the phone sat in the middle of the room rang. The patriarch glanced at the remaining members in the family, and his icy glare cleared them off before retreating himself back up the staircase.

“Ms Ortega for you,” a servant interrupted the fuzz around him, bringing Romeo back down to Cirrus with a crash.

“Hello, Romeo speaking,” he finally said after bringing himself towards the phone. He had often been chastised for not introducing himself with his surname.

“Interview tomorrow, 10am. You know where.”

Cool, sharp and crisp. Saskia had been ruffled by his technique as the line went dead. She had not even waited for confirmation of his arrival, so she was trying to regain control. A smile breached his lips, the woman was not so untouchable after all.

The atmosphere in the temporary Inahj lodgings was as icy as the mountains that Kooki and Andrelious lived in back on Selen. The Alderaanian female was still a little shocked at what her husband had volunteered.

“There is one other thing that’s bugging me,” the Priestess stated between swigs of a large bottle of Tihaar.
Andrelious frowned. “What do you want to know now? I really don’t want to remember anything else about that horrible day,” he snorted.

“It wasn’t that. I was just wondering. Saskia turned up ages before we found out she was yours. Didn’t you sense anything?” Kooki questioned, passing the heavily alcoholic drink across to her spouse.
Taking a large swig himself, Andrelious smiled wryly.

“Well….”

Arcona Citadel
Estle City, Selen
37 ABY

Warlord Andrelious J. Inahj stared at the tall woman who stood opposite his desk. She seemed familiar to him. Her hazel eyes and chestnut hair reminded him of somebody, but he just couldn’t place exactly who.

“So. Miss Ortega. You tell me that you’re here for protection? From what, exactly?” he asked.

The female glanced emotionlessly at the Arconan Rollmaster. “I have my reasons. I just need a place in this Clan,” she stated.

“And it’s nothing to do with former Arconan Xathia? We know of your links to that individual, Miss Ortega,” Andrelious hissed.

“Is that relevant, Inahj?” the Cirran responded, with an emphasis on the name that chilled Andrelious to the bone. It was as if she knew him, somehow, adding to his uncertainty about the female before him.

“We have to take everything into account, Miss Ortega. But aside from that interesting comment, the Summit and I find nothing out of the ordinary. Welcome to Arcona,” the Warlord declared.

Nodding wordlessly, Saskia slipped away, pleased to have wrangled herself a safe house.

The Archpriestess wandered along the corridors of the Arcona Citadel. She knew only one thing about the man that had just granted her request to join the Shadow Clan.

Andrelious J. Inahj was her father.

Saskia could tell from the Warlord’s demeanour that he had sensed something a little different about her, but that he hadn’t worked out that she was his offspring. Instead, she guessed that he was putting his unease down to the connection to the former Arconan Xathia.

One day, he’ll find out. The Force has its ways, the Cirran thought as she entered her quarters for the night.

Meanwhile, Andrelious studied Saskia’s record again.

Ortega? From Cirrus? I wonder if she’s related my old ‘friend’ Susan, he mused.

Present Day

“So I knew something was amiss, but it wasn’t until that medic showed me the DNA scan that I knew,” Andrelious declared as he finished the bottle of Tihaar.

“Why didn’t it ever come up before? Surely that DNA scan showed Saskia every time you went for a medical?” Kooki queried.

“I asked Atty about that. The information wasn’t on their database until Saskia came to the Clan. When we went for that DNA scan, that was probably the first time that the system compared my DNA to Saskia’s and realised we were a match,” the Sith answered.

A high pitched wail from the other room broke through the relative silence of the Cirrus night. Kooki quickly moved to her feet, immediately identifying the hungry cry of her twins.

“You should get some sleep, babe. It’ll be morning soon,” the Alderaanian stated stoically, disappearing to tend to the babies.

Eventually the twins settled down and were soon asleep and Kooki was too. The sleeping quarters were less than adequate from what she was used to, yet she had slept rough in her past so she silently endured the slight discomfort.

The Alderaanian was the first to wake, even before her little bundles had aroused. She had slept surprisingly well, considering the nature of this adventure. Being dragged away from her luxury mountainous homestead onto this home planet of her spouse’s daughter. It just seemed pointless. Andrelious was loudly snoring beside her and a similar noise was emerging from Saskia’s bedroom. The twins began to rouse, and their mother scooped up one in each arm and carried them downstairs.

Once in the rather cramped kitchen, Kooki got a cafetiere of steaming spiced caf and toasted herself some savoury crumpets, whilst her two daughters sat up on a small rug. The ruby circular mat looked quite shabby, despite its vain attempt at making the already unpleasant looking carpet that had been laid in the living room area. The girls happily laid adjacent to each other whilst their mother changed their nappies and put them in fresh matching outfits. They were soon sipping at purple sippy cups of milk expressed from Kooki’s breasts.

The pitiful, floral armchair was not at all comfortable and emitted a musty smell, indicating its sheer age and unimportance. It provoked memories from the Krath’s past that she hadn’t spoke about before. Since being on Cirrus, having unearthed memories that she’d rather had kept hidden, Kooki was feeling quite unusually vulnerable. She managed to conceal these feelings, since telling the truth would only provoke more questions. And right now she would rather not elaborate. She brushed off her insecurities quickly.

Footsteps were approaching…

Saskia was surprised to see Kooki in the living room, and tried to make her way through to the kitchen without disturbing things too much, though she did trip up on the end of a rug. The Krath heard a smothered snigger from her stepmother, and inwardly groaned as she also remembered that she was interviewing later that morning for new managers.

Someone had placed a vase of flowers on the counter in the kitchen. Though it was unlikely to be from Andrelious to Kooki, Saskia took them through to the living area. She carefully moved around the twins and placed them in front of the older woman before going back to her own room to sort herself out.

Romeo was sat outside along with a few other individuals, though one of them was a very bored receptionist. She was just there for show from appearances, checking names off and handing files to her boss when she did appear. Most applicants seemed to come out with their tails between their legs, probably since she did not suffer any foolishness. The candidates all had an air of superiority about them as a weary looking Saskia finally called out Romeo’s name.

The male jumped to, and gave a firm handshake whilst trying to redress the much firmer looking professional before him. She appeared to not notice and gestured for him to sit down before opening the file.

“I’m not exactly dense Mr Tipvei, your family is not doing well in your business. Why would I even want you near mine?” Saskia started, boring the male down with an icy glare.

“I am not my family,” Romeo tried to persuade, flashing a charming smile. “As you can see from the turn arounds I have managed in businesses I am very successful. I am regarded as a black sheep of sorts, so my family tend to undo anything I have done.”

“I’ll talk to your references and see what I decide,” she finally replied after a very heavy silence whilst the woman looked through the file and weighed up the data.

Saskia groaned and kicked the heels off that the stupid board had talked her into wearing. Many of them had sent sons to sweet talk the Krath, which was incredibly irritating, but then again, so had another family. None of them had even come close to being able to run the businesses as well as her previous two advisors, and now she felt stuck in a rut as her head started to wander.

She grabbed her comm link and messaged her father’s frequency. “I think we need to look a little closer at the family ruins and see what exactly happened to the businesses I think. Everything is running a bit too conveniently. I’m sure there’s something that’s been missed.”

“So what’s the plan?” Andrelious was a little groggy from the sounds of things, but that could be anything from Kooki’s night time interventions to the caff not being up to scratch.

“Meet me at the ruined Ortega mansion. There’s got to be something there,” the Krath asserted, and promptly turned off her comm before locking her doors and windows to get changed out of the restrictive business suit, and into something that let her breathe properly.

Ortega Mansion

Kooki steered the speeder from the main road at her husband’s direction. The female had spotted Andrelious’ reluctance at heading to the mansion, and had taken the decision to hire a speeder. Andrelious sat in the passenger’s seat, glancing back every few seconds to check on the twins, who lay cooing in two small infant seats. The girls always seemed to enjoy travelling, whether by speeder or spaceship, even if they were unable to see their mother.

“This one, babe? What a dump!” Kooki declared as she spotted the ruined old building.
Andrelious didn’t answer. He was too busy being assaulted with the same horrible memories that he had recanted just hours before. He could almost see his younger self, trudging away along the mansion’s long driveway.

“Aw. Is this a little too much for you?” the Alderaanian teased, sensing her spouse’s discomfort.

“How do you think it makes me feel? I’ve not been here for over twenty years. I was hoping it would stay that way.” the Warlord finally stated as Kooki parked next to the remains of a speeder garage. The garage was in even worse condition than the rest of the mansion, having likely been raided for any vehicles not long after the mansion became abandoned. Andrelious spotted another, far smaller speeder, nearby.
“Looks like Saskia’s already here. Good,” the former Imperial said.

“I was hoping you could give me the grand tour. Or did you not see anything other than the master bedroom?” Kooki questioned, apparently enjoying herself.

Andrelious sneered. “This is an old house. Not a museum. Let’s see how Saskia’s getting on.”

Mansion Interior

Saskia had been searching among the ruins for about half an hour. She had found a small collection of datapads, but despite easily accessing them, found them to be of little use. Most had belonged to Marlo, and were unsurprisingly completely devoid of anything regarding Saskia, with the exception of a personal journal that was less than kind about his apparent daughter. The man had never once even suspected the truth, and a second journal entry was commenting on how Saskia was ‘stubborn like her mother’. Saskia felt a renewed hatred towards Marlo, almost smiling as she realised just how different her true father was. Andrelious was far from perfect, but he wasn’t likely to try and sell Saskia, or indeed her half-sisters.
It was hearing a faint wailing noise that alerted the Cirran to the arrival of her family. Andrelious led the way, face like thunder, whilst Kooki carried the twins, one in each arm. The infants thrashed their heads about, trying to take in the scene, but even they looked unimpressed.

“So did you find anything yet?” Andrelious asked.

“Just some personal datapads. I’m surprised that that bastard Marlo actually kept them. Everything else he sold,” Saskia responded ruefully.

The Warlord’s expression softened slightly. “You don’t need to worry about Marlo. He’s long gone, and he’s nothing to do with you anymore. Shall we try upstairs?”

“I would be quite interested in seeing, well, where it all started,” Kooki interjected.

“If I remember rightly, my mother kept everything on a secure datapad. One that she had custom made. If Marlo found it, which I’d doubt, he’d have been electrocuted. It was activated via biometric imprint. Hopefully, she remembered to let it work for me,” Saskia explained.

“Wait. You’ve been back before. Why didn’t you get it then?” the former Imperial queried.

“I wanted just one thing of my mother’s to remain undisturbed, at least until it would turn out useful. Seems as though that time’s come,” the younger female answered, beginning to wander up the stairs. Andrelious and Kooki followed, the twins starting to relax a little in their mother’s arms.

The master bedroom was in the same state as the rest of the mansion. Its structure was largely intact, but the furniture inside was in no condition to be used. Some old bottles that had once contained alcohol still littered the floor, but Saskia simply swept them out of the way, moving a piece of rotting carpet to expose the floor below. With a moment’s thought, the Cirran moved a loose piece of flooring. Inside a small alcove was an expensive looking datapad. It had apparently survived the decay of its surroundings, even still possessing a small amount of charge. Saskia quickly connected her own, powerful datapad to the device. The older datapad beeped, accepting the connection.

“It wants me to login. Let’s see if it knows who I am,” the slicer said, pressing her thumb against the screen of her mother’s datapad. The device beeped three times, before its screen lit up an affirmative green.
“Well?” Kooki asked.

“I’m in. My mother had it programmed to give me full access once I turned twenty-one. It’s even logged onto the holonet to see if she’s still alive,” Saskia answered, pouring over several files of important information. Account details and business transactions alike were all available, but would take time to study. The Cirran’s eyes widened as she noticed another file. Opening it, she noticed it was a message that Susan had attempted to send out, but had been blocked by an Imperial protocol.

“Dad…you may want to see this!”

Andrelious rushed over, grabbing the datapad.
“What in the name of Palpatine-“

From: Ortega, S, CEO, Ortega Entertainment
To: Lieutenant Inahj, A.J., Imperial Navy.
Re: You need to come back

Andrelious,

I know that I’m probably the last person you wanted to hear from, but I have news for you. I have recently given birth to a beautiful daughter, Saskia. That’s where you come in. I’ve calculated the dates, Andrelious. She must be yours. I’m so sorry for how I treated you. Please, come here, meet with me.
Marlo has no idea that Saskia is someone else’s. He never was the smartest, but he accepted the story I told him.

Once again, Andrel, please. Come here. Meet your daughter. Be part of her life. There’s still a job here for you. Leave the Imperial Navy, come and work for me. Not as what I had in mind before, but I’m sure I can find something suitable. You and I could become very close, if you want.

I just want you in your daughter’s life. She’s so pretty, just like I said you were.

Yours,
Susan Ortega.

Andrelious closed the message window, his face white as a sheet.

“So she tried to contact you. This is a top of the line datapad. There’s no way the message should have failed to send,” Saskia commented, reading a system log that confirmed its failure.

“The line about me leaving the Imperial Navy, that’s why. It would have been disallowed by whatever filters the Empire had in place. The only way Susan could have got hold of me would have been by tracking me down. A little surprised she didn’t, actually, given this message,” Andrelious observed.

The Cirran snatched her mother’s datapad back. “Who says she didn’t? There’s an entry in her accounts from the year of my birth. Five thousand credits, doesn’t say what she spent it on, but there’s a note that it was to ‘track Saskia’s roots’. Looks like she tried, at least,” she explained, pointing the entry out to her father and step-mother.

“Well. I’ll guess that’s the end of that. What now?” Kooki asked.

Kooki sat down on a rather shabby looking furniture item. It was rather moth-eaten and far from its best. All this upheaval was taking its toll on the female. She had felt like a spare part since they had agreed to accompany Saskia back to her home. It was a rare moment of peace and quiet. She began to reflect upon the last few days and the events leading up to this climax of discovering more inner secrets to Andrelious’ past…

One Year Previously
Medcentre

The cool, blue, translucent gel was squeezed onto the well-rounded bump of the nervous expectant mother and a small doppler was spread across. After a few minutes a grainy image flecked onto the nearby screen.

Kooki cautiously looked over and a small overwhelming tear trickled down her face as a small blob sprung to life and a pulsating sphere could be seen inside. Her new baby had a healthy heartbeat. A wave of relief came over her. Andrelious squeezed his spouse’s hand a little. He too was mesmerised by the sight. Suddenly the medic stopped what she was doing and pressed a nearby buzzer to alert another professional to accompany her, as she moved the screen out of the sight of the parents to be. Kooki wasn’t stupid. Her inner maternal instinct was telling her something wasn’t right. The Warlord beside her felt similar.

It wasn’t long before another medical professional arrived in the room. Inaudible whispers were exchanged between the two of them as they pointed at the screen. The tense atmosphere loomed, and after what felt like forever, the medic turned to Andrelious and Kooki.

“Mr and Mrs Mimosa-Inahj…. We have made a discovery….” The medic stated stoically, totally lacking in any emotion.

They both looked round in sheer fear at what news was about to be unveiled to them.

“You’re having TWINS!” chorused both medics, breaking into wide beaming smiles.

Kooki passed out….

Half an hour had passed and the Alderaanian roused and realised she wasn’t with the sonographer, but in a hospital bed with tubes coming out of her at various angles. Her bloods and various other liquids were being tested and checking for any abnormalities. Looking beside her on the ward, she expected to see another expectant mother, but to her sheer surprise, there sat Andrelious!! He too was hooked up to machines having his bodily fluids checked. In panic, Kooki pressed a nearby buzzer and within moments a medic had rushed to her side.

“Yes, Miss. How can we be of assistance?”

“Why the frak is my spouse being tested?” Kooki questioned, angrily.

“Calm yourself, Miss. It’s not good for the babies. We are carrying out routine checks to ensure neither of you have any hereditary conditions that could pose a risk to your unborn foetuses.” The medic calmly responded.

Kooki sighed and patiently, but silently waited until the tests were complete.

Andrelious was unhooked initially and went to go and get himself a much needed caffeine fix. As he did so, the medic went to help the pregnant female be released from all her tests. Whilst having the tubes removed, Kooki spotted an envelope with Andrelious’ results in. She so wanted to have a look whilst her spouse wasn’t around, yet she knew the medic would be over-protective about confidentiality. The female knew she could easily convince others that she hadn’t seen them, so all she had to do was to get rid of the medic for a few minutes. Panning her vision around, Kooki smirked happily upon spotting a gas cylinder containing a pain relief gas and with a slight and subtle wave of her hand she moved a nozzle from ‘off’ to ‘on’, causing gas to begin seeping into the ward. The mysterious hissing sound alerted the attention of the medic, who hastily rushed over to fix the problem, before the gas could affect any other patients.

Quickly Kooki opened up the medical records for her spouse:

Andrelious Jongstram Mimosa-Inahj

Age: 47 (b. 8 BBY, Dantooine)
Mother: Licon Inahj (née Stendek)
Father: Parck Inahj
Sibling(s): Jongstram Inahj (deceased)
Children: Saskia Ortega (b. 16 ABY), x2 expecting (E.A 38 ABY)
Spouse: Kookimarissia Mimosa-Inahj
Blood Type: A+
Known Ailments: NONE

Kooki stared blankly until the text before her became blurry and illegible. The section marked ‘children’ contained news she wasn’t expecting. And to make matters worse, the name ‘Saskia’ echoed in the back of her mind as a synapse in her brain attempted making a connection, but just couldn’t quite manage it before she fainted….AGAIN!

Andrelious walked in, holding a steaming caf when he spotted his fainted spouse. He was just about to alert a medic for help when he too spotted his medical notes strewn across Kooki’s bedsheets. As he quickly gathered the paper and put it back into the envelope, he glanced in sheer disbelief and soon discovered the cause of his wife’s recent fainting. The name ‘Saskia’ seemed unfamiliar, yet ‘Ortega’ didn’t quite seem so. The Warlord sealed the envelope, sat beside Kooki and began to think. Just as he sat down, the warmth of his body awoke Kooki. He fingers slowly twitched and her eyelids began to flicker open. He was about to enquire as to how she was, but the feisty, hormonal mother just glared at him.

“So….WHO or WHAT is Saskia?” she retorted.

“Well….” Andrelious began, as a hazy memory started to appear.

“It was a long time ago, back on Cirrus and…”

Just as he began to recall a fuzzy event from his past, a medic walked back over.

“Right where shall we start?” she asked peacefully.

“Hush you!” silenced Kooki, staring at the medic.

She returned her sharp gaze at Andrelious.

“YOU have some explaining to do!”

Present
Ortega Mansion

Kooki chuckled to herself, spotting that the twins had fallen asleep wrapped up in a purple blanket on the ancient seat beside her. She smiled and stroked their jet black hair.

Now all she could do was wait.

Saskia was still trying to distinguish between past and present after staring at the holopad message. Her mum had always known, but yet left her with Marlo. She claimed to love her, but she made no attempt to ensure that Saskia would have been properly cared for in case of her own demise. She could see every memory in that house, the one where Marlo and Susan would string out their fights, usually ending in violence and police intervention, the one where Susan would teach Saskia how to hold and present herself, the one where Marlo told her that Susan had been murdered, whilst snorting up some spice.

Susan had kept everything away from Marlo in business, but why? Did this mean that Andrelious wasn’t the first man she had on the side? Why leave your business to your ten year old daughter? Surely the lawyers should have challenged it, but then there was something still missing in the picture, the piece that would explain more.

Trying to contact Andrelious numerous times over and over was a sign of persistence, but if she was so desperate for him to raise her, then why was Marlo still her legal guardian at the point of her mother’s death?

The datapad suddenly started beeping at Saskia, trying to get her undivided attention. An appointment in the diary. Nothing unusual about that.

It was for several days after Susan’s death. An appointment to change Saskia’s legal guardian and correct the birth father with the solicitors, and a few days prior to her murder, she had another appointment with the medical team to assert that Marlo was not the woman’s father. Marlo was paranoid, not stupid, and had a failing business at the point of Susan’s death. Saskia frowned and went back to the library, or what was left of it anyway.

A rotten carpet amongst the decaying bookcases which had once held a universe of knowledge for a younger Saskia. Marlo had always been sat on it, either in a chair, or on the floor, but it was never left with easy access. She had to tear the carpet off the floorboards, it was stuck together from water that had leaked from the giant hole in the roof. One board was looser than the others, and for some reason shinier, but that was probably to help Marlo remember where it was as she pulled out a slightly battered data pad from the hole in the floor. Her parents were not the most original of thinkers, but they would have made it difficult to find unless you knew what you were looking for.

It was fairly easy to decrypt the password, Marlo wouldn’t have used his fingerprint for fear someone would take off his fingers to use it. He had a complex and full diary, which was funny, because Saskia knew he would not leave the house unless he had to. There were a spat of meetings with strange names around Susan’s death, and started from over a year beforehand, then ceased to be once Saskia had been brought home for the funeral.

‘Tipvei contract’

Romeo’s family. They were struggling after being exposed for slavery, something that wasn’t very well received in this community. Cirrus liked to think it was above everyone else morally, yet every other business would have slaves running the business if they could as well. Money made the world go round.

The Tipvei family had a branch called Towarni she found out, pulling up the extra file attached to the contract meeting. Her original adviser was a Tipvei in disguise. Marlo had sent them in to get close to Susan, and find out what was really going on. The idea was that he would then get the business with it all in Saskia’s name, and Saskia’s hand in marriage to the second youngest member of the family, a boy called Mercutio, or failing that, then Romeo. He was in on the whole thing.

Saskia was pissed off at herself. She should have smelt that trap from miles off as she kicked the rotting bookcase with force powered by sheer anger. The stunts pulled by the boy were just to get her attention, woo her over like a little girl. She was such an idiot.

				****

Romeo was sat in the living room, waiting for a phone call with a stomach that was getting heavier with each passing second. The Ortega business was all that anyone talked about recently, apparently Saskia was running her own businesses for once, and nothing was going wrong. He was starting to get a feeling that she wouldn’t need any advisors, and that his family would start to get cold feet about leaving it with him.

His grandfather had been ill in bed for several days, and everyone else was eager to step in as his replacement. No one knew his will, it was a closely guarded secret as Montgomery came into the room with the look of a wet fish.

“You screwed up, she hasn’t called you back or anyone!” He spat. “Towarni’s son hasn’t had any news either.”

“Or maybe she decided to stay? Who said it has to be my fault? Maybe she found Marlo’s old datapads that he stored every stupid meeting on and found out what you lot had been planning all along,” Romeo snorted, glaring at his cousin. “We did well to get Towarni in, hoping for a second performance was maybe one step too far.”

“You are a fool, you pulled little stunts to get her attention like she’s a little girl, not a Sith,” Montgomery growled.

“A Sith? What the hell are you on with?”

“You are such an ignorant fool. You look at outward appearances only. She is a Sith, and that biological father of hers is as well, they have lightsabers and powers beyond your control,” Montgomery snapped, throwing the table at the younger male with only a gesture of his hand. “You think that because you have no such powers that she will not either. You were always the runt of the family,” he declared before leaving Romeo in a shower of splintered wood.

					****

“Come on, we aren’t going to find anything else,” Saskia muttered to Andrelious after coming out of the library, ignoring that both adults present had likely heard her temper tantrum with the bookcase.

“Is everything ok?” Andrelious questioned, sensing that they weren’t.

Saskia failed to answer, instead storming outside. The twins also realised that something wasn’t right with their half-sibling, and awoke, wailing.

“I’ll go.” the Warlord stated, noticing Kooki’s annoyed expression. The Alderaanian nodded, offering her daughters a feed.

Andrelious found his eldest daughter slouching against one of the mansion’s outer walls. “So. Are you going to tell me exactly what’s going on?”

For once, the Cirran’s face was painted with emotion. Her eyes shone with unshed tears, and she looked furious enough that she could have slain the entire population of Cirrus with her bare hands.

“You want to know? Fine! It’s all lies! Marlo was in league with the bastards for years!” the female yelled, lifting some nearby debris with the Force and tossing it into one of the few unbroken windows. The transparisteel easily gave way, shattering into thousands of pieces.

“Who?” Andrelious questioned.

“Who do you think!? All this time, my assets have been under the management of someone who associated with the cruellest man I’ve ever met!” Saskia snapped.

“Alright. So that Towarni fellow was Marlo’s friend. What does this have to do with why we’re here?” the Warlord queried, though he was already beginning to understand.

“Want a diagram? They’re all frakking related,” the Cirran explained, a little less angry now.

Andrelious’ eyes widened as the centi-cred dropped. He too began to feel angry as he realised just how foolish his eldest child had been made to look. Turning away from Saskia, he started to move back into the mansion.

“Where are you going now?” Saskia asked.

“To get Kooki. We’re leaving. I wasn’t there for 22 years. It’s time to make that right.”

Romeo was breaking out in a cold sweat. Saskia Ortega had disappeared from any sightings, and no one had heard anything regarding the business, something that his cousins were proud to preach as the hours passed. Even their grandfather was beginning to suspect that something had occurred.

Footsteps broke the silence surrounding the youngest heir. Romeo had resigned himself to living up to his family’s expectations, especially when it was his father who showed himself in the light of the fire.

Silence hovered over the two males, each measuring up the other before the elder male placed a data pad down on the scraps of leftover table, and left the room with the same grace he had entered it. Romeo stared it out for several minutes, fully expecting it to explode, before curiosity got the better of him, and he started clicking into it.

					***

Susan looked up at Benvolio with wet eyes. Her parents were marrying her off to someone whom she had never met, nor had any interest in their daughter’s opinion. She had spent many nights escaping the cold castle that held the Ortega fortune, and hiding in the Tipvei mansion with her best friend, the youngest son of Lord Tipvei. Her parents had no time for the ‘nouveau riche’ as they had referred to the Tipvei family, though they were unaware that Susan attended the same school as the family.

“We won’t be able to see each other after the wedding,” Susan whispered, her voice hoarse from the tears.

“Yes we will, and we’ll find a way to get you out of it,” the younger version of Romeo’s father snorted, dismissing the woman’s claim and sitting tightly next to her. “My father holds your family in high esteem even if your parents do not reciprocate the favour.”

“My parents will move beyond your father’s rule if he tries to stop anything,” Susan countered, looking miserable.

“We will find something,” Benvolio soothed, stroking her head.

				***

His father had been involved with Susan Ortega, most likely outside of the patriarch’s knowledge. There had been a close bond between them, though something hinted that it was platonic, not romantic. The family Romeo was part of seemed to have a never ending string of secrets as he flicked to the next video.

				***

String of Secrets, Bar, Cirrus

Susan was feeling exhausted after just a few hours in the bar. It was still in the early stages of her pregnancy, but the changes were nearly immediate once Andrelious had left Cirrus. She was always tired, and cranky, and craving the strangest of combinations some evenings. Benvolio was due to start his shift in ten minutes, and would likely start prodding again. She wasn’t willing to share the news yet, since the calculations had been done, and the baby was definitely not her husband’s.

She was not willing to tell anyone just yet that she was pregnant, especially not Marlo. Their marriage had been one of convenience from the start, and even then it did not take long for the novelty to wear off. Marlo had taken Susan’s surname, apparently it was part of the agreement with her parents. They would have been ecstatic to hear the news, if they had still been about anyway. They had both died of a disease inducted by eating too much rich food and not enough exercise. An owner of a multi million credit empire before her 25th birthday, not that bad of a lifestyle.

A finger was millimetres from her eyes when she came back to the present, and found an unimpressed looking Benvolio in his uniform in front of her. “Spill, you’ve been snapping at staff all week and now you’re spacing out.”

“I’ll tell you when I want to,” Susan snorted, picking up a crate of clean glasses to take out to the front, only for the male to block the doorway. “Move, I’ll tell you why when I want to tell you.”

“So you are pregnant, and it’s not your husband’s,” Benvolio snapped, a storm brewing around him. “And you’re going to stay with Marlo and just let the child become just like you. Stuck in a loveless family who marries for convenience and money, no regard for their hearts.”

“And what would you do about Marlo?” Susan hissed, slamming the crate down on the metal sideboard, smashing most of the glassware.

“Get rid of him. This is not the first time either of you have cheated, so the infidelity is rife. Any decent lawmaker would dissolve the marriage without any consequence-”

“You’ve hit the nail on the head, any decent lawmaker. Marlo would corrupt the hell out of them. Now excuse me, I have a bar to run.”

					****

“Look, your parents didn’t exactly raise you, they left you to servants to produce a trophy daughter, and Marlo will just do the same. You barely spend any time at home because whatever he is claiming to do for work, well, it definitely isn’t making money, if anything it’s draining money, and you can tell from miles off that he’s never sober. He’ll inflict the same emotional abuse on your daughter,” Benvolio argued, facing a rounded Susan in the same place that the news had been broken earlier in the pregnancy. “You’ve told me about her biological father, get him back, I don’t care who he is or what he’s done, but he can’t be as bad as Marlo.”

“And how do I then save face by leaving Marlo after it transfixes that I cheated on him?” Susan snapped, tears threatening as she gripped the side. “Besides, I’ve already sent him messages, there’s been no reply, he wants nothing to do with her.”

“Let me search for you, you need to focus on your daughter,” Benvolio protested, making the woman take a seat in the back room.

“Your father has been on about getting another job hasn’t he?”

“Yes, but that is beside the point.”

“I’ll pay you to search for my child’s biological father, then you can tell him you’ve progressed,” Susan offered after a long silence.

				***

“Mr Ortega, it is your wife’s business, not yours, so I am struggling to see why we are meeting with yourself about this situation,” Lord Tipvei smiled, his thin lips stretched across his face to hide an impending sense of destruction.

“It’s with me you need money, she’s pregnant, a daughter. She’s to marry a grandson of your choice when she comes of age,” Marlo barked, his throat dry from the lack of liquid.

“And what if Susan refuses?” Lord Tipvei enquired, mentally assigning his grandsons futures already in his plans.

“She won’t be around to refuse.”

				***

Susan was struggling to hide her face, she kept disappearing to the back. Marlo had run out of money the previous day, and had nothing to keep him going. The hospital said it was a fracture, but they couldn’t do anything to help with her being six months pregnant and with it being a cheekbone fracture. She would just need to suffer the pain, and ice it when she could. The doctor looked incredibly apologetic, but had been of no use. No one would believe her anyway if she had said who had done it, they’d only argue that Susan must have upset Marlo to make him react in the way he did to his pregnant wife.

					***

Romeo was feeling stunned. His father had long been an outcast on the sidelines of the family, where his mother was practically in his grandfather’s bed. She played well with politics, and had ensured that Romeo was not raised by his father, and could now see where their similarities were. He needed to find Saskia, and give her the case as he grabbed a heavy coat to run out into the cold night and find the woman.

“I’m not going!” Kooki boomed.

Andrelious was already halfway out of the room, but upon hearing his wife’s refusal, he stopped in his tracks.
“WHAT?! WHY?!” he demanded.

The Warlord didn’t usually question Kooki, but usually family was very important to her, this seemed very out of character for her.

“She’s YOUR family. Not MINE. So that makes it YOUR problem. Not MINE!” Kooki raised her voice.

Without pointlessly arguing with Kooki, Andrelious left with his eldest daughter. Once alone with her two twin daughters, Kooki quickly scrabbled together a changing bag with the bare necessities, and quickly adorned her body with a purple woven wrap for Poppy on her front and a similar one in black for Etty on her back. Stepping into her boots and putting on a black coat with a fur-lined hood she headed into the nearby town.

The hooded female sensed her paced walking had sent her daughters to sleep. Kooki remained keeping her head down. She noticed Poppy had dribbled onto her top, so she reached into the changing bag and realised she had no wipes or tissues. Worst of all she had no credits. Kooki swallowed hard, the closest place to her where credits could be withdrawn from was the town bank.

She really did not want to go in there…

14 ABY
Unknown Alleyway, Cirrus

“Right you’ve got your weapon, Kooks. You know whatya gotta do, yeah?”

The young female nodded.

“Just wait for my signal!”

She wasn’t listening.

The group of masked individuals charged into the bank holding their blasters in their arms and pointing them towards the workers.

The leader of the gang boomed. “Put em up! Nobody move!”

He threw a bag at a cashier and demanded it was filled.

Out the corner of his eye he could see a middle aged man creeping towards the alarm button.

“STOP HIM, KOOKS!” he yelled, knowing that this new addition to his group was sharp witted.

Her blaster was filled with blanks just like the rest of the gang asides the leader. It was all just a big metaphor and Kooki was just in on the raid to get some credits to fund her adventures.

The gang leader fired his blaster causing the cashier to drop the bag of credits. Luckily it landed the gang side of the counter.

Simultaneously Kooki fired hers and the plasma bolt accurately hit the escaping man, who was evidently the manager.
As the gang leader stared in shock that his blank bolt had caused little damage, Kooki stared in horror as the bank manager stumbled over and was soon lying motionless in a pool of his own blood.

It was then she realised, she had picked up the wrong blaster!!!

Loud sirens shrilly echoed through the building and in burst the local legal authorities. Flashing lights filled the room. A man who looked vaguely similar to the deceased manager, but younger approached the dead body on the floor, went pale as a sheet, fell to his knees and sobbed.

Kooki heard the tears over everything else, despite the surroundings being a blur. Since her grandmother’s death she had never killed anyone. It was an accident, but no one would see it that way. And she did what she did best. She grabbed the sack of credits and ran as fast as she could from the scene. Unbeknown to her, a small tip of her long, flowing ponytail was beginning to emerge from her balaclava. Her fleeing footsteps caused the sobbing male to look up. Amidst his tears of sorrow he spotted a fleck of bright purple hair and sniffed. He looked away and couldn’t bear to touch the body in front of him. Soon the remaining gang members were arrested. And the grieving man was supported as the body was removed from the scene. All he could whisper to himself was

“Avenge the purple haired woman.”

38 ABY
Bank, Cirrus

Kooki remained hooded, swallowed hard and entered the bank. She noticed the bank had been modernised and now instead of cashiers, there were automated machines. This reduced the chances of her having to interact with anyone. Painlessly she withdrew money and prepared to leave. She sighed a breath of relief. It was fine. The mother began leaving the building.

Suddenly Etty awoke from her nap and began to jiffle about. She outstretched her little hands and tugged at Kooki’s unusual hood until it came down.

“Mummm!” came a gurgling babble from her back.

An old, yet smartly dressed man smiled as he heard baby babble from a distance and looked up, and starting going over to Kooki to see if the mother needed any assistance. It was then he noticed.

“It’s purple!” he hissed.

“It’s HER!”

Pressing an alarm, he yelled out, “STOP HER!”

Kooki turned swiftly and spotted him and recognised him instantly.

“YOU KILLED MY BROTHER!” he boomed.

Moving her hand a little. She calmly spoke.

“I’m not who you think I am.”

“You’re not who I think you are,” he stated robotically.

“I’ve done nothing wrong.” Kooki continued.

“You’ve done nothing wrong. Sorry madam. Have a nice day.” The bank manager replied.

Kooki turned and fled this familiar place once again.

Once outside and having settled her youngest child, she reached into her pocket and retrieved her comlink.

“Ah, yes love. What is it? Have you calmed down yet?” Andrelious teased, as he answered.

“Quite!” the female Sith retorted.

“Wait up! I’m coming along too!”

“So she’s coming now?” Saskia questioned, annoyed at her step mother’s change of heart. She just wanted to get to the Tipvei mansion.

“If I wanted such a cold atmosphere, I’d live on Hoth. You two really need to try and get on. For the twins,” Andrelious snapped. He was growing tired of the conflict between the two eldest women in his life.

After a few minutes of waiting, Kooki arrived, keeping on checking behind her as if to check for pursuit. She smiled when she saw her husband, greeting him with a gentle kiss.

“Where’s this mansion then?” the Alderaanian asked.

-x-

The Tipvei mansion was, like most other large Cirran houses, looked after by a modest security team. There was always a man on duty at the main gate, keeping troublemakers, beggars, and salesman alike well away from the family. Today, the chief of security had been posted on the gate at Romeo’s orders. This was incredibly unusual, but the woman tried to ignore her concern that something was wrong.

The Inahj trio, led by Kooki, approached the gate.

“Ah. Miss Ortega. Here to see Master Romeo?” the chief queried. Andrelious’ face immediately creased into an annoyed frown.

“What’s this? You’ve brought staff? No, wait. That man. His eyes…family?” the woman continued.

“First off. It’s Ortega-Inahj. And you can bet your bottom frakking credit that I’m family. Let us in!” Andrelious ordered. He and his family had concealed their lightsabers on the journey.

The security officer looked the man up and down. She was a few inches taller, around the same height as the strange woman with purple and black hair who accompanied father and daughter. To the naked eye, none of them looked like a threat.

“Aren’t you a little bit…small to be making demands?” the chief sneered.

“Alright then. I’ll do it. Let us in!” Kooki demanded, trying to avoid laughing at the jibe regarding her spouse’s stature.

The uniformed female smirked. “I’m afraid that there’s nothing in there for you, Miss. We don’t have any facilities for your children here.”

“Oh, forget this!” Andrelious hissed. Reaching inside his jacket, he extracted one of his lightsabers. Almost as soon as its crimson blade had activated, it had removed the head of the security chief. The Warlord took care to cut through flesh, leaving her uniform almost completely undamaged.

“Right. Kooki, darling. I’ll take the twins. It’s your time to shine,” he declared, pointing at the corpse. The Alderaanian nodded.

-x-

Kooki, now in the uniform of the deceased security chief, led Andrelious, carrying the twins, and Saskia towards the Tipvei mansion’s front door. The Warrior, despite lacking her disguise kits, had managed to use the Force to mold her face and hair to resemble the dead woman, having also put on her uniform.

A servant noticed the family’s arrival.

“Brecia. I thought you were on the gate? Did Miss Ortega require an escort?” he asked.

“She needs to see Master Romeo. And the rest of the family. Urgently,” Kooki replied, mimicking the dead chief’s Cirran accent perfectly.

“Alright. What’s with her friend?” the servant questioned, looking over Andrelious and the sleeping twins.

“Just do it!” Kooki snapped.

“And I’ll have a brandy while we wait!” Andrelious added.

-x-

After a few minutes, the servant had eventually gathered Romeo and his relatives. He had also guided the Inahj family into a nearby sitting room. There, Andrelious sat on a large sofa, whilst Kooki, still pretending to be Brecia, stood guard. Saskia boredly flicked through a few channels on the holoprojector.

“Saskia. You need to see us? What’s going on?” Romeo began.

“You!” Andrelious yelled, leaping from his seat, lightsaber drawn. He pointed it directly at the young man, his eyes almost completely crimson and yellow as his anger bubbled its way to the surface. “Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t just execute the lot of you right now! You lied to my daughter!”!

“Do something, woman!” an elder relative commanded, gesturing at Kooki to stop Andrelious.

“I’m afraid I cannot do that, sir,” the Warrior replied, slowly returning to her natural voice.
Saskia remained seated, and turned to observe the commotion.

“I suppose we should let him talk first, dad,” she stated.

“Wait, I had no idea about Marlo’s involvement until I got hold of this!” Romeo panicked, the lightsaber waving as the ultimate threat, whilst he flailed the holovideo in his hand. His face drained white in terror as the aged patriarch suddenly slammed his way through the family and broke Romeo’s wrist in one fluid motion.

“You fool boy!” The ancient male hissed as the young man tried to hide his pain. “You sacrifice your heritage for a pretty face? You are as weak as your father!”

“You were the one who made the deal- it’s you who’s to blame!” Romeo snapped, a fire never before seen as the older man glared at the younger one. “If it wasn’t for your greed then you wouldn’t have pushed for Susan to be murdered, all because you can’t stand a little competition to keep you honest.”

“She was the reason we were ruined! She was the leak who exposed us!” the old man roared, his grasp disintegrating any remainder of Romeo’s wrist bones. “Your father was weak, he was fair too willing to be bowed over by a pretty little face then to think of what potential lay behind it!”

Silence suddenly fell over the room as two sets of footsteps started to descend the stairs. One was light, a child’s, whilst the heavier set was not as regulated, as though the owner was recovering from a long and heavy wound. Romeo was shaking a little as even the patriarch refused to turn around to face the doorway and acknowledge the dual presence.

“Sask’ika,” a familiar voice greeted from behind the family mass. “I must admit, I was not expecting you to arrive here quite so soon.Al’ika, let me take a seat, I do not think I am able to keep staying up like this,” she mothered to her child, a girl of nine or ten, with dark hair and matching eyes who could chill any being to the soul with one glance. Saskia had previous experience of the child whilst the older woman had a space cleared for her in the patriarch’s favoured chair. “I believe no one else needs to hear this conversation, not even you Balthasar,” the woman warned, staring at the aging patriarch as he straightened up and left the room promptly. “Benvolio, you may wish to take a seat.”

The Tipvei family did not dare to disobey the woman as she gently shifted in her armchair, allowing for her daughter to perch on the arm whilst remaining with adequate space for herself.

Benvolio sat in a silent stupor next to his son, not willing himself to make eye contact with anyone as the patter of feet faded away.

“I’m sure you have questions Andrelious, but now is not really the time for how I am alive and more to do with your daughter and what is really going off here,” Xathia said, her emerald eyes resting on the little man’s surprised face. She had aged badly following her departure, and was not as youthful as she had been. Grey was freckled frequently through her thick braid of hair, and her crow’s feet had started to become a more permanent feature, though the sparkle in her eye was stronger than ever. “Benvolio and Susan were close during their childhood, they confided in each other and even had personal escape hatches to the other’s home. Balthasar thought he had disrupted the pair when Benvolio was forbidden from seeing Susan again, though it was not that long before he was working for her at the same bar you frequented I believe. Susan was in a fairly abusive marriage as you know, the Susan you met and saw that night was a product of never being loved, when it was the only thing she craved in the world. With the discovery of her pregnancy, she found herself at the mercy of this new emotion. She carried a flame for you until she died. Balthasar knew about Benvolio continuing to work for Susan in his freelancing, though he said nothing to the face of anyone. He arranged for the murder. It was a burglary gone wrong from the start,” the old Krath continued, pausing only to gently move her hips in the chair before continuing. “Marlo was always around to help establish the perimeter of the entire thing, he was the one who dealt the killing blow, with such a gleeful face as I remember being told. He was only too happy, then he found out he did not have a penny to his name. At that point Saski’ika was the target. They were trying to kill her before she killed Marlo. Since she was a minor, her money would automatically go to him. Except that he never did discover that he wasn’t the biological father, so you would have been the beneficiary instead.”

“I am surprised to find you here,” the Battlelord replied, though there appeared to be nothing of note in her eyes regarding the shock. “I suppose that Kyria had something to do with this though.”

“Yes, she had contacts still, apparently bribing someone to look after your baby sister is fairly easy when your baby sister is able to throw lightsabers at people,” Xathia warmly smiled. “I do believe that Andrelious may have more questions about things, so it must be best to let him go first before he explodes.”

Andrelious was reeling from the shock of seeing Xathia. He had believed that the woman had been killed shortly after Saskia’s arrival on Selen. The fact that her daughter had mysteriously disappeared shortly after the supposed killing had always been a source of much mystery, but now things were a little more clear.

“From what you’re saying, it sounds like Susan really wanted me back and in Saskia’s life. From what I know of her, that seems a little out of character. So why didn’t she do more?” Andrelious questioned.

“I did wonder that one myself,” Saskia added.

“She did do more. Benvolio, would you care to explain?” Xathia responded.

The aging Tipvei cleared his throat. He had been dreading this moment for many years.

Emperor’s Hammer Territories
20 ABY

“I’ve spent quite enough to get this far. Just name your price and we’ll pay it. We need Commander Inahj rather urgently,” Benvolio demanded, slamming his fist hard on the table.

Tipvei’s contact, a Bounty Hunter, frowned. “To do what you’re asking, Tipvei, I’m going to have to ask for another five thousand. Inahj is one of the Strike Fleet’s best pilots. It may take me some time to find a way to get to him,” he stated.

“If I make it eight thousand, what then? The sooner you can get Inahj away from the Imps, the better,” Tipvei snapped, sliding another bunch of credits onto the table.

“Twelve thousand and he’ll be away by the end of the week. What do you want him for, anyway? Need an ace pilot?”

Benvolio smirked. “Let’s just say, he has other obligations elsewhere. More important obligations,”

Present Day

“So I paid up. That Hunter made good on his promise, or at least so I heard. But then you just disappeared,” Benvolio explained.

“So YOU’RE why the Hammer turned on me!” Andrelious roared with such anger that his temples nearly exploded.

“You think it was easy for me, Commander? Try being hired by the love of your frakking life to find some one night stand!” the Tipvei spat back, unsure where his courage was coming from.

“You could have just said no. Saying no would have saved a lot of trouble,” Kooki sneered.

“And break Susan’s heart again? She was desperate to see Inahj again! He could have been her ticket away from Marlo and his abuse!”

Andrelious and Kooki glared. “That’s Mimosa-Inahj!” they snapped in unison.

“I don’t care what your name is now, Commander. I just want to clear-hang on a minute. Did you say Mimosa? I knew a Mimosa once. Many, many years ago. Met him when I had some business on Alderaan. His name was Mostynn.” Benvolio replied.

“Your stories aren’t going to save you now, Tipvei! Your meddling nearly cost me my life. It’s time somebody took yours!” Andrelious hissed, angling his lightsaber at Benvolio.

“Just you wait one minute!” Kooki commanded.

“I want to know more about how he knew my father,”

38 ABY
Tipvei Mansion

Andrelious sighed and begrudgingly disengaged his crimson blade. Sitting down next to his spouse, he tried not to show his annoyance at her request. He had been quite looking forward to destroying Benvolio. Benvolio stooped quivering and sat opposite Kooki, who had wide open eyes and ears ready to hear an unknown story about her father’s past, before she had been a twinkle in his or Tabby’s eyes.

9 BBY
Icy Caves, Alderaan

The tall, black-haired male sauntered into work, as he did every day for ten hours. Barely even eighteen years old and he was learning the tricks of the rock and precious gems trade. He would mine and study and examine his findings. It wasn’t much, and very, very cold, but he loved it. The only stigma was a few short months ago, he had split from a young beau. She had short honey-blonde hair, blue eyes and was only three years younger than himself. Closing his eyes, Mostynn remembered their special encounter…

6 Months Previously…

“Oh Mostynn…I hope this moment lasts forever…” Sabexa swooned.

“Hush!” whispered the older male, placing a finger on her young, rosy lips.

The teenage lovers resumed a lingering, passionate kiss and lay on the carefully placed blanket in the cave. Their work overalls and underwear scattered mindlessly The bright orange flames coming from their work lanterns seemed to emit just enough of a warming glow to keep the younsters from completely freezing.

Moments later, they lay side by side wrapped up in each others’ arms whilst their fast breathing resumed to normal. Losing something so precious to one another after several months of working side by side and their feelings bubbling away inside one another, was just such a remarkable feeling.

“Forever…” whispered Mostynn.

“Forever…” whispered Sabexa.

The fifteen year old cuddled into her lover’s chest and closed her eyes…

							***

The following day, Sabexa came into work, unusually with a downcast expression upon her tanned complexion. Mostynn was already there, overalls on, pickaxe in hand and was mining through the icy mountainous rocks. Soon as he saw the beautiful female, he paused, put down his pickaxe and threw his arms around her. Something felt wrong…

“Sab? What’s up?” he enquired, sympathetically.

She had tears in the ducts of her eyes, causing them to shine as the filmy tears glazed over her cobalt irides.

“It’s my brother! He wants to send me to an educational establishment on Cirrus. They have a specialist course in rocks and precious gems. He reckons I have great potential and a career ahead of me.” The emotional teenage girl uttered.

Mostynn hugged her tightly, and kissed her luscious lips.

“How long do we have?” he asked, quietly.

“We leave for Cirrus tonight.” she replied.

Mostynn said nothing, but nodded.

“It’s ok…We can keep in touch somehow…”

Sabexa shook her head, tears now trickling down her face.

“I…I’m n…not a…allowed.”

“But why?” Mostynn, asked whilst tightly hugging his lover, not wanting to let her go.

“SABEXAAAAAA!!!” came a loud, echoing voice.

A male figure came into view and saw the teenagers’ embrace.

“Coming Ben…” she responded, her voice barely a whisper.

“You have packing to do!” He boomed, dragging his younger sister away from Mostynn.

“And YOU! Stay away from MY sister… FOREVER!!!” Yelled Benvolio.

“Forever…” whispered Mostynn.

“Forever…” whispered Sabexa.

Seconds later, she was gone…Forever!

9 BBY
Icy Caves, Alderaan

It had been six months, since Mostynn had seen his childhood sweetheart, but he was burying himself in his work. He did often reminise their night of passion, before remembering the raw emotional heartbreak that occurred the following day. Never had he experienced such oxymoronic feelings in such a short space of time. He remained hopeful that one day someone would come along and make him feel that happy, or better again.

One day he heard a loud voice coming from outside the caves, talking to Mostynn’s boss about purchasing a gem for a precious ring that he had bought for the special woman in his life. Only the best for Susan.

The company boss was unsure if he possessed such a small gem for the intricate golden band in the box in Benvolio’s hand, which began to infuriate the potential customer. He was not liking being back here and just wanted to be back on Cirrus with his lover and his family. But he knew the gems found in the icy mountainous caves of Alderaan were of the highest and purest quality.

Mostynn came out to investigate the rather heated discussion. The loud voice seemed vaguely familiar, and within minutes he soon saw why.

The ‘stranger’ turned round.

“YOU!!” boomed Benvolio.

The colour drained from Mostynn’s face. His painful past and raw emotions were rearing their ugly head again.

“I…I’m s…sorry. I n…never meant any h…harm.” he stuttered.

“Harm?” Benvolio yelled.

“You have no idea the true extent of what you’ve done, boy!”

Mostynn looked puzzled. Before he could even ask any further questions, all was explained.

“You impregnated my baby sister!!! She’s practically a child having a child!! Her whole career is OVER before it’s even begun… and it’s all YOUR fault!!” Benvolio shouted.

“Is there anything I can do? I’ll happily…” Mostynn began.

“NO! You’ve done enough, Mimosa! Now stay away!”

Benvolio grabbed the gem from Mostynn’s boss and fled the scene. He was NEVER coming back here. Mostynn was now just nothing more than a mere bad memory.

Mostynn turned to go back into the caves and continue mining, but his boss stopped him.

“Hold up, Mimosa! We’ve a new recruit. Can you show her the ropes?” he asked.

“I am more than capable at working it out for myself thanks.” she retorted, picking up a pickaxe and placing onto her shoulder, before Mostynn could speak.

“Got your work cut out for you, Mimosa. Sure you can handle it?” his boss said, with a smirk.

Mostynn smiled weakily.

“Come on, Mimosa! Time is money!” came a voice, that was already echoing, as she walked into the icy Alderaanian mountains.

The male sighed, picked up his pickaxe and followed the purple-haired woman into the caves…

38 ABY
Tipvei Mansion

Everyone sat around speechless, open-mouthed. This trip had taken a very unexpected twist. Andrelious and Saskia turned to bravely ask Kooki how she was feeling at this shocking, life-changing revelation.

Kooki had fainted.

Benvolio looked increasingly uncomfortable in the situation and went to stand up. Alyssa immediately stood in front of the grown male, and a sideways glance from Xathia made sure that he would not try to sidestep the young girl. A servant came around with a cold press flannel, gently pressing the cloth across Kooki’s forehead until it was snatched from his fingers by Andrelious.

“An uncomfortable revelation, but nothing that can be done now about it,” Xathia said, her words dividing the two sides of the room immediately as Andrelious’ eyes flashed in anger. “There is nothing to be gained from this!” She barked, her eyes glowing red as the former Sith grew to dominate the room. “Your wife will come around once she has settled. There is an unfortunate connection here, but those things happen. The Force has many reasons,” she barked, making both Benvolio and Andrelious retake their respective seats, allowing for the servant to resume his gentle patting of Kooki. “Susan spent a lot of money trying to get you back into her life and Saskia’s, she was getting more and more desperate by the time the ‘burglary’ happened. So desperate that nothing was stopping her from finding you so that you could be her normality.”

Silence came over the group as Kooki began to come round, a challenging storm of emotions on her face until Xathia was stood between the two adults. She said nothing, merely glaring at the two. A look that Alyssa immediately copied.

“There is a lot to cover still,” Xathia eventually explained, resuming her seat after several moody minutes of silence. She shifted about carefully in the armchair, trying to avoid pressure on one side of her body. “Benvolio had his sister’s interests at heart, though he went about it in his usual manner which is as delicate as a sledgehammer to a circuit board, what’s past is past. And nothing can change that.”

As the conversation unfolded, Andrelious was increasingly drawn to one side of the room. He noticed that a family tree had been carefully cut into the wall. Its intricacy, however, was ruined to one side by the scorch marks of blaster fire. The Sith followed the line from the damaged part of the mural – it connected to Benvolio and a few siblings.

“What happened here?” he asked.

Benvolio shuffled around uncomfortably.

“Think about it, Andrelious. Look at the names. What happened with Sabexa caused a stir here on Cirrus. The family distanced themselves from her. Mostly, anyway. She’s given a yearly stipend. Balthasar couldn’t completely cut his baby daughter out,” Xathia explained.

“So. Let’s get this completely straight. Sabexa fell pregnant with my father’s child? He never told me any of this. Never even mentioned there’d been anyone. Other than my dear mother, of course,” Kooki said, clearly mulling everything in her head.

“You can’t have been more than about five when he passed away. That’s assuming he was still on Aldera-“ Benvolio began. Andrelious glared so coldly at the Tipvei that he silenced himself.

“Of course he was still on frakking Alderaan! And I was nearly seven!” Kooki snapped.

“There’s no more we can do about this now! If we’re going to discuss children and families, shall we stick to the more relevant family? That being, mine?” Andrelious interjected.

“Not much more to discuss, at least regarding Susan. You know as much as I do. We should perhaps spare a thought for Saskia. It can’t be easy hearing all this about her mother,” Xathia replied.

The main door opened and a woman walked in. She bore a strong resemblance to Benvolio, but clearly lacked the finances to hold back the ravages of time as easily as he had. Her face was wrinkled in places, whilst her hair had lost whatever natural colour it had once possessed and was now a whiteish-silver. Her clothing also lacked the refined taste of the Tipvei family.

“Nearly fifty years, brother. You’ve not once bothered with me aside from my hush hush money, as you so eloquently put it. But, I was told to come here at once. So tell me. What’s so important that you finally saw fit to order me back?” the new arrival demanded, eyeing each person in the room up and down carefully. She took particular interest in Kooki.

“Welcome, Sabexa. I’d like you to meet someone. This is Kooki. She’s…let’s say she was close to an old friend of yours,” Xathia said.

“[I]What[/I] old friend?” Sabexa asked, already beginning to realise what was happening.

Kooki moved closer to Sabexa and whispered something in her ear.

“You’re Mostynn Mimosa’s daughter?” Sabexa stammered, almost staggering back with surprise.

The Alderaanian female simply nodded.

Sabexa’s eyes began to well with tears.

“As you probably know, sister, Mostynn died a long, long time ago!” Benvolio commented snidely.

Sabexa ignored her brother, instead choosing to face Kooki. The two females were of a similar height, though the older of the two looked almost a little frail in comparison.

“You have his eyes,” Sabexa managed after a brief pause.

It felt like a lifetime before somebody said anything. The whole room felt like it had fallen silent. Everyone exchanged glances uncertain of what was going to happen next. The two females staring at each other became the main focus of everyone.

Sabexa stared at Kooki.

Kooki stared at Sabexa.

Deep inside Kooki, she felt a strange combination of feelings. Part of her wanted to cry. Part of her felt a little queasy.

A tear trickled down the Alderaanian’s cheeks, as a small part of the remaining childhood innocence inside her died.

She had always envisioned that her beloved mother and father had been each other’s first and only lovers. And now she couldn’t help but have a head bursting with questions and, the worst part was she couldn’t ask her deceased parents ‘what?’ or ‘why?’

After what felt like forever, Kooki opened her mouth to say something. All eyes turned to face her. Before she could say a word, the door opened with an echoing creek. A male figure, about the same height as Kooki sauntered in. All eyes turned to face HIM.

“Mother. There you are. What’s the hold up?” a deep voice asked.

A sudden thud sound resounded in the small, and slightly claustrophobic room.

Kooki had fainted.

“Is she alright?” came one voice.

“She’s fine. She faints sometimes.” came another.

“What are we going to do?” asked yet another voice.

“Who is she?” enquired an unfamiliar voice.

Before anyone could answer, Kooki’s eyelids began to flicker.

“No time for pleasantries…she’s waking up” the fainted one’s spouse scowled at the latest arrival.

Andrelious knew that Kooki wouldn’t be too fond of the new male’s presence. He glanced briefly at his daughter who returned the ‘look’ to her father. She clearly could sense the Warlord’s uncomfortableness at the turn of events and whirlwind of emotions that were present.
Upon fully opening her eyes, Kooki’s vision corrected itself and the blurry images of the surrounding people slowly became clearly visible.

Everyone cleared the area, aside Andrelious who helped his spouse to her feet.

“Are you sure she’s alright?” asked Sabexa, in a slightly hushed tone.

“Stop holding my hand!!!” Kooki yelled.

Andrelious removed his grasp on the Alderaanian’s hand and turned to Sabexa.

“She’s fine!” he reassured, trying not to laugh at Kooki’s mannerisms.

Once on her feet, Kooki was soon bossing Andrelious about.

“I need a brandy! Double measure! And fast!” she boomed.

“She’s a feisty one, Mother.” the new arrival stated.

“Hush!” Sabexa quietly mentioned to her son, hoping Kooki hadn’t heard him.

But it was too late…

Kooki was already glaring an icy stare in his direction.

Her loyal spouse handed the female a tumbler of Corellian brandy. The warming chestnut-coloured liquid was downed in one sharp swig. After a brief shudder, Kooki walked towards the unfamiliar male and everyone held their breath.

She outstretched her hand.

“Kookimarissia Mimosa-Inahj. Pleased to meet your acquaintance.” she uttered, stoically.

Nervously a hand met hers.

“Umm… Langdon Tipvei,”

Eye contact was made as the pair shook hands. Kooki could tell he still had no idea who she was, yet she could see subtle features of her late father in her half-sibling, but tried to refrain from displaying this.

“So… who exactly are you?” Langdon asked, as he slowly began prising his fingers away from 1Kooki’s rather surprisingly tight grasp on his hand.
She pulled him in closer to her, still holding his hand in hers. Langdon’s hand was starting to redden from the pressure Kooki was applying. He wanted to yelp out in pain, but seemed transfixed by her glare.

“Your worst nightmare!” Kooki hissed in his ear in a loud, whisper, which remained inaudible to the others in the room.

Suddenly Kooki released his hand from hers, causing Langdon to fall helplessly to his knees. His slightly older years failed to contribute to cushioning his fall.

Kooki returned to her seat with the others.

Sabexa helped her son to her feet, who didn’t appear too happy with recent events.

“I really don’t like her, Mother. Can we leave now?” he asked quietly.

His mother shook her head.

“Not yet. We have unfinished business to tend to.” she whispered, peering over at Kooki, who was facing in the opposite direction.

“What could we possibly want with HER?!” Langdon enquired, crossly, but in a quiet tone.

“SHE,” began Sabexa.

“Is your half-sister!”

Langdon fainted.

It was going to be one of those days….