Lt. Commander Oneida's Blog

Lost In A Shoe Closet

2008-04-25T18:33:00.003-06:00

Yes, lost in a shoe closet, yup, that's where I've been, Padme's never ending shoe closet. That's my story and I'm sticking to it. But while trying to head towards a light not created by sequined shoe, I noticed a note, asking 7 random things about myself. Random? Me? Pfffttt.

1. I hate the sound of emery filing boards on nails
2. I hate the sound of sandpaper in use, I really don't like touching it either
3. I can still hear that annoying sound they use to disperse teenagers. And yes, it is damn annoying
4. I really don't care for the color orange
5. I take a perverse amount of pleasure cruising along behind unmarked police speeders and watching people freak out as they pass said police speeder and try to slow down. Makes my commute.
6. I'm starting to dislike Padme's shoes
7. I think people who talk a lot about not having sex are just as bad as people who talk having sex. Really, no one cares, and it's creepy *ahemKomaandMileyCirus*

I think there might have been instructions for tagging people, but I'd moved away from the boots with the pimped out under-sole lighting, so I had no idea what they might have said. I'm going to go enjoy my lowly four pairs of shoes and marvel at how little space they take up.

Back

2007-09-26T15:58:00.000-06:00

Wow, feels like I've been gone forevah....

But anyhow, I'm home, I need to feed my critters, check my messages and make sure all of my electronics work.

Yesh, I'm tired, I think I need a vacation from my off time.

Oh, looky here, a meme from Captain Koma

1. You have to post these rules before you give the facts.

2. You must list one fact that is somehow relevant to your life for each letter of your middle name. If you don’t have a middle name, use the middle name you would have liked to have had.

3. At the end of your blog post, you need to choose one person for each letter of your middle name to tag. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.

Hmm, I think I'll go with my alter ego's middle name, it's only got 3 letters

I: Integrity. I try so hard to maintain it, because in the end, your integrity and honor are what's most important

L: I'm intensely loyal, though I do *try* not to be blinded by it

A: Action, I do what I say, even if it's hard. It's easy to say something, but will a person actually do it?

I'll tag Fluke
AOC
E775

More Amidala look alikes

2007-03-21T16:24:00.000-06:00

Apparently now one can get Amidala clones in micro size now. Except for the one on the end, she's not quite micro, slightly more macro. But as long as the bad guys aren't shooting at me anymore, who am I to complain?

time to head home

2007-01-23T19:27:00.000-07:00

time to head home
Originally uploaded by indirafrhm.

"Dante, it's time to get up. The first shuttle leaves in about an hour."

He looked at me blankly before her words finally registered. "Oh. Right," he said, scratched his head and yawned. Then he headed off to the shower. There was about 30 minutes to spare when he was done. "Sorry about that," he mumbled as we headed to the shuttle.

I took his hand, "No worries, I figured you needed as much sleep as you could get. And you can sleep on the shuttle ride." As we took our seats, I looked over at him. "What kept you up so late? Are you worried about staying?"

He scratched his head absently. "I thought it was more about being unable to relax because of wondering if our Trandoshan friend has any other friends, but... maybe what you said is true."

I hadn't given much thought to there being another bounty hunter, Bibble had said 'friend' in the singular, and if they were going to hit us, where better than a remote cabin? "So have you decided to stay on Naboo? Will you stay in your house or go to Theed?" I took his hand in mine, "You know, they do have excellent doctors on Coruscant." A flight attendant walked down the aisles, letting us know we'd be departing momentarily. I lay my head on his shoulder. Might as well enjoy the time we have together while we have it, who knows where we'll be in the future. "So I've heard," he said, pausing a bit. "I think I know what I'm going to do.”

The trip was pleasant and uneventful. I ate a small sandwich I'd gotten before we'd boarded, looking over all the other passengers within my range of vision. Everyone looked just how they should, happy unconcerned Naboo citizens traveling from one city to another. Children were just children, not an alien species in disguise. Bags were filled with gifts for friends and relatives, nothing more than that. I wondered what Dante would do when we got to Moenia, but I figured he'd most likely stay planet side to get his knee fixed up. That left a lonely flight back to Coruscant for me, though I would have my new little Voorpak to keep me company. But I should buy a bunch of magazines to keep me occupied. Maybe I should leave most of the gear with Dante, less hassle for me to deal with; it's one thing getting caught bringing contra-ban into Naboo from Coruscant, it's another thing entirely to get caught with it going into Coruscant. I could also think about how to spend my time when I got back improving search techniques and devices in buildings.

"Give me whatever you don't want to take back with you," Dante offered.

The shuttle touched down several hours later. We got off the shuttle and headed for the lockers where we'd left the gear. I needed to pick up the voorpak from the kennel she was in and then catch the flight back to Coruscant.

"You're taking that voopak back to Coruscant?" he asked, when I mentioned it. "You're starting to collect them now. You're not going to eventually become one of those old spinster ladies in Theed that they occasionally show on the news, living in a house with a thousand voorpaks, are you? This is how it starts," he joked.

"Hmm," I muttered, trying to sound overly concerned. "Well, then I suppose I should make you come back to Coruscant with me to make sure that doesn't happen. Either that or we can run off and secretly elope. I hear that's the thing to do these days." I said the last part with a knowing smile. it still boggled my mind that Padmé did that. I unloaded all the stuff that he could keep here. I wanted him to come back to Coruscant, but I wasn't going to push it. See, I had a plan, not necessarily a good plan, but a plan none the less. My hope is that he would recuperate on Naboo and decide he liked it here. That he didn't want to be a full time body guard on Coruscant. So when I got out of the Navy, then we'd both be on Naboo.

Yeah, I don't think it'll work either, but it's the only plan I have.

"Oh, I'll be back on Coruscant with you. It'll be weeks, though. As for running off and eloping, well, seeing as how I can't run, that's out. But the fact that the thought has crossed your mind has been duly noted," he said with a wink. "You don't actually have to run, we could just take a cab to the city clerks building, " I teased him back.

He gave my hand a squeeze, "Well, goodbye for now. Have a safe flight," he said. "You too. And stay out of trouble." We kissed, then he turned to go. I had a feeling I wouldn't see him again for awhile. I might just have to come home to Naboo for a few visits. I watched him go until he disappeared into the crowd. Damn, that was probably the closest I’ll ever get to married. I turned and made my way towards the city. I'd pick up my new pet and head home. It was going to be a long lonely flight.

Back To Town

2007-01-09T16:01:00.000-07:00

"We have lots of surveillance on that data deck," I said, gesturing to the deck on the back seat, "Now might be a good time to review it, just so we know what we have and what we don't before we leave the planet." Hopefully that would keep him busy and let me cool down a bit.
"Sure thing," he said, reaching into the back, retrieved the surviving deck and got to work. I think he was happy to have something to do other than sit next to a grumpy girl.

Some time later, he took his headset off. "Great news – the invites were tagged with a chip," he said. "It never occurred to me that they were tracking the invites. That's almost funny, considering I've been tracking Dormé through her use of marked credits. They might not know why we were at the party, or where we are now, but they know we're around and that we were operating incognito."

"Hmm, not good, I'm surprised we both missed that. But would it be possible that he thinks that Padmé sneaked in and he didn't notice her? And even if we'd known the chip was there, I doubt we could have removed it and still gotten in to the party. We should probably keep a very low profile when we go to pick up our stuff from there," I said, thinking about how to do that. “Good point,” he commented.

He unplugged the headphones so that I could hear the audio. Bibble was sure that Padmé had been at the masquerade party. "I understand that it's bad manners to record guests at events like this, but we should have, we should have made up some story about the need for security in times like these, it was the Chancellor's house," said Bibble. There was a gap in the recording, then he asked Dormé, "You were mingling, you were supposed to keep an eye out for her, didn't you see her? Or at least whomever she came with? If she starts getting suspicious, we'll be in grave danger." The conversation continued in the same vein, then there was some distortion and unidentifiable sounds. The last salvageable scrap of audio was Bibble saying, "Ah, my new friend is here.""If the 'new friend' is the Trandoshan bounty hunter, does that mean Bibble really does know about us," Dante asked, "Or could the Trandoshan have discovered us independently?"

"My guess? The Trandoshan was probably hired to kill Padmé and he was the one who figured out we were here, he could have seen our speeder, or surveillance cameras, tracks, or even smelled us. But I don't know if we were a side trip or he told Bibble. I don't think Bibble knew about us, I think we would have caught some strange veiled terms and there would have been less talking if he'd known."

I paused and thought about it. "I really hope he doesn't know. If he did know that it was us specifically, there will most likely be repercussions, and probably fairly quickly. If he just knows that he was being watched, but not by who, then we should be ok. In fact, my alibi could be me working on my apartment to get it fixed and yours could be that you've been on Naboo, but resting and recovering from a knee injury you got during the blackout. I doubt your mom would blow your alibi," I said with a smile.

"No, but she's going to point out that, should anyone else inquire, a blackout isn't a very plausible explanation for how I got shot, had my ear drums ruptured AND blew out my knee," he said, smiling in response, "Unless I live in a very rough neighborhood on Coruscant."

"True," I said with a shrug, "Wishful thinking."

The drive took several hours before we reached a small town. We took the chance to refuel, stretch, and get something to eat. Then we pushed on towards Deeja Peak. We'd get there just as the sun went down. I pointed this out to Dante. "We could try to get a transport to Moenia tonight then go where we need to go early in the morning. Or we can stay the night here, then head to Moenia in the morning. Which would you prefer?"

"If we're lucky enough to make it into town in time to catch a shuttle, we should definitely take it," he said. "If nothing's available, we'll stay overnight in Dee'ja Peak. I can take over with the driving if you'd like to relax a bit."
"I'm good, but thanks for the offer," I replied.

We got to Deeja' Peak in the evening, and after the last shuttle out to Moenia had already left. We stopped and got tickets for the first shuttle out the next morning. We then found a sweet out of the way hotel to stay at for the night. As I dropped my stuff on the bed, I looked at Dante. "So, I'm feeling like getting some take out, something warm, ymmy and fresh. Maybe hot chocolate for afterwards. What do you think? I'll go pick it up and bring it back," I offered with a smile.

"Sounds great," he said while inspecting his wounds. "While you're out, could you bring back some more bacta, bandages and a cane?" he added, trying to make it sound humorous. "I'll see what I can find," I replied.

TBC

Read Cpt. Typho's POV here

Let's Head Out

2007-01-05T15:52:00.000-07:00

Let's Head Out
Originally uploaded by indirafrhm.

He smiled, thinking. "I suppose I'll have to be the one who does his bachelor party. That oughta be interesting."

"It could be a lot of fun, you just better request time off now so as not to have to worry about work." I stretched and looked around. Everything was so private and peacefully, I almost asked if we could stay another day. But it wouldn't be fair to Dante, he needed to get to a doctor sooner than later.
"I'll probably still be rehabbing, so time off might not be a problem," he replied. "But the logistics of arranging this will be a problem on crutches."
I stood up, "Well, we better get started so we can make it before it gets dark. We can catch a shuttle from Deeja Peak back to Moenia and pick up our stuff. We should be able to make it out of here by tomorrow morning hopefully. Unless you want to stay. I could stay with you for a day or two, but I have to get back to my post soon." I picked up the few remaining bags and headed for the car. We needed to get moving on our several hour drive as soon as possible.
"Stay with me where?" he said curiously. "Here? But you just finished cleaning the place up."

"I meant when we got back to civilization, back to where ever you were planning to have your leg care for. But like you said, your mom will take care of you and I wouldn't want to intrude on family time." I picked up and bag and put it in the speeder, then came back inside, "Anyways, you made enough of a splash on Good Morning Naboo that you being home might get some attention. No need to add to the drama or romantic intrigue." I really am not kidding when I say I prefer my life private, not public. I took two more bags out to the speeder then returned. "Ready to go?" I asked.

We got into the speeder and headed off. After about twenty minutes, Dante looked over at me, What did you mean by 'No need to add to the drama or romantic intrigue'?" he asked.

"I meant if I stayed with you at your parents, there would probably be a pretty good chance of people finding out. Your mom does work for the government, they are a gossipy group. If our peculiar luck continues, we'd wake up one day to see BB:N fans peering in the window. And with that small but persistent rumor about you and Dormé," I trailed off, giving him a teasing smile.

"Hey!" he warned with a mock frown. "I see your point. I would love to take you home with me, but that will have to wait for another day," he said.

"It's just that if I go back to Coruscant, it'll be very inconvenient. My girlfriend, unfortunately, is a very busy young lady. I might have to hire someone to help me out while I convalesce. That's the downside of being a bachelor. I might have to get a droid, or a maid, or call up a pretty Twi'lek dancer, or…" His voice trailed off and he had a grin on his face.

"Ha ha," I said humorlessly. "Have fun hanging out with your Twi'lek stalker.” Dante tried to get a word in, "I do not have a Twi'lek 'stalker,'" I interrupted. "If anyone has a stalker it's—"

“It's kind of unfair to be punished for working,” "Punished? How am I—" he tried to get in, but I was on a roll, “but if you're offering to let me quit work so that I can sit around all day doing nothing other than be at your beck and call while you work, I'd give that some thought." Yes, not a nice, kind thoughtful response, but why should he get one? The twi'lek statement wasn't very nice on his part, why even joke about having to constantly compete for his attention? If he wanted girls who would have a catfight over him, he could keep his twi'lek and maybe get some other girl from the Springer level of Coruscant. Needless to say, I was tired, my nerves a bit gone, and not in the mood to deal with any of that, even in joke form.

"Okay, OKAY, I'm sorry! Wow, you really can't take a joke today, can you? Disposing of Trandoshan bodies and incinerating speeders while freezing our butts off makes you cranky, I guess?" I said, trying to smooth over her ruffled feathers. "But what you just finished up with – you know, retiring from a dangerous profession and spending more time with me – is a great idea. I'm amazed – and happy – that you'd even consider it. I'm sure you're not serious, but do keep it in mind. It is an option."

I arched an eyebrow, some how I think he'd tire of me sitting around all day while he worked. Actually, I want to work, I just want to teach dance, which isn't very profitable, but still fun.

"We have lots of surveillance on that data deck," I said, gesturing to the deck on the back seat, "Now might be a good time to review it, just so we know what we have and what we don't before we leave the planet." Hopefully that would keep him busy and let me cool down a bit.
"Sure thing," he said, reaching into the back, retrieved the surviving deck and got to work. I think he was happy to have something to do other than sit next to a grumpy girl.

TBC

Get Ready To Go

2007-01-04T13:56:00.000-07:00

The speeder dipped over the side. I stepped to the edge to watch it descend. several meters before it hit bottom, the repulsors kicked in and did their job, causing the speeder to bounce harshly, but kept it mostly intact. I watched, waiting for it to stop moving. it came to a rest next to a large boulder. I triggered the det. A muffled boom echoed up through the gorge. If anyone was near by they'd hear it, but the sound wouldn't travel far. Some snow that had been on small outcroppings of the gorge walls floated down slowly settling near the burning speeder.

I looked over at Dante, "Do you want to watch it burn completely, or would you like to head back? There is virtually no chance of the fire spreading, it's all rock and snow down there." I personally wanted to head back, the cabin's speeder didn't have much in the way of a heater, so I'd been a bit chilly for several hours.

"How long will it take to burn?" Dante asked. I looked at the burning speeder, "I would guess anywhere from 20 - 40 minutes. I'll be in the speeder, I want to get out of the wind." I made my way back to the old speeder and climbed inside. I understood his desire to stay it outside, it made a lot of sense. Never wise to walk away and assume that something has happened. Assumptions are a poor replacement for knowledge.

About 45 minutes later, Dante climbed into the speeder, "Let's get out of here," he said. "No need to ask twice," I said and eased the speeder back towards the cabin.

Dante was quiet most of the ride back. He seemed lost in thought and I thought it best to let him be. This had been a long couple of days and I understood his need for silent thought. The drive back to the cabin took less time than the trip out, which was really good since the heater in the car wasn't do much of anything on the ride back.

When we got back to the cabin, I looked over at Dante. "If we're taking off today, I just need to clean up some before we go. I can call Patrin and let him know that we were here and that the speeder will be in town." I backed the speeder into the garage, which put Dante's side close to the door into the house. When we got in I told him, "Just sit and hang out, I need to wash some stuff, put things back in place and back our gear, I should be done in less than an hour." Then I went about doing just that.

"So, how's your brother doing?" Dante asked as I was finishing up. "He's doing well, he likes being his job and his wife just started teaching again. And the kids are doing great, they keep my mom content on the grandbaby front, though she does give Brishen and his wife a hard time about not having had several kids by now." I smiled and rolled my eyes, I've never understood the obsession with wanting grandbabies. "Speaking of being maternal and such, how is your cousin Kory doing? Isn't he in a matrimonial way?" I teased. I finished up the cleaning and sat down. I needed about 5 minutes of rest before heading off to the speeder.

"I guess by the time mothers reach 'grandmother' age they've forgotten the challenging parts of being around small children," he commented. "I suppose all mothers do that to their adult children, although I must say, my mother seems to have given up on the grandmother idea. She's very disappointed with me in that respect."

"I doubt that your mother has ever been disappointed in her baby boy," I said teasingly.

"It's called 'unconditional love,'" Dante said with an easy smile. "I have to get it from someone," he teased back.

He smiled, "I suppose I'll have to be the one who does his bachelor party. That oughta be interesting."

TBC

read Cpt Typho's POV here

Every Girl Should Have a Grenade

2006-12-30T15:58:00.000-07:00

I cleaned up the breakfast dishes and put everything away. I looked over at Dante, "Are you up for dealing with the speeder and its many contents? I'm worried about your leg. I don't want you hurt it any further." "I'm good," I said. "Let's do this,” he replied. I didn’t believe it.

I walked over then sat down in his lap, "Did you want to stay here another night or head to civilization as soon as possible? The choice is yours, I'm happy to do either." And in my mind, the choice really was his to make, he was the injured one. I didn't want to make him stay anywhere where he wasn't comfortable. "We need to leave and get back to reality," he said.

"You sure," I teased, "It will be the last time we have time alone together with no one calling or even knowing where we are." "I hadn't thought of it that way, but you could be right," he said I gave him a pat on the butt, "But this could be your way of telling me that you have your limits for dried and defrosted foods." "I don't mind the food," he said. "You did a great job."

I wanted him to stay, but I didn't want him to hurt his leg any further; which was a concern I had about him coming with me to dispose of the speeder. I watched him slowly move around the cabin. He'd be mad at me if I made him stay, but it was still the best option for him.

"Dante, I know you'll get mad at me for this, but I think you should stay. We need someone to go through the data and I don't know what's important and what isn't. I really don't want you to hurt your knee more, the harder you are on it, the greater the chances it won't fully heal." I didn't want him to have another injury that affected him the rest of his life, that would be hard on him. He was an active guy, messing up his knee would be pretty bad.

The speeder was ready, and everything that needed to be disposed of had been placed in the bounty hunter's speeder. I'd download the images, if there were any, when we got back.

He pointed at his ear. "Did you say something? I didn't catch that."
I gave him a unamused look. "Dante, I'm being serious, I don't want you jacking up your knee any more than you already have."

He ignored me and headed for his jacket, "It'll go faster if we do it together," he said, sliding into his jacket.

I realized there was no point in arguing, he wanted to go. I'd offered him a choice so he wouldn't get mad if I went off and took care of things. It was my mistake not to realize his pride wouldn't let him stay. Now I'd have to worry about burning a car with a dead Trandoshan in the back as well as keeping an eye on Dante. I grabbed the keys and headed to the speeder.
Outside Dante said, "I'll drive the Trandoshan's speeder. You follow with your family's vehicle. What are the coordinates?" He held out my hand for the Trandoshan's keys. I handed him the keys as well as the coordinates of the location I'd selected. "Be careful, ok?" I said
"What are we going to use to ignite this thing?" he asked. "I have that covered, no worries." I climbed into my speeder and prepared to follow.

The drive out to the location took 2 hours, the location I'd selected was very remote and it was still hard to maneuver in all the snow. That and the speeder the Trandoshan had was a bit more about appearing to be an all terrain speeder than actually being one. The one I was driving was probably as old as I was, if not older, and was an old Terra Rover.

When we finally arrived, the wind had died down and the sun was out. I got out of my speeder and walked over to Dante, "We need to get it as close to the edge as possible. I can set the det tape in the trunk, then we can send it over the edge. It shouldn't actually crash if we leave it in neutral, it'll just bounce hard at the bottom. Then I'll trigger the charge which will cause a small but very hot and fiery explosion. There is plenty in there that should burn." I looked at Dante as I unwound the det tape that I'd so carefully carried around with me. "Or we could do a grenade. A girl should always have a grenade," I said with a teasing smile.

"A girl should definitely not have a grenade, 'cause she'll use it," Dante replied. He popped the boot so I could set the tape. The smell from the trunk was pretty bad, I had to step back a few times. Dante seemed to handle it much better than I did. "I don't usually stick around long enough for the bodies to get stinky," I commented, placing the last of the tape around the trunk. I closed the trunk tightly. "There, all we need to do is adjust the repulsors so that the vehicle has a softish landing, and we're good to go."

I opened up the hood on the front of the speeder, plugged into the vehicle computer and recalibrated the repulsors so hopefully the thing wouldn't shatter at the bottom of the gorge. I closed the hood and stepped back, pondering what else I should do. When nothing came to mind, I looked at Dante, "I think we're good to go, stand back, I'll give this a push, and we'll see what happens."

TBC

read Cpt Typho's POV here

Daily Chores

2006-12-17T22:19:00.000-07:00

I'd woken up well before Dante did. I lay there trying to fall back asleep, but it wasn't working, there was a lot that needed to be done today. I got up quietly then got dressed. Heading down stairs I figured I'd check my droid, see if anything had passed by during the night then start breakfast. The droid had picked up no activity overnight, which was excellent. I had worried that the Trandoshan might have a friend who'd come looking.

In the kitchen I started making a mix for breakfast cakes and checked the bottle of fruit juice that I'd set out the night before It was almost completely thawed. I put some protein powder in the breakfast cakes so that they'd be somewhat healthy. I set syrup and utensils on the table then put a covered plated with the cakes on it in the middle. I also put a pot of tea on the table. Dante wasn't up yet so I headed out to the cabin speeder to get it ready to tow the other one. I realized that most of it would be a one person show, Dante's knee wouldn't be letting him do much in the immediate future.

He had just come downstairs when I got back inside. "Sleep well?" I asked, sitting down at the table, pouring myself some tea. "Would you like some," I offered, looking at him.
"Yes, thanks," he said to the tea I offered. "My sleep was so-so. It was all right until the pain killers wore off, then I couldn't find a comfortable position." He took a sip of tea and added, "I'm toying with the idea of having my knee taken care of here on Naboo. It's probably not the smartest idea, but I'm not sure if I want to wait three, four more days to get back to Coruscant to have surgery. You know?"

I shrugged, "It's up to you what you want to do, we could head back in to town after we dispose of the body and get a shuttle back to where we came in and leave as soon as possible. If you get it treated here, then you'll have to have a reason why you were and are on Naboo. Though, Padmé could probably make up some reason, saying that you had to come back to Naboo to get something for her. But it would let people know that you'd been on planet recently."

"I think it's only fair for me to warn you that you're spoiling me. You're setting the bar too high for yourself. I'm going to expect you do to this for me all the time and I'll be disappointed when you don't." He kept working at the cup of tea. "How much – if any – on the surveillance we did is salvageable?"

I made a face, only my recon droid had survived. But I had downloaded most of what we'd recorded over the day of surveillance, "Most of the audio, only some of the video. We don't have anything left that would absolutely identify Dorme, voice prints can be unreliable at times, particularly when some of the feed was made during a blizzard. I was downloading the audio on to my personal deck and had downloaded some of the video feed." I paused, thinking, "It would be useful to Padme for her to know that Bibble is out to get her, but we really didn't find out why. I could try again to download data from the recon probe we left, if it's still active."

"Do that," Dante said, nodding. "Then we'll put this mission to bed. My boss will have to be happy with what we got. We certainly got more than we bargained for."

I ate my breakfast, thinking about what he'd said. His statement about setting the bar too high worried me, what were the chances he would be disappointed? I tried to get it out of my mind, no need to borrow trouble I didn't need nor want.

~~~~~~~~~~

I cleaned up the breakfast dishes and put everything away. I looked over at Dante, "Are you up for dealing with the speeder and its many contents? I'm worried about your leg. I don't want you hurt it any further." "I'm good," I said. "Let's do this,” he replied. I didn’t believe it.

I walked over then sat down in his lap, "Did you want to stay here another night or head to civilization as soon as possible? The choice is yours, I'm happy to do either." And in my mind, the choice really was his to make, he was the injured one. I didn't want to make him stay anywhere where he wasn't comfortable. "We need to leave and get back to reality," he said.

TBC

read Cpt Typho's POV here

Time for some rest

2006-12-08T18:19:00.000-07:00

Time for some rest
Originally uploaded by indirafrhm.

I turned on the water and stepped into the shower. It felt wonderful. For a girl raised in the mountains, I had a strong affinity for water. It was calming, relaxing and was intensely peaceful. I cleaned my arm scratch thoroughly, then washed my hair, getting all the twigs and dirt out of it. When I was done I was relaxed, happy, and almost completely calm. I dried off, changed into a sleep shirt, gathered my stuff and headed out of the bathroom. I put my clothes on the stairs, then headed to the front door. I grabbed my little recon droid, opened the front door and released it. It would alert me to any vehicles or anything that looked like a threat approaching the cabin. I locked the door, retracted the shutters so the cabin didn't looked lived in, then went up stairs, grabbing my stuff on the way.

At each end of the cabin there was a large window that didn't shutter. The overhang from the roof protected it from most weather and when my grandparents had replaced them, it was with very weather resistant windows. The sun was setting, making the snow look like warm red pink and orange water. I set my control/display unit for the droid near the head of bed then crawled under the covers. The desire to leave the Navy was quite strong at that moment. I looked over at Dante to see how he was doing

"What's the smile for?" he asked, reaching out to stroke my cheek. "Is that for me?"I leaned over and kissed him on the forehead, "Of course," I replied."Say, I like this place of yours," he remarked. "How come you never mentioned it? Maybe this is your secret place where you take your other boyfriends?" he arched an eyebrow.

His voice was teasing, but I knew he wanted an answer to his question. "It's not 'my' place, it belongs to my family, and I haven't been here in years. I never mentioned it because I was worried you'd give me a hard time about it when we were first dating." I propped my head up on my hand as I lay on my side, looking at him. "And no, I've never brought a boyfriend here before. It's been an interesting experience being here without a herd of family around. It's rather nice." I returned his curious look, "Why do you ask? Do you have a little place tucked away that you take all your girlfriends to that I don't know about?" I teased.

“You know most of my spots, but there is one place you've never been…" he paused dramatically. "You haven't yet been to my new house." he grinned. Which was true, I hadn’t seen the new house he family lived in, just the old one. "I don't make a habit of bringing women there…" He paused then frowned. "Actually that's not true – Dormé's been there. I took her there after her 'kidnapping.' For all I know she left some surveillance devices in my house."

"So you whisked her off to your house at the beach after her kidnapping? That must have made her all giggle and happy, she always seemed to like to be rescued." I paused and thought about Dormé, "And she seemed to need it a lot too. I could see how that might have started a bit of an unrequited longing on her part." I tried to hide a teasing smile, "I mean you did carry her to the safety of your car then take her to your beach house." Even as I said it, at the very back of my mind, a faint nagging thought tugged a bit at my attention. Why did he take her to his house? Couldn't he have just taken her to the local precinct? I decided to let it go, it was done with, no point in fretting over it.

"'Whisked away' is too strong a phrase, but, yeah, I did take her to my house and let her stay overnight," he replied. "She was acting helpless." I didn’t say anything, people who constantly need rescuing drive me nuts. I can understand some problems in life being things you need help with, that happens. But always ending up in trouble usually indicates that a person is either a bit of a putz or someone grasping for attention.

"What can I say? I'm a sucker for that and she must've known. I didn't know she was playing me," he said. "I'll keep that in mind the next time I'm in distress," I commented. "Though wouldn't the idea of dating a girl who looked like your ex and your boss weird you just a bit?"

"Yes, which is one of the many reasons why Dormé had no chance with me," he answered.

I rolled onto my other side then snuggled against him. I was very ready for some warm, comfortable sleep.

"We should come back here some time, preferably when no one's trying to kill either of us," Dante whispered. "Though I'd really prefer the beach," he added with a yawn.

"Me too." I drifted off into sleep.

TBC

Read Cpt Typho' POV here

Ready for the Cold

2006-12-03T23:21:00.000-07:00

Ready for the Cold
Originally uploaded by indirafrhm.

"Let's check to make sure. Can't hurt," Dante said.

"Yes it can," I replied, indicating my arm, "But you're right, we need to make sure." I stood up and followed him outside.

We both approached the bag with caution. Datapad in hand, I scanned for anything that might be giving off a signal. As far as I could tell, nothing was transmitting from the mass of weapons, but it could have been shielded. I looked at Dante, "I don't detect anything that's transmitting. You want to open the bag?"

Dante nodded. "No problem." He carefully unzipped the bag and suspiciously eyed the contents. "Three detonators, a carbine, another small bowcaster, ammo, a DL44 pistol," he said. Dante held up what had probably been what cut me. "I don't even know what this is, but I'm glad he didn't get to use it. This must be what cut your arm." It was a nasty looking weapon, I couldn't even guess where it was from.

He continued going through it the bag. While he was doing that, I kept looking for some type of transmission or signal to start up. Nothing. When he emptied the bag, I breathed a sigh of relief. Maybe, just maybe, we could start to relax. A bath and a few hours of solid sleep would do us wonders.

"This thing is heavy, whatever it is," Dante said, reaching into the bag.Instinctively, I backed away. I can't even begin to tell you all how many times I've heard something similar to that statement only to have it followed by a bang, explosion, thwang, and other bad sounds. Moments later a dart went flying by, barely missing myself and Dante."Hmm, well, I think that definitely means things are clear and we can take a break," I said. I reached into the speeder and took the last bag out, then set it in neutral and guided into a clear spot in a small overhang. Hopefully, if anyone flew over, nothing would look out of place. The gently blowing wind promised to pick up some, which would cover our tracks, but could also mean that sundown would be approaching. The shorter days made it hard to plan when you were used to Coruscant.

As Dante went to the garage, I went inside to get some supplies to help him with his knee. It was apparent he'd need surgery to fix it properly. I took a bacta spray canister out of the closet and resprayed my arm, it had started to turn angry and red again. When I came out, Dante was already inside. "Sit down," I ordered, pointing to the couch, "Let me wrap your knee so it doesn't get any worse than it already is. Then I'll make us something to eat."

I gently pushed his pant leg up. The knee was swollen but the bacta had probably helped. I started to wrap the knee, working in a figure eight, more to brace the knee than to cover it. This would allow a small bit of give, but would support everything that needed some support. I tried hard not hurt anything but with his knee as injured as it was, I wasn't sure I'd succeeded. Hey, what can I say, I'm a slicer, not a medic. Most of my medic skills were learned in the field from clone medics.

Once I was done, I got up. "So what do you want to eat? We have a lot of pasta, rice, and other non-perishable foods in cans." I paused and considered the options. "Anything you don't want to eat?" I started rooting through the pantry, soon finding some pasta, assorted veggies and some other things. I started working on food.

"Uh, no pasta," Dante said, looking at his knee.

I put down the pasta and grabbed some long grains instead. I put it all in a covered cooker, set the timer and let it do its thing. "It'll be good, I promise," I said as I looked at Dante. "And you might want to take a bath instead of a shower and.." I trailed off, "Hmm, I guess I should have waited on the leg, though that is water proof. You could just take it off after the shower before you get into bed." That was a sure sign that I was getting tired. Probably a good thing that the food was mostly cooking itself. I sat down next to him, "Sorry I can't do better for food, but" I gestured a bit as I shrugged, "Nothing fresh." He shrugged and put his arm around me. "I don't care. I'm just glad we're indoors and we're not eating energy bars in a tent." Good point.

The food was ready in about 30 minutes. It actually came out really well, in my opinion. In my rummaging, I'd found some yummy things for a breakfast which I decided to keep a secret until tomorrow. We ate a lot, it'd been a while since we had decent food. Once we were done, I collected the plates. "I'll do the dishes, you can go get cleaned up if you want."
"So how do I go about convincing you to cook dinner for me more often?" he said with a smile. "You know, like on a daily basis?"

That made me smile, it was a very sweet question. "Perhaps several times a week, but daily would require a career change for both of us that would have us home by dinner." And set my plate down and took a sip of water, "And while I might have one coming up, I don't think you do in the near future. But if you do, I'll make you dinner. You'd just have to help with dishes."

"I'll do the next set," Dante said as he walked off towards the shower. He looked tired, which was to be expected after a meal and many hours of harsh weather as well as being attacked by a bounty hunter. "Holler if you need help," I called after him.

The last thing he needed right now was to hurt his knee more in the shower. I did the dishes, dried them then put them away. The shower was still running so I grabbed some sheets, pillows and blankets and headed up to the loft area to make the bed. While I knew the stairs would be a bit tough on his knee, it was a tactically better place to be. I ran into him coming out of the shower when I came down. "I made the bed in the loft area, it's warmer up there and it's safer, just in case. The stairs up have a rail you can use as a brace if you need to lean on something." I gave him a kiss. "Let me know if you need anything." I headed off towards the shower.

TBC

read Cpt Typho's POV here

Cabin Sweet Cabin

2006-11-30T11:15:00.000-07:00

Eventually we got to where we were going. Despite the grief I knew I'd get for it, we needed a place to regroup that was private, safe and supplied. This was all three. My family had a cabin out here, my dad's side of the family has been in this area almost as long as the dirt. They don't move much, very hobbity about it all.

When we parked, I walked up to the entrance, entered the access code, and the door slid open. I turned and looked at Dante, "There is a speeder in the garage, we can tow this to a remote area and burn it," I gestured to the trunk, " and it's contents. Let me look over some maps to find a good place to take it." I walked in and headed right towards the pantry, I needed some tea.

"Nice place," Dante commented.

"It meets our needs, it has food, it's warm and we can regroup here." I went looking for the maps we kept of the area. "We need to find a remote area where we can burn the speeder, preferably some place far from here. There is a speeder in the garage, we can use that to tow Dorme's speeder." I sat down, looking over the maps.

"Then we can come back, get our stuff in order and then head to town. I'll call my brother and let him know the speeder will be there." I smiled as I looked up from the datapad with the maps. "What will you tell him?" Dante said curiously. "Uhh, I haven't figured that out yet, I'm hoping inspiration strikes on the ride into town.” Actually, I was hoping my brother just wouldn’t ask.

"You know, I was hoping all we'd have to do was some easy recon, then we could go spend a couple days on the beach, just relaxing. I hadn't planned on trying to dispose of a body out in the woods."
"The speeder rental company will probably hold me liable for the vehicle that got blown up. I may lose my license," Dante commented.

I waved my hand dismissively, "They did the entire transaction on a computer, so I took the liberty of erasing your information as well as any information they had on computer about the speeder, just in case it came to a bad end. I did the same at the hotel. No one needs to know that the head of Senator Amidala's security was on planet. And the rental company was busy enough that while the car might be missed, they most likely won't remember us." I rubbed my neck thoughtfully, "It's also nice they didn't have any surveillance. I like Naboo, still a trusting place." He just nodded.

I handed him the datapad, "This location should work for what we need, it's remote, has all sorts of drop offs and crevasses and it's a place no one would go for a hike or to camp."

"Let's get something to eat, rest a bit, then go. Okay? You still look tired. I think we're safe here, right?" He frowned, thinking. "Unless there's a homing device on the Trandoshan, or his gear. Or his speeder."

I paused, thinking about it, "Dorme's speeder had one of those positioning systems in it, but I deactivated it before we left our camp site, I didn't want anyone to follow us. And unless the Trandoshan had one in a body cavity, all I found on him, aside from weapons, was his ship remote. Which was also deactivated prior to leaving camp." I winced a little, "I've never looked in his bag, though. I have no idea what exactly is in there."

"Let's check to make sure. Can't hurt," Dante said.

TBC

read Cpt. Typho's POV here

Onward

2006-11-25T00:57:00.000-07:00

He was and handed me a tablet with something written on it
‘Good morning. Do you feel better? What happened to your arm? There is no food. Sorry. Had to give it to pair of tusk-cats.’

I took the tablet from and said, "Can you still not hear yet?" That was worrying, the bacta should have helped somewhat by now, "Maybe you need a bit more bacta in the ears," I commented, looking at my own arm, something else that could do with a bit more bacta. I started writing.

I feel better, not so tired now. I cut my arm on something in the speeder, the bounty hunter had a bag of weapons in the back seat and I cut my arm when I took the bag out. I guess I'm lucky it doesn't look or feel worse. What do you want to do with the body? The speeder? And where do you want to go from here? And does the speeder look familiar to you?

I handed him back the tablet and then rummaged through my bag. I found what I was looking for, my belt. From a pouch on it I pulled out a ration cube and offered it to Dante. It might not taste good, but it was food and would give us energy. I nibbled on mine, watching to see if he'd eat it. I realized he was still nursing his knee. Guess I needed to get up and start working on breaking down camp.

Dante handed me back the tablet with his response.

Trandoshan bounty hunters into poison, so gave you anti-toxin last night on hunch. Guess it didn't hurt. Don't want to carry around dead body and ground's to cold to bury it. Tempted to say search body then burn if possible? Remove all identifying marks from our speeder & leave it. Salvage any surveillance data. Take BH's speeder and get to better shelter, regroup, then off planet. Bibble/Dormé likely awaiting BH's return. Onto us, or at least know they're being watched by someone.

Speeder is Dormé's?

I shrugged when he declined the cube and took the tablet.

I can break down camp, can you strip down the rental speeder? I have coordinates of a place to regroup that's safe and out of the way. Should we burn the body in the speeder after we get to safety? We could take it somewhere remote and dispose of it. It'd probably fit in the trunk. And what do you want to do about his weapons, leave them? Very possible they'll never be found. And yes, I think it's the speeder Dorme drove, how nice of her to loan out her transport.

I handed it back to him, then leaned over and gave him a kiss, "Thanks for the anti-toxin shot," I said. I wrote down some coordinates and handed them to him, it was a place I knew we could regroup.

He scribbled his response quickly.

If Dormé's speeder has tools, stripping speeder will be no problem. Yes, we can burn body elsewhere. We should take the weapons.

I went about breaking down the camp. The tent came down quickly and stored itself as a 20x20cm cube. I love technology. I folded and packed up the remaining gear, placing it in the back seat of the speeder, we'd need the trunk as empty as possible. Once that was done, I checked in on Dante then went to go get the bounty hunter's bundle of trouble. In the daylight and without fear of ambush, the walk was much shorter. I retrieved the bag and returned to camp, keeping it all at an arms length from myself. Goodness only knows what else was in there.

When I got back, Dante had finished. Our rental speeder was now just an anonymous vehicle in the middle of the woods. Hikers might find it, call it in, and Rangers would come and haul it away. Another thing I noticed when I got back was that I was tired. The events of last night obviously had a stronger effect on me than I'd realized. I gently put the bag down on the ground. "If you're done, help me get the body into the trunk, I can't lift it alone. To make it easier, I completely shut off the repulsors, lowering the speeder to the ground. If you don't know how to do this, I don't recommend it, mainly because turning them back on can be dangerous if you don't do it correctly.

After some effort, we managed to get the body into the trunk. Once we got to where we were going, I could tow this speeder, body in trunk, and burn it somewhere. Body stuff, gear stowed and weapons lashed across the trunk, we were good to go. As I slid into the driver's seat, I looked around. The snow had almost completely stopped, and it was bright, but not blindingly so, the sun was hidden by gauzy clouds. It was a lovely day, and here I was spending it stuffing bodies into trunks. It caused some serious pause and contemplation; I think I need a better job. I looked over at Dante. "Ready to go?" I asked.

"Let's switch places," he said. "I can get us to wherever we're going since you've already programmed the coordinates." "Are you sure," I asked, but then decided not argue the point, letting him get in the driver's seat. As we drove, I would dose a bit, but my paranoia that for whatever reason the Trandoshan wasn't really dead would wake me up. Eventually we got to where we were going. Despite the grief I knew I'd get for it, we needed a place to regroup that was private, safe and supplied. This was all three.

TBC

read Cpt. Typho's POV here

Avoid Sharp Pointy Things

2006-11-21T12:35:00.000-07:00

If I stopped to think about it all, I'd not go, this wasn't a very good idea.

I read his response and nodded, then handed him the small info data pad on how all the stuff in the tent worked, maybe if he was feeling up to it he could put a better seal on the damage, which was covered but still leaking cold air. I gave him a kiss then left the tent. I adjusted my face cover and glasses, changing them to a setting that allowed me to see fairly well in the dark. The snow had let up some, granting me better visibility. I proceeded towards the heat signature with extreme caution, taking the most covered route that I could. If I stopped to think about it all, I'd not go, this wasn't a very good idea.

It was very slow going, the snow was deep, reducing my speed. 30 minutes later I came up behind the speeder. There were no life forms in the area, only one set of tracks leading away from the speeder. I took a closer look at the speeder, it looked familiar. Then I realized it was identical to the one that had been at the cabin when Bibble had arrived. Had Bibble really let a bounty hunter take Dorme's speeder? I wanted to get a closer look but was very hesitant to do so, I'm not very good at detecting booby traps. Actually, I suck at it. That's why I work with clone troopers, much more clever and savvy about those types of things, I'm just the combat slicer.

I sat on my heels to clear my mind. I was stuck in a bad bout of indecision, if I made a mistake, it could be fatal. To be somewhat productive, I made some snowballs and lobbed them around the perimeter, waiting to see if anything would react. Nothing, but that didn't really mean much, snowballs don't weigh much. I made a dense one and threw it at the side of the speeder. Once again, nothing. And no evidence of a trap, just one set of large tracks leading away from the speeder, some smaller animal prints and my snowball holes. If he'd buried traps, he'd put a lot of effort in leveling the snow to hide them. I took a deep breath and took a step and... nothing. This was all getting a bit anticlimactic, which I really shouldn't complain about.

I made my way to the speeder like that, one cautious step at a time. When I reached it, I was positive it was the same speeder that had been at the cabin. The Trandoshan hadn't had any keys or devices on his person that went with the speeder, though he had one device I suspected went with his ship. I activated the canopy controls, watching it slide back. I was hit with a strange mix of smells, one very female, very familiar, and one smell that was like acrid algae. There was a duffel bag in the back, no doubt the rest of the bounty hunter's weapons. I didn't want to leave them in the vehicle so I reached in and pulled out the bag and put it in a nearby rock crevasse. As I put the bad down, something sharp that had been sticking out of the bag scratched me, ripping the sleeve of my jacket, making a light red line on my arm. I quickly pulled the sleeve up and sprayed it with bacta, lots of bacta, then I covered with a bandage.

Once back at the speeder, there were no other issues. I managed to get it back to the shelter with no problems. Well no problems other than the stash of illegal weapons behind me, dead body in front of me and stolen speeder under me. But other than that, things had seemed to go well. I realized that I might have been a bit too optimistic. When I got out of the speeder I fell on to my hands and knees. I was having a hard time focusing and my hands were shaking. It could have been the stim wearing off, but it could have been something from the scratch. At that point all I wanted to do was sleep. I managed to get into the tent,sit down, take off my boots, smile at Dante, then curl up in a ball and go to sleep.

I instantly fell into a fitful sleep. A variety of memories came flooding in at the same time and it was like I was reliving them all at once in no particular order. Then things became less chaotic, but the memories were still there. There was my 1st day in the Navy, always an awkward time. A mission on some classified planet. Then there were bits of my memories from when myself and several other officers had been taken captive by the Trade Federation. In the grand scheme of hard times, it was bad, but not terrible, but also not something I ever want to repeat. The intense memories of always being cold, lonely and the situation being completely out of my control settled in, blocking out everything else. I was still struggling with those feelings when I awoke with a start. It was very bright in the tent, the wind wasn't blowing and I was bundled up under several blankets. Not quite the same as waking up in your own bed, but good enough. I rolled over to see if Dante was in the tent.

He was and handed me a tablet with something written on it
‘Good morning. Do you feel better? What happened to your arm? There is no food. Sorry. Had to give it to pair of tusk-cats.’

TBC

read Cpt Typho's POV here

Into The Drift

2006-11-12T23:07:00.000-07:00

Once Dante was released, I relaxed and for the first time realized how tired I really was. I made my way over to Dante to make sure he was ok. He held up a hand, took the Trandoshan's dropped pistol and shot the still form twice more in the head. A small trickle of blood was coming from both of Dante’s ears, he probably couldn't hear very well. Hell, I wasn't that close and my ears were still ringing a bit.

I took out a small canister of bacta and looked at Dante. "Can you hear me?" He kept staring at me, no response. I had to work quickly. While I thought there was probably only one bounty hunter, I wasn't going to bet on it. I took Dante's head in my hand, tipping it to the side so I could spray bacta into it, I was pretty sure he'd ruptured his ear drums. He winced, but I went ahead and did the second ear. I handed him the Trandoshan's blaster. I gave him the 'once around' signal and went off to check.

It was completely silent. Nothing showed up on any of the spectral readouts when I scanned with my glasses. There was a faint heat signature in the distance, probably the bounty hunter's ship. Then I looked to our gear. The speeder had taken a lot of the blast, it wouldn't be going anywhere any time soon. The tent had taken some damage but had been protected by the speeder. Most of the equipment inside the speeder was destroyed.

When I got back to Dante, he looked cold. I helped him to his feet. It wasn't until that moment that I realized that he'd hurt his leg. I helped him towards the tent. I had him lean against the tent. I needed to turn the damaged side towards the tree trunk. Night was falling and so was the snow, we needed to be in shelter. I managed to get get the tent turned and Dante inside. I sat down next to him, hoping that the bacta had started to work on his ears. I needed a plan, the body had to be gotten rid of; I thought of dragging it back to the ship, but the Trandoshan was much to heavy for me to drag. I grabbed the patch kit from the tent's duffel bag and went to work on the siding. Might as well fix what I can.

"I wonder if I can file for workman's comp?" he asked, obviously in pain. I just smiled tightly in response. I quickly cleaned his head wound then applied a bacta bandage to his head. I tried to get him to lay down, there were sleeping blankets on the floor of the tent. When car camping, I always bring more than I need, so we had extras.

"Maybe you should try to find whatever vehicle the Trandoshan came here with," he said, his voice level fluctuating, which told me that his hearing was coming back a bit slowly. Maybe he needed more bacta in the ears.
I pressed a finger to his lips, then whispered, "A little loud." I took the data pad and wrote my response

"Already located possible transport heat signature to out NNE. Was unsure of whether to check out or not.
Issues: Possible traps set around vehicle
You can't hear to defend yourself
Unlikely, but backup BH is possible"

As I wrote I knew I had to go out there and check, but it wasn't something I wanted to do, at all, not even a little. Padme was going to owe me big time for this mission. I finished my comments on the datapad with "Will go do recon, but need to fix your side first. Can you handle your knee?"

I handed it back to him and started to bundle up, it promised to be a long walk. I had a gash in my pants from a bowcaster dart. I glued the several layers back together and let it set as Dante worked on his reply. I thought about how I was going to move the body, maybe adapt one of the repulsors from the speeder and move it that way. I have to be honest, this made me regret just a bit that I hadn't just offed Bibble in the cabin, just a teensy tiny bit.

Dante handed the datapad back to me after writing on it, Looks like you've already decided to go. I will be okay. This is the best move, but I'm worried about you. Very concerned about trek in this weather and booby trapped vehicle. Check Trandoshan's body. May have key or disarming device.

I read his response and nodded, then handed him the small info data pad on how all the stuff in the tent worked, maybe if he was feeling up to it he could put a better seal on the damage, which was covered but still leaking cold air. I gave him a kiss then left the tent. I adjusted my face cover and glasses, changing them to a setting that allowed me to see fairly well in the dark. The snow had let up some, granting me better visibility. I proceeded towards the heat signature with extreme caution, taking the most covered route that I could. If I stopped to think about it all, I'd not go, this wasn't a very good idea.

TBC

Read Cpt. Tyhpo's POV here

Don't Dare A Girl Who Has...

2006-11-10T17:34:00.000-07:00

I watched as the two struggled. I lined up a shot, but then he got the upper hand, grabbing Dante's head in one and a blaster in the other. I had no choice but to fire at his backside which, unfortunately, was naturally armored. I lined up between his shoulder blades, hoping it'd make it harder for him to use his full strength. I took my shot. It landed between his shoulders causing him to flinch.

Dante managed to grab something and stab the Trandoshan in the abdomen with it. The bounty hunter made a sound of pain, lurching back in reaction. He desperately grabbed at and tried to use Dante as a shield. Normally a Trandoshan would have no problems hefting someone of Dante's size, but the shot to the back and stab to the guts had affected him. He could barely move Dante now, leaving large parts of himself open. This provided multiple areas to shot at, some which would kill, some which would maim.

He glared at me, daring me to shot him. Bad idea, I have had a lot of free time on my missions, stuck on ships; I've spent endless hours on the shooting range. And honestly, when is it ever wise to tuant a lady with a gun? Without a second thought, I lifted my rifle and aimed for the unarmored part of his body, his eyes. Even without the scope, at this range I could have shot off his buttons. I inhaled, then as I exhaled shot him twice, the second shot millimeters off of the first one. His other eye went wide in that instant where his mind realized that its body was dead. He slouched backwards, releasing Dante.

TBC

Read Cpt. Typho's POV here

Up Up and Over

2006-11-07T22:50:00.000-07:00

Dante managed to make a noise just as a detonator went off. I was thrown backwards into the solid trunk of the tree. I heard something on my rifle crack. My back, while wanting to make a similar noise, remained intact despite intense pain. I landed in a crouch, puzzled about what could have caused that. When I straightened up to help Dante, I saw the Trandoshan. I managed to get behind the tree trunk as several bowcaster bolts were fired at me. I slid my rifle to my front, checking it for damage. Unfortunately, the scope had broken, but it was Verpine technology and that stuff doesn't bounce well. Fortunately my DC was made of hardy stuff and was in firing order.

I peered around the tree to see Dante grappling with the Trandoshan. I wouldn't be able to flank in a normal manner, the snow made moving quickly or easily impossible. My only option was up. Replacing the gun across my now pretty sore back, I found a lower branch and made a jump for it. This would all pretty easy if I were taller, or had that spiffy force jump ability. As it was, I just managed to catch a branch and pulled myself up. Every muscle in my back screamed in protest. I quietly made my way through the branches to a location over Dante and the Trandoshan, wondering if we'd brought enough bacta. And then I started thinking about my training which went over the most efficient ways to kill a Trandoshan.

Dante was pinned under the Trandoshan, which from my standpoint was a positive thing, it meant the bounty hunter didn't see me. Moving quickyly, I made my way to the end of the branch, placing me about a meter directly behind the two men. Adrenaline mixed with the drugs of the stim. My focus seemed to make all of my senses hyper aware. I lay down on the branch, hoped that the Trandoshan wouldn't turn around in the next few seconds, then slowly rolled down from the branch, putting me directly behind them. My feet touched down silently behind the fight. Lifting the rifle, I prepared to shoot the Trandoshan.

TBC

read Cpt Typho's POV here

Into The Trees

2006-11-05T20:31:00.000-07:00

"You let me fall asleep! Why'd you do that?" he complained. He shook his head and stifled a yawn, "Never mind. Let's see if we can find something."

"You were exhausted and all the Dorme crap was making it worse." I managed a long blink as I popped up the vehicle positioning system. I scrolled through some numbers until I found the ones I wanted. I'd taken a stim right before I'd got in the speeder, it should kick in pretty quick. "There, that's where we should head. I know it's not close, but I think it's our best option." I'd entered the coordinates of my family's cabin. I knew Dante would give me some crap for my family having one, Dee'ja Peak snobs and all, but it would be secure, stocked and relatively warm. The warmth of the speeder was making it that much harder to stay awake, then the stim kicked in and I felt overly awake. I looked over at him, "Well, if the trip takes more than an hour, you might have to drive, but hopefully it won't, it's only 10 km away." I nudged the speeder out onto the path and we were gone.

"I'll take over whenever you want," he said. But then he dozed off again."Damn," he muttered, waking up later. He turned and looked at me, "Are we more likely to get stuck if we stop, or keep going?"

"A little from column A, a little from column B," I replied. "And what's worse is that the positioning system seems to be fritzed out and navigating by landmark," I gestured out the window, "Isn't a helpful solution right now." As we kept moving, I saw a bank of trees, their branches and needles heavy with snow. "We could park the speeder under those," I pointed, "And then be prepared to dig out when it's all over." The large Hilani trees grew in groups out here, kept their needles year round and tended to shed snow out and away from the base. They could live for 1000's of year and hand the trunk width to prove it. Usually there would be a lot less snow under the branches near the base. When I was young, my brothers and I could walk under the lowest branches and just be able touch them. I looked at Dante, "We could keep moving, I'm just not sure where we're moving towards. Or we can shelter."

"Okay, let's try it," Dante said, indicating the tree. I nudged the speeder under the tree branches. There was about a meter of snow on the ground, which made getting the speeder under a challenge, but not impossible. Underneath the branches, there was about 5cm of snow. The most I'd ever seen under one of these trees was 15-20 cm, so we should be ok.

I looked over at Dante. "One of us needs to set up the tent and the other needs to shovel out the path the speeder came in just in case we need to get out quickly." I pulled the camping gear out as well as a shovel. "I can do the tent," I offered, "I've set them up before."

"No problem," he said, taking the shovel. Dante got to work quickly, starting from the base of the tree and working outwards.

The tent was one of the few things that was GAR that I'd kept. It didn't have any markings, it's fabric would automatically adjust it's coloring to match the environment, and it stayed pretty warm. I swept a foot print clear of snow and set about getting the tent up. I hadn't even bothered with surveillance gear, I just wanted out of the wind. So, needless to say, I wasn't really aware of the surroundings other than it was windy, snow-covered and cold.

"If the snow doesn't let up its pace, everything I've done will be undone in a few hours at best," Dante commented.

"I can come out and maintain it, we just need a cleared path in case we need to get out of here. Hopefully we won't." I was working on setting up the tent. I paused for a moment, I thought I'd heard a muffled sound, but figured it was Dante working on the snow. I picked up my blaster rifle that I'd left on the ground, I'd almost tripped over it. Fortunately, Dante hadn't seen my ungraceful moment.

I was almost finished with the tent when I heard him open the speeder hatch and then something thump off he speeder. "Don't break our transportation, otherwise it'll be a hard hike out of here," I commented, looking over my shoulder. Dante was looking at something and his face said that what ever it was, it wasn't good.

TBC

read Cpt. Typho's POV here

Ideas, Suggestions, Thoughts?

2006-10-24T23:12:00.000-06:00

I was still thinking things over when my first thought popped out of my mouth. "This is a remote isolated place, people rarely come out here in the winter. The house isn't even registered to Bibble, I bet no one knows they're out here. We could neutralize them and no one would find them until much later." But I knew that wouldn't work, we needed to know who Bibble was answering to, and if he were dead, we'd never find out.

"Hey, that was a joke, right?" he asked, giving me a concerned look. "You really had me going there for a second. I know you wouldn't honestly suggest that you'd murder a pregnant woman who used to be your friend. If you could do that..."

"It's one of many options I'm trained to consider, but it's not an option that would work in this situation. And yes I would do it, she's been trying to murder two people I care very much about." I adjusted my HUD glasses a bit, pulling them closer to my eyes to try to keep the snow off of them. "Haven't you ever wonder just how long she's been involved? What if she's been at it for years? What if she was the one that leaked the info that lead to the landing platform bombing? That was known by someone deep inside, the only thing she wouldn't have known was your last minute switch of Padmé to the fighter." I shook my head, sending the light dusting of snow cascading down the back of my hood.

"I've wondered about that myself -- if she accidentally killed her own sister. That would've made her even more unstable than she already was." He paused, then continued, “As far as unstable goes, when I started surreptitiously probing my team and asking questions about Dormé, all sorts of things came up. Several people hinted that she was a binge drinker. She also liked to 'borrow' things that weren't hers, to put it nicely, and that included money and personal effects. She was supposedly into bondage videos, and maybe not just videos." he shrugged. "I don't know what to think and how much of what I heard to believe. But I can see that she was not well liked by the rest of my team, and I hadn't been aware of that. Cordé was the one everyone had liked."

"Bondage, eh? Kinky. She always struck me the type who wanted attention, any type of attention. Maybe that's why she does what she does." I shrugged. "You ever notice how much taller she was than Padme?"

"I know that sounds extreme, and it is, but it's natural the thought would occur to me, it's probably the only time anyone would ever get them alone and unguarded. But this is an intel mission, so don't worry, I won't go all commando." I smiled at him, "And hey, it'd mean not having to watch them enjoy their particular form of dessert."

"Neutralizing these two was not what I came here to do." he paused. "But if our surveillance continues to consist of marathon vigils in which we get to watch other people having sex, I'll put a blaster to my head and neutralize myself."

I rolled my eyes, "No need to do that, Bibble is old and I doubt we'll get much more of that." I adjusted my position some, "Besides, that would mean that you'd get out of surveillance duty, and that just wouldn't be fair," I said with a grin.

I adjusted the listening droid's output. "We don't have much time now, Amidala must be dealt with before the child is born. I want you both to be able to live in peace and safety and that can't happen while she lives."

"Why the hell are they so convinced that Padmé is a danger to their kid?" I muttered. "I don't get it. Does the child stand to inherit something important? Is the child related to Padmé in some way? But that doesn't make sense."

"Perhaps it's how he's lured her into helping him? Maybe it's the story he's been told to secure his assistance? Maybe it's code for something?" I scrunched my nose, it was getting cold. "This is getting a bit convoluted and weird for my training. I slice computers and droids, much easier, much more straight forward.” I frowned, thinking, 'Before the attempts on her life, Padmé didn't give a womprats ass what Dormé was up to'.

Dante snorted. "Are you kidding me? This is so far out of my line of work it's not funny."

"You must do more to discredit her security, perhaps you should contact his parents, that would cause some level of upheaval. Perhaps we could involve his uncle, Typho seems very conscious of Panaka's opinion of him." "I will try harder, I think it complicates things that he's involved with another former handmaiden."

"That bitch is going to make me have to take a paternity test to squelch this," Dante fumed. "And they better leave my uncle and my parents out of this."

I put my hand on his arm, "Dante, the people who matter will know that it isn't your child. And we'll resolve all of this before she could possibly be due. The truth will be out far before the kid. And like you said, she might not be pregnant."

"If she's not, and the two of them are still acting like she is out here in the middle of nowhere, it means they know they're being watched," he said. "Is that possible?"

~~~~~~~~

I flexed my fingers, they were getting very stiff. We'd been out watching for some time. In theory, the sun should have been breaking over the horizon soon, but it wouldn't today, the storm was too heavy. It was starting to affect some of my gear, I needed to adjust it for the weather. Dante was sleeping in the speeder, I'd made him take a break, this was all a bit overwhelming. Alone, I looked at the house, it was dark, perfect silent, and completely unaware of anything beyond the falling snow. It was so tempting, but not at all authorized and would cause some serious chaos on the planet. I was contemplating other angles when my droids showed an odd power surge in the cabin. My thermal reader showed Dormé still asleep, but Bibble had moved into an empty room. And for some reason all that my scanners showed was a big blur and static where he was. I had pulled my droid earlier, it was not dealing well with the cold. 1 minute and 43 seconds later, it all ended, Bibble went back to bed, and everything was as quiet as it had been. Crap, stupid snow.

I walked to the speeder, our gear in its bag save for a few surveillance pieces. I opened the door, threw in the bag and sat down. "I think we need to find a shelter, this is getting worse and we have data to review." That and I was absolutely exhausted, but that's not really a good reason to quit.

TBC

read Cpt Typho's POV here

Fierfek

2006-10-21T14:31:00.000-06:00

"Well, you do have to give Bibble some credit, at his age, who'd have guessed he was still that spry and flexible." Yeah, I was making stuff up, but I was trying to lighten the mood. I did hope it wouldn't take to long.

“Stop already!" Dante said, covering his ears. Ten minutes later, he turned the audio off as well, "Should a pregnant woman be doing that? Isn't that dangerous??" he asked.

The snow started to fall. And not light fluffy flakes of snow, heavy wet snow flakes. This wasn't the best development. After a rather lackluster dessert, Bibble and Dormé stayed in bed and chatted about things that happened over the past few days. His tone became angry when the topic turned to the masquerade.

"I made sure she was sent her invites. And you said that they had arrived before you left. I can't understand why she didn't attend, there was nothing pressing happening back on Coruscant. The conceit of that woman, she can't be bothered to attend an event for the Chancellor?" Dormé caressed the side of his face, trying to calm him. I tapped Dante on the shoulder, this was something he could watch. I wondered momentarily if in the past he'd had feelings for Dormé. That would certainly make this more awkward. He sat up and tuned into what was happening.

"Whose belly is bigger? Bibble's or Dormé's?" he joked. I didn’t want to look that hard, so I didn’t say anything.

"Perhaps something came up and she could spend time with Anakin, she always tries very hard to make time for him." I sat back on my heels. Fierfek. She knew, and obviously she'd told Bibble. And she was using the present tense to refer to Anakin and Padmé.

"Damn," he said. "Not good. Padmé needs to know that they know."

I was still thinking things over when my first thought popped out of my mouth. "This is a remote isolated place, people rarely come out here in the winter. The house isn't even registered to Bibble, I bet no one knows they're out here. We could neutralize them and no one would find them until much later." But I knew that wouldn't work, we needed to know who Bibble was answering to, and if he were dead, we'd never find out.

"Hey, that was a joke, right?" he asked, giving me a concerned look. "You really had me going there for a second. I know you wouldn't honestly suggest that you'd murder a pregnant woman who used to be your friend. If you could do that..."

TBC

read Cpt Typho's POV here

The Things You See

2006-10-15T23:41:00.000-06:00

"Nothing like a snow storm to make this more challenging," Dante remarked, looking unhappy about the snow situation. "Well, it will help us with our cover, most likely hide our tracks, and since they'll be forced to stay inside with each other, it might prompt all sorts of interesting conversations. So it could be a good thing, at least in regards to information collection. And I did pick out the best cold weather clothing they had, which is pretty good, especially for civilian wear." I hoped that might cheer him up some.

"Oh, trust me, I do appreciate the winter gear," he said, pulling his hat down around his ears. "Let's hope they do use the snowstorm as an opportunity to talk. They may use it to do something else that neither of us wants to see them doing,"

The speeder happily made the change from gravel road to dirt road to what I would loosely describe as a trail. While I was familiar with the hunting lands, this particular area was not one I'd been to all that often. As kids, my brothers and I had been told ghost stories about spooky things happening in this part of the lands. The broken down old houses just added to the ambiance. I decided not to mention that to Dante, he's still a bit jumpy about the woods.

The dots stopped moving where we thought they would. They were about 10 km ahead of us. I looked at Dante, "how close do you want to go in with the vehicle? I'd prefer we get it as close as possible, but leave it on the trail so we have an easier time getting out when we need to leave."

"We're going to have to get a little closer, I think. This distance would be fine ordinarily, but if we need to quickly sprint 10km in inclement weather to get to this speeder, it might as well be parked 100km away," he said.

"Yeah, and 10 km dash in snow shoes no less. I was thinking of getting as close as possible. But that's something I always get dinged for in performance reviews and after mission briefings. I figured I'd ask what your SOPs were."

I managed to park the speeder several hundred meters from our surveillance point. After a some scrounging, we'd found enough foliage to camouflage the vehicle from anyone flying over or passing by on the trail. For the first day, I'd just planed we could sleep in the speeder, it was big enough.

We walked a crescent perimeter of the place, setting up small recording devices and cameras. This took some time, the cabin owner had maintained a open space between the house and the woods. I wanted to determine what if any devices were on the cabin before I got more ambitious and placed anything on the building.

I will admit that it struck me as just a bit hypocritical that I was placing spy equipment all over the property of what could be two people who just wanted some romantic time together. But Padmé was convinced that they were trying to kill her, that they might try to kill her security staff. It warranted investigation.

I returned to our observation point and dropped down next to Dante. "Well, here we go." I smiled and nodded a bit to myself, then looked at him, "So my primary desire of this mission is get info either confirming or denying what Padmé told us. A bonus would be specific intel about when where and who. And my best case scenario is that who ever is in charge might give the good gov'nor a call." I had a very pleased smile on my face. I did this a lot on mission, have several goals. My troopers and I would compare our different goals with each other. It's always fun to hear what the others thought the best case scenario would be.

"That would be an amazing stroke of good luck," he said. "In addition to finding evidence for or against what Padmé claimed," Dante said, "on a purely personal level, I've got two things I'd like to know. First, I'd like to know if she really is pregnant or not."

"Do you think that she's not pregnant?" I asked, surprised. The thought hadn't occurred to me. "Why fake it? Other than to get you in trouble. And Bibble is playing along pretty well if she's not pregnant." I rubbed my back, thinking of that fake belly I'd worn. "It's not the most fun thing to pretend to be."

He sighed. "Yeah, I suppose you're right. Bibble would know if she's not pregnant, even if he can't go to obstetrician visits with her."
"Second, what is her connection to those people who supposedly kidnapped her a few months ago? If that was faked – and it had to have been – what were they really trying to do?” "Thinking back on Dormé's 'kidnapping,'" he commented, "if the plan had been to lure me somewhere and kill me, it almost worked. If that's what it was all about, it was a good plan. It's almost funny, but if my father hadn't been there that day, they would've succeeded."

"I wonder… how far back I need to go when questioning Dormé's actions," he said.

I merely arched an eye brow when he mentioned his father. "Did the locals ever do a follow up on the two men? Figure out where they were from? I'd hate to think someone has been trying to kill you for that long." I frowned, this whole mission was very personal, though it had nothing to do directly with me; it was just that some people wanted to off my former queen and the guy I was dating.

"The investigation is ongoing," he mumbled, leaving it at that. There was something else, Dante's face indicated that his mind was else where. I wanted to ask, but I figured if I needed to know, he'd tell me. There had already been enough awkward moments on this trip.

I looked up at the sky. The clouds were starting to become a bit more dense. Guessing from experience, we had at least 12 more hours of on site surveillance, depending on how much snow moved in to the area. I knew I'd have to keep an eye on Dante, I was worried he might not tell me when he got too cold. The equipment should keep things fairly comfortable, but in the dark at night, things got very cold and equipment could fail. But I wanted to stay as long as possible, the initial intel from the small spy droid I'd released indicated that the building did have a communication set up that had impressive range, not standard equipment for a remote cabin.

As Dante made a face and looked away, I continued surveillance, watching all the readouts on my HUD glasses. I let the image behind the information pouring in become blurry and indistinct. I'd seen worse, my unit and I had to spy on Hutts once, nasty. But I also couldn't resist the urge to tease Dante just a bit. "Well, you do have to give Bibble some credit, at his age, who'd have guessed he was still that spry and flexible." Yeah, I was making stuff up, but I was trying to lighten the mood. I did hope it wouldn't take to long.

TBC

read Cpt Typho's POV here

Into the Woods

2006-10-11T23:40:00.000-06:00

Snow had already settled on the mountains and in the valleys. I'd ended up getting new winter gear, I just didn't feel right performing an off the books mission in Republic winter BDUs. But I was still using some of my surveillance kit, there are just some things you can't pick up at the local store and advanced reconnaissance equipment falls into that category. We'd been tracking Bibble with ease, the powder worked wonderfully.

We were watching the map, waiting for them to reappear. So far Bibble seemed disappear in the Chancellor’s mansion. The suddenly, there he was on the map, still in the house.

"What was that all about?" Dante remarked. "I thought the tracking powder had been discovered or had worn off, but it's looking like that's not the case. There's some seriously heavy shielding somewhere in that structure. The Chancellor sure wants to ensure his privacy." Another blip suddenly reappeared on the very periphery of the map."Well look who's back," he said, pointing with a bare hand. It was Dorme's signal. It was stationary at the moment."How much time do we have left before the powder wears off and we lose both signals?" Dante asked. He stuck his hands in his back pockets.

I handed him a thin pair of thermoregulating gloves.

"It can last up to 3 weeks, but after 9 standard days, the signal starts fading. I wonder why Dorme is back." We'd spent a lot of time arm chair diagnosing their relationship and I had quite convinced myself it couldn't be anything genuine. The blip remained stationary.

“I bet she got tired of waiting and whined for him to come up there or she'd do something drastic," Dante said unkindly

After about 30 minutes of watching Bibble blip move around a small part of the manor, he moved towards the speeder bay. "He must have been packing," I said out loud. We watched as his dark covered speeder exited the grounds, moving towards where Dorme was. I looked at Dante, "Time for us to get moving. Would you like to drive or would you like to navigate?" We'd rented a speeder just for this type of activity. We'd also stored all of our unnecessary stuff in a storage locker at the space port. I like to travel light, I like to follow suspects the same way.

“You can drive,” Dante offered as we walked to the speeder. I smiled when he said I could drive. I don't get to do much piloting, so getting to do what would become off road driving was going to be fun. I'd made sure we got an actual all terrain capable vehicle.

~~~~

Dorme and Bibble were heading in the direction of the old Dee'ja Peak hunting lands. The area was sparsely dotted with old cabins when the area had been used for hunting. While hunting was no longer something the people of the area did, the cabins remained. The few that were still intact were owned by some of the older families in the area. No new ones allowed to be built on the lands in order to let nature reclaim the area. There would be very few, if any people on the lands, the cabins were mainly used in the summer, with some people choosing to stay until the fall. But other areas offered better winter sports and so that is where they went. There was a village 30 km from the boundaries and that is where the cabin owners would get food supplies. I explained all of this to Dante. While I'm sure it wasn't the most fascinating, it was background he should know.

Their dots stopped in a remote northwest regions of the lands with no pause in the village. "Hmm, I'd thought they'd stop to get some supplies," I commented.

She's probably been stocking up," he said, "which is a good thing for them, because they're going to get snowed in." He pointed to a front rolling in over the mountains.

I nodded when he mentioned that she'd most likely been stocking up on supplies. "On the way out, we can chat with the people who run the stores, figure out what they saw and heard from Dorme."

I wasn't pleased by the prospect of a snow storm out here. Sometimes they last 3 hours, sometime they last 3 weeks. We'd brought supplies, but if things got really bad, we wouldn't be able to stay outside a solid shelter.

"Nothing like a snow storm to make this more challenging," Dante remarked, looking unhappy about the snow situation.

TBC

read Cpt. Typho's POV here

Ring Shopping

2006-10-07T12:24:00.000-06:00

"I think we should follow Dormé, set up surveillance, and see if we catch anything." I said.

"Shouldn't we follow Bibble?" Dante suggested. "They're bound to hook up again anyway. Besides, he's the mastermind behind whatever's going on. It's certainly not Dormé."

I nodded, "Fine, we can follow Bibble, I don't think either one will produce anything exciting. If we get anything, it'll probably be when they are together. I was just thinking Dormé because it would allow us to set up while only she was there. But you're right, if we stay with Bibble, we might catch something we'd miss watching Dormé."

"I've got a list of everything she's paid for using the relief funds. The maternity clothes and things, that's obviously for her. The hunting equipment could be for anyone, but the cold weather gear, judging by the sizes, is for her and at least one other adult," Dante said.

"Oh, get this -- she bought her own engagement ring," he said. "Bibble wouldn't do that for her, I guess."

I nearly choked on my food, "They're engaged?!? I thought this was some sort of clandestine fling." I picked up the fork I'd dropped. Am I the only one of our handmaiden group that isn't engaged or married? Even Padmé is married. But Bibble, eww, I couldn't imagine shacking up with one of my grandparents friends. But still, I am a bit jealous

After I collected my thought, I shrugged, "I think she always wanted that, rich husband, fancy house, big ring, posh speeder, kids. I just figured she'd make a play for a Senator, not someone like Bibble. A ring would make her feel important, it's a visual sign that there is someone out there who wants you. And no one knows if you bought it yourself or not." I sipped my tea, "Is it a big expensive flashy ring?" I asked, suddenly curious. Funny thing is, I still have my engagement ring which I guess is now just a really nice ring. It lives in its box at my parents so it won't get lost.

It says here 'Pink Sapphire and Triangle Shape Diamond Set in Filigree Engraved Platinum.' The price was… 7,120cr." Dante shook his head disapprovingly. "Yes, I think that qualifies as 'big, flashy and expensive.'"

I made a face, so ostentatious and very much an indicator she had something to prove. "I don't think they're engaged. I'd almost be willing to bet she wear the ring on her off hand when he's around. But I'm also being unkind, they could be, Dormé is a very pretty girl. But still, tacky ring. I liked the one you gave me."

Dante gave me a bit of a surprised look. "Did you?" he said doubtfully. "It certainly wasn't platinum. If you liked it, maybe that had more to do with what it represented than what it was."

"That could have been part of it, but I definitely loved the way it looked. I thought it fit me and my personality well. I still have it in a box of my belongings at my parent's house."
"What's up with the pink stone? Sapphires come in more than just blue?" he asked. Yes, it was apparent that he hadn’t been dragged through the posh jewelry sections of Coruscant yet by Padmé. "Anyway, I doubt they're really engaged. If they were, she wouldn't buy her own ring. It's got to be for show. An old guy like him, he can string someone like her along indefinitely. She's needy. She'd buy something like that to feel better about herself."

“Sometimes people really need that kind of validation. I think Dormé should have quit after Cordé's death and gotten some serious counseling, but she didn't and here we are."

"But you see, I don't know why we're here," he replied. "Yes, of course we're here because we want to help Padmé, but what I mean is, what is Bibble's goal? I've been thinking about this ever since we first talked about it back at the Skyhook Park. Padmé said they want to kill her, but that's not the real goal. Without having at least a solid theory about their motivation, we'll always be one step behind them. That frustrates me. It means we have to count on Bibble doing something obvious, or hope that Dormé continues to be a weak link."

"Well, attempts on Padmé's life are nothing new. She is a pretty significant figure in the Senate. Killing her would send a very strong message on the part of the Separatists. The Nemoidians still have it out for her. Maybe she's unknowingly blocking something somebody wants. I definitely think Bibble is acting under orders, I don't think this is his idea." I thought about it a bit, "Do you think he could be acting on behalf of a corporation? She's not been too willing to give military companies blank checks and carte blanche to do whatever they desire." I absently repositioned my utensils. "The only other thing I can think of that has caused some raised eyebrows is that she never wants to grant the Chancellor more emergency powers, but that's all I can think of and I doubt that is the issue. Politics is your field, I just shoot droids."

I put down my tea cup, finished off my breakfast and stood up. "I'm going to get dressed and start getting our stuff ready to leave then send Padmé an update of what’s been going on." I smiled, "Unless you had other plans." We had time to just hang out, the sensor indicated Bibbile might still even be asleep. I liked using vacation time for at least some relaxation. “

He glanced thoughtfully at the strawberries, the cream and the honey that we hadn't touched yet from breakfast. He slowly looked me up and down. "A plan is forming even as we speak," he promised with a grin.

TBC

Read Cpt Typho's blog for his POV

Breakfast

2006-10-05T00:42:00.000-06:00

“Are they still in the area, or have they moved on?” Dante asked. “Are they traveling separately or together?”

"That's interesting," I said, more of an out loud thought than a statement. "She looks like she's traveling towards the mountains. Didn't you mention she had been staying out there somewhere?" I asked him.

He nodded. "I found out in a round about way. Her family was issued cash after the hurricane. Most people don't realize that transactions made with that cash is being tracked the same way vouchers are. A number is assigned to each family. Most of the money granted to her family was used in the Kaadara area within six weeks of the hurricane. Months pass then bingo! Purchases are made in Theed in a maternity store. Days later there are purchases of hunting equipment and cold weather gear made in a sporting goods store in rural Dee'Ja Peak. Finally, home improvement supplies were purchased in the same area -- paint, furniture, that sort of thing."
Hea leaned in and looked at the map again, "Why did they split up so quickly after the party," he muttered to himself.

"That was ballsy, buying maternity clothes in Theed. Do you think she bought the hunting equipment and cold weather gear for herself or Bibble?" I absently stirred my tea, "So we think she bought the equipment for herself or for someone else." I looked at where he indicated in the Dee'ja Peak region. "I think I know that area, it has old hunting cabins from 100's of years ago. Now they're mainly used in the summer and tend to be owned by the older families in the Dee'ja Peak area. Bibble's family might own one.

Dante shrugged. "Dormé's not the brightest thing out there. She probably thought she was being smart by not using her own credit line or Bibble's. For that matter, Governor Bibble is either not too bright either and he was never briefed on the allocation and tracking of relief funds, or he doesn't know she's jeopardizing their secrecy."

I sipped my tea and took a bite of the toast, listening to him speak. He seemed alright, not unhappy, not overly stressed. I guessed he figured out what was bothering him so much last night.

"He probably doesn't know. I still don't know how those two came together in the first place." I put down my tea cup and watched Dorme disappear off the edge of the map. I wasn't worried, we had a very good idea of where she was going. "Well, they aren't a public couple, and Bibble most likely had things to attend to today. He'll probably follow her later in the day. It would look odd, the two of them traveling together, especially since she isn't hiding her pregnancy." I frowned a bit; Dorme was wearing clothing that would accentuate the pregnancy as much as possible. That pissed me off to no end, particularly since she was blaming Dante.

"I think we should follow Dorme, set up surveillance, and see if we catch anything."

TBC

Read Cpt Typho's POV here

Be Who You Want

2006-10-01T20:58:00.000-06:00

"You sounded like you had our lives planned out. This is something you've been thinking about? If not, you really had me going there for a bit. You have a fine career ahead of you as a holovid actress in the unlikely event you ever choose to leave the military," he said, chuckling softly.

"Somehow I think I'd have even less time as an actress for a life. And I don't have our lives planned out, we only got back together recently. But I do know that I want more than one child. I said that stuff about a second baby to get a reaction out of you. Too bad you had the mask on at the time," I said with a laugh. "I try not to plan too far in advance, we live such fluid lives, it makes planning hard and at times, a bit pointless."

I stretched some, my back was so happy to get out of that outfit. My hair would be back to normal sooner than later, so would my eyes. "But I guess this is as good a time as any. Do you even want kids? I remember what you wanted 4 plus years ago, but that might have changed." I tilted my head back to look at him. "And even if I do manage to get out of the Navy, would you leave your job with Padme?" I rested the side of my face against his chest, feeling my eyelids get just a bit heavier.

"Being with you down the road is dependent on me leaving my job?" he said, a bit surprised.

"Well, I was referring to having kids, I'm not doing that alone. But down the road, I don't want to be on Naboo while you're on Coruscant, that wouldn't work, I'd get lonely."

"As much as I know you'll be a great mom... I have doubts about my ability to hold up my end of the bargain," he said quietly, looking down at me. "I don't know if I'd be a decent father, Jardena. I wouldn't want to let you – you and our kid -- down that way," he continued. "I know what it's like to be let down that way."

I listened to his concerns. "I want kids, and I have no concerns about your abilities to be a dad. I won't and don't expect you to be perfect at it, no ever is. But I think you are limiting yourself by assuming you'll be the same as your father. This is your life and parenting styles aren't genetic. There are places that teach classes on parenting styles and techniques, so you aren't stuck with the one you grew up with. And anyways, your mom was great, just use what she did that you liked." I shifted some, "I'm not making light of your concerns, but to me they aren't something I worry about with you."

I looked up at him, "Dante, this is so far off in the future I don't think it's worth worrying about right now. You are the master of your own destiny. You can either take control of it and be what you want, or just stand back and be swept along. And we've been here long enough that the heat is starting to make me dizzy. I'm going to take a quick shower then head to bed." I leaned over and gave him a kiss. He kissed me back but said nothing.

Later that night he woke up, and from the abruptness of it, probably from a dream. I felt him get out of bed and heard him get dressed and leave. While not a good sign, I realized I should let him have some alone time.

~~~~~~~~~~

Over breakfast, he was eager to get started. We'd ordered food to the room so we could work while we ate. I spread out a flimsy that was a grid. Over the grid I super imposed a map of the area. Then I activated the tracker. Bibble instantly came up, he was still at the Manor. But Dorme wasn't on the grid. I pulled the view back, incorporating more of the area into the grid. On the very edge was Dorme's signal.

“Are they still in the area, or have they moved on?” Dante asked. “Are they traveling separately or together?”

TBC

read Cpt Typho's POV here

Just Pretend to Be Somone Else

2006-09-28T23:16:00.001-06:00

Dante hesitated. "She'll know it's me. I don't know if I can pull this off."

I looked at him, "No, she won't, don't be yourself. Be..." I paused for a moment, "Be how you imagine Mal, be Bail, be a character, but don't be you. I think it's a simple court dance with limited interaction. Enough to do what we need and not so complicated that you can't remember this."

His body language said skeptical. "Ok, how about I bump into her, maybe do what the Vir Vur did for a bit, will that work better for you?" It then occurred to me that the Vir Vur might have been doing the same thing we were. Hmm, I'll have to use the deactivator on both of us when we get back.

I could do a greet-n-go, now that we had an idea of what we were looking for it'd not be too hard. My back was starting to kill me. This experience was not warming me to the idea of having babies. Maybe a dog, much easier, no diapers.... Yeah, I'm thinking a dog. I looked at Dante to see which he wanted to do.

He shook his head and headed out to where she was, taking her onto the dance floor. I'll admit to a certain pang of jealous. While I don't doubt his word about nothing happening between them, right now he was dancing with her and not me. Hmph. And he did rather well, both in dancing and placing the powder. Dorme seemed distracted most of the dance, but I wasn't tall enough to see who she was watching.

"You don't know how hard it was not to throttle her," Dante said, his voice strained, his hands balling into fists at his side. I slipped my hands into his. "We can leave now if you want, we don't have to stay any longer." I squeezed his hands. "We could go back, take a warm bath, relax, not worry about anything for a little bit." I realized how hard that must have been for him to not say anything to her.

"We'll do that," he said, "but before we do…" He then bowed, held out his hand and asked me to dance.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Back at the hotel, I actually got my hot bath. My back was still sore and fussy, but much better now in the hot water and without the pregnancy belly.

"Hey, you," he eventually said. "You had quite a lot to say on the subject of babies tonight. How much of that was you messing with me, and how much was real?"

I thought about that for a moment. "Most of it was messing with you. You seemed like you were trying to start something, so I figured I'd give you a hard time. I still don't like the name Riani, though," I said teasingly.

TBC

Read Cpt Typho's POV here

What's In A Name?

2006-09-26T23:27:00.000-06:00

"'Niya'?" Dante asked incredulously.

"What's wrong with Niya? Anyways, I think Riani sounds too much like my middle name. And Akira? Bleh," I made a dismissive motion of my hand. I wasn't sure if the gallery owner might still be watching, so I was trying to keep up the charade. That and I didn't like Dante's name choices, at least not the girl's name.

"Niya is too much like my mother's name," I said. "I chose Riani because it's like your middle name. And Akira is a kick-ass name for a boy! You have a better suggestion for our son?"

I opened my mouth to argue the Akira, but then closed it. "Ok, Akira is fine, so long as I get to pick the middle name." "Am I allowed to make suggestions?" Dante asked.

The belly was actually starting to hurt my back, it was mostly solid except for where I'd made a little place for my voorpak, who, I might add, was now snoozing in my sleeve. I put my hand on my lower back and rubbed it a bit. "I don't like Riani, maybe as a middle name, but not as a first name. What about Indira, I really like that name."

"Indira Typho is an awfully snooty name," he replied. "But I suppose if we had a daughter she'd be a pampered little princess. I wouldn't deny her anything, so it's probably fitting." He wrapped his arms around me which allowed me to lean into him and take some weight off my back.

"I'm the one who physically has to give birth here, I think I should get to name the baby." My brother’s wife had used that argument when they had their first kid, I wanted to see how it’d play here. The movement in my eye range indicated no one was lingering near us, or at least not with body language that would suggest that they were listening.

"That is so sexist," I said, knowing she would find that label irritating. "It's 'our' baby, not 'your' baby. What, after I get you pregnant I have no further say in anything?"

All of my good will towards his boy's name dissolved. "What? How is that sexist? I have to actually bear the child and then nurse her, I think that qualifies me the right to name her. You help with 'our' baby and you can name the next one." Man, it was hard to say that without a smile in my voice. I wanted to see his reaction, he was an only child and I didn't know what he thought of multiple children. "And you get plenty of say such as how to paint the baby's room, what type of speeder we should get, In fact, I'll even let you insist that your Mom come help us when the baby is born instead of mine." That fake belly definitely made me feel a bit feisty.

As we gave each other a hard time, someone walked behind me. Moments later, the smell of that person registered in my senses as a somewhat familiar scent. I paused and turned a bit, watching the woman fade into the crowd. I moved in close to Dante, trying to get as close to him as I could, then whispered, "That woman smells a lot like Corde did." It's weird the memories a smell can trigger.

Then the woman who's scent called Corde's face to my mind passed behind me. "Dammit," Dante muttered, moving after her some. "Did you even get a glimpse of her outfit color," I asked, following him.

"Blue, white and pale green," he said. "It's not much to go on, but my instincts are saying it's got to be her.”

The woman had headed towards the dancing. Since I'd decided to go to the event as a pregnant woman, I'd not tried to dance at all, I figured it'd look a bit odd, a pregnant woman dancing with a variety of men. I figured if I were lucky Dante would want to try one dance. We'd identified Bibble earlier, and, in a lovely coordination of movements, had tagged him with the dust with no one noticing. But we'd not seen Dorme. This could be our one chance. "Do you think you could get close enough to her," I asked him. "See if you can get her to dance with you," I whispered into the comlink in my mask.

Dante hesitated. "She'll know it's me. I don't know if I can pull this off."

TBC

read Cpt. Typho's POV here

The People You Might Meet

2006-09-24T22:31:00.000-06:00

(feel like you missed something? It's becuase I double posted. Bad manners, I know. Here's what you missed)

I leaned in close to Dante, "I feel very out of place here."

Dante was having an easier time blending in, I was having a so so time blending with the masses. People did give me a wide berth and were very polite, but my belly was also the object of intense focus. I hadn't counted on that. Fortunately, my 'baby' was still sleeping. Maybe I should take her out and carry her in my sleeve. I think I'll do that when I take a bathroom break.

Dante had been moving through the crowd a bit like a leaf on the current of water, seemingly without direction, but actually following certain patterns. I'm thinking he had an idea of what to look for, which was great, seeing that I had no clue. The costumes people wore ranged from simple to amazing works of art. One woman had a dress whose panels depicted Theed at sunset, and due to the weave of the fabric, when she moved, the scene seemed to either brighten or dim. She had a cascade of blue bead strands flowing down from her head to almost the ground to represent that waterfalls.

Dante had slowly made his way back towards me when a young man came bounding up to Dante, very intent on talking with him. And very convinced Dante was someone else. He handed Dante a drink. The he turned to me" And this one is for you, Tascina," he said to me, "but I will consume it on your behalf." He took a long swallow then started back up again.

"So tell me – boy or girl? What names have you chosen?" He looked intently at the two of us. Oh crud, I hadn't decided on that. I waited a bit to see if Dante would answer, then decided to do so, " A girl," I replied. And of course, almost at the same time, Dante replied "A boy." The man looked a bit confused, and I kept talking, "Actually, we don't know, it's going to be a surprise. We just, obviously, have different opinions on what the child is."

The man was still very intent on us. "Well, what about names, you have to have thought of some names," he insisted. "Niya is it's a girl and," I started to say the name Trefyn for a boy, but Dante interrupted with his suggestion.

"Riani," he said, interrupting. "Riani if it's a girl. Akira if it's a boy."

"Well, which is it," the man persisted, "I rather like Kai's choice better." Great, this guy is going to start an argument between us over an imaginary baby's name. Sure, why not, real expecting parents do that, right?

"I like my choice too," Dante said. "The wife and I are still battling over this, if you know what I mean. Do you mind if we catch up with you later?"

Thankfully he took the hint. After insisting to me that we must attend his party next week in Keren for his gallery opening, he departed.

"'Niya'?" Dante asked incredulously.

TBC

Read Cpt Typho's POV here

Out Of Place

2006-09-24T20:54:00.000-06:00

"Are you ready?" Dante asked.

"As ready as I'll ever be." I put the cloak on, which made me look like a big bell, raised the hood to cover my hair, and followed him out.

"Did you bring that composite gun with you?" he asked curiously. "'Cause Queen Jamillia will be at this function. Security will be extra tight. There are also some people making a documentary of the Chancellor who will be filming this. They were very disappointed that the Chancellor won't be here, but there is a war going on after all. Nevertheless, some people are hoping he'll put in a surprise appearance."

"Yes, I brought the gun, though it's still in it's pieces. And I'm not too worried about getting it past security. This thing is pretty exotic and made of a composite material that's not really found anywhere but some outer rim worlds. The gun was a gift from another officer, a friend from the Academy, who is really into unusual and exotic weapons."

I watched all the intel he had. It gave me a basic idea of what the layout was, which was helpful. I downloaded all the aerial pictures into my little computer so I could call them up if needed. "I've not met Queen Jamilla. Is she nice?"

"Honestly, I think she's a bit cold," he replied. "She's not like Padme -- she doesn't relate well to people outside of Naboo royalty."

I flipped through a few more files, downloading the ones I might be able to use. "I hope the Chancellor doesn't show up, that guy still gives me the creeps, sorry." That feeling, one that Eirtae and I had both felt, was part of what got me shipped off to the Academy, I think. I was always told to keep it to myself. But the guy gives me the creeps, and there is nothing that will change that.

"I've been around him many times, since he keeps close contact with the Naboo delegation," he said. "He gives off absolutely nothing. He's very difficult to read.”

"Hey, look at that. Peko-pekos!" he said. "I didn't know they had them in Moenia."

I watched the 3 birds and hoped we'd have good luck. "Maybe that means we'll get all the info we need tonight," I suggested optimistically

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The building loomed up in front of us as we rounded the never ending drive way. It was very ornate, a bit overly ornate in my opinion, but I kept my mouth shut. "Wow," I said, fully appreciating how big the set up was. It was a lot of ground to cover. We'd both put our masks on a few km before the entrance, just in case their were cameras along the road. At a check point we presented our invitees, our speeder was scanned, and we were motioned through to the entrance. I looked over at Dante, "Ready for all of this?" I asked, my voice sounding foreign in the mask.

He smiled and gave me a thumbs up, which made me smile and relax.

“Hardly a Gungan to be seen," he remarked quietly. There was a crackle of thunder and the drizzle picked up and became a light downpour. We ducked under a canopy to avoid getting wet. It was chilly outside. Up in Dee'ja Peak they were probably getting their first snowfall. "Should we go inside, look around out here, or split up?" he asked, looking towards me.

Looking up at the huge entrance, my grip involuntarily tighten on his hand. I looked over at him, "Let's stick together for right now, we should be fine so long as we don't lose sight of who we are." Essentially, remember our cover from here on out. And it was extensive cover, though the trick is always to give as little information as the situation allows.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Security was tight, but as I'd expected, they missed the gun. My other little plan also worked. I had a feeling that might also do a life form scan, pretty much to prevent people from pretending to be pregnant. I'd just adopted an older sleepy voorpak who was super sweet and carried her in my outfit. The machines usually never identify the other life form. I nodded my head as I was motioned through.

We walked into the main ballroom, it was already mostly filled. Looking around us, it was a sea of masks. While I might be able to make out Bibble, finding Dorme would be very hard. I'd have to let Dante do that, he was more familiar with her than I was. I leaned in close to Dante, "I feel very out of place here."

TBC

read Cpt. Typho's POV here

Differing on Costume Choice

2006-09-23T16:16:00.000-06:00

His reaction was not what I would ever term as good or positive. But at least he didn’t scream or pass out. But he did recoil.

I rolled my eyes at him. "You didn't like any of the other dresses. And it occured to me that people might mistake me for Padme since she was invited. I needed to do something that would keep people from mistaking me for her. Anyways, you know how Naboo upper class is about pregnant ladies, they tend to not hassle them too much." Despite saying that, I was feeling both self-conscious and annoyed at the same time. It was a pretty dress and no one was going to recognize or pay too much attention to me. And it's not like I'm actually pregnant.

After a minute or so and he still hadn't said anything, I gave him a dubious glance. "Dante, get over it, it's a disguise, it's not like I'm actually pregnant. No one is going to know either of us, so it's not like you'll have more rumors to deal with. And the outfit is only for the party. Are you really that adverse to pregnant ladies?"

He blushed. "No, of course not," he managed. "And you're right – no one'll mistake you for Padme now."

"Uh, you said on the way over that you were going to incorporate some surveillance equipment into my outfit? Let's get that done," he offered. "Have you already incorporated some of your gear into your costume?”

"Are you planning to use the tracing powder you showed me on Bibble? Or were you thinking of something else?" he asked.

I took his mask and inserted a small camera and recording device amongst the decorations it. Then I handed him one of the small bead communicators to wear. Once that was done I put the mask down and focused on placing equipment in mine. I spoke as I worked. "I figured we could both carry the small pellets, and they are small. We don't want the powder to be inhaled anyone else, that makes tracking a lot harder. The small gray disk in the box with the pellets will disable the tracking properties of the powder. It's harmless, but there is no reason to have it active any longer than needed."

On the inside of my mask, I placed a thick piece of transparent film on both of the eye covers of the mask. They'd act as a HUD, providing me information on the environment, my equipment and anything Dante might pick up on his camera. I then inserted a small bead communicator. Dante looked nervous and I wasn't quite sure why. This should be a fairly safe mission, low probability of getting shot or shot at and low probability of detection. From what I'd heard in town, it was going to be a huge party.

"Dante, we don't have to attend this if you don't want to, we could focus our attention on where she's living." I was trying not to use the subjects names, just in case.

I held the mask up to my face to see if the readout was working. Thankfully it was, this stuff can be hit or miss at times. "Given your reaction, perhaps we should arrive at separate times in separate vehicles." I'd bought a cloak to wear that pretty much disguised the belly, that way staff at the place we were staying wouldn't get too weirded out my sudden girth. I was still a bit bothered by Dante's reaction and it occurred to me that I hadn't figured out his recent stand on kids. It'd probably be a good one to figure out.

"We're going together, or we're not doing this at all,” he declared. He looked at me with a slight smile, "You're evil, you know that? In light of the fact that you know I'm not happy about what Dorme's doing to me, you could have come up with something else."

"Actually, I did put that into consideration. In light of what Dorme is doing to you, do you think anyone would expect you to show up with a pregnant woman?"He stood up. "Are you ready to go?" he asked, holding out his hand.

"As ready as I'll ever be." I put the cloak on, which made me look like a big bell, raised the hood to cover my hair, and followed him out.

TBC

read Cpt. Typho's reaction here

A Different Take On Things

2006-09-21T18:30:00.000-06:00

I stepped out of the room and asked Dante for his opinion.

"Uh… Isn't that a little revealing?" he asked skeptically. Ow, my ego, I thought it looked fine. "It's ah… nice, very nice," he continued, trying to recover his comment.

My hopes that I might have found something that worked died quickly with Dante's response. I turned and went back into the changing room, took off the dress and put my street clothes back on; I was going to have to think of something different.

When I came out, I realized that Dante was bored beyond reason. "Why don't you go back to the room, get all our stuff ready and then I'll meet you back there. I have a few more stores to try and there's no reason to drag you along. Anyways, that way you can get ready and we won't have to fight over bathroom space."

I actually had a plan, but I had the very distinct feeling that it would really weird out Dante. I'd given up on slinky or sexy dresses, I wasn't pulling them off as well as I thought I might. My plan now was to head in an opposite direction. I'd moved from thinking of it as a costume to thinking of it as a disguise. After 2 hours of searching, I'd found and bought everything that I'd need. It’s not what I thought I’d go to a ball in, but duty first, I suppose.

I returned to the hotel to find Dante dressed and pretty much ready. He smiled as I entered, "Found something you liked?"

"I found something that will work," I replied. "And in the end, that's the most important thing. But I think I'm going to have to lighten my hair color a bit, though the stuff I have will wash out." I put my stuff in the bathroom, started a shower, and left him watching sports on the holonet. I was starting to get a bit nervous about his reaction to the outfit.

I put the dye in, took a quick shower, dried and set my hair, then got dressed. The color made my hair a light golden brown, which wasn't bad, it just wasn't what I liked normally. I placed green eye dye over my irises, which turned my brown eyes into a pretty green. And I hate to admit this, but all of my disguise techniques came from my clones and one ARC Trooper. I put on a bit of makeup, took out the curlers, and sprayed my hair into submission. I didn't even think of attempting a Padme style hairdo, I didn't have the time nor the desire to use that much hair spray. I'd never be able to go near a candle if I did.

(see, I've done blond-ish before)

I looked at myself in the mirror before I went out. Wow, very different, very light, very pregnant. I'd gotten a pregnancy belly and a gown that would show that off. The gown covered pretty much everything, had long slightly belled sleeves, and very pretty light blue lace that was the detail work.

I peered out a small opening in the door. "Ok, you have to promise you aren't going to freak out when I leave the bathroom," I said to Dante. Actually, the way I said it sounded a bit more like an order. That's not going to make him nervous or anything. He shouldn’t have said anything bad about the chain dress.

"I promise," he said. "Come on out, love."

His reaction was not what I would ever term as good or positive. But at least he didn’t scream or pass out.

tbc

see Cpt. Typho's reaction here

Difference of Opinion

2006-09-20T19:16:00.000-06:00

We arrived in Moenia with no fanfare, which is what we wanted. The city is pretty, but feels a bit artificial. I guess it’s because the rest of Naboo has a very worn and lived in feeling to it. Many of the buildings mimic those found in the older parts of Naboo.

Once in our hotel room, Dante absently went through some of our things, then asked, "Do you think it would be valuable to scout out the area by the Chancellor's retreat ahead of time? Or would that interfere with getting the costumes we need to get into this party?"

Ugh, shopping, and not only that, but last minute shopping.

“Oh, by the way, are you confident we’ll be able to sneak weapons into this affair without getting busted?” he asked.

“I guess we could, though security is probably pretty decent,” I replied. “I'm willing to bet, though, we could get pretty good aerial pictures of it in town. It is the biggest and poshest house in town and people love to take images of things like that.” Using preexisting images would save us a lot of time, but there was always the possibility that they could be flawed. We would just have to deal with using someone else’s data.

Dante made an unhappy grunt.

“As for the costume, I was just going to get a pretty gown and a nice mask, so as not to stand out too much. Were you thinking costume or just mask? And we'll have to think of something that incorporates your eye patch, that is pretty distinct,” I continued, ignoring his displeasure with no gathering intel.

“You pick something for me, I trust your judgment. I don’t care about the costume, as long as it’s nothing effeminate,” he said, sounding a bit wary.

“As for weapons, I have a composite gun that breaks down into pieces that I bring. I've gotten it past Senate security, so I figure I can get it through the party security.” I gave him a broad smile. It was one of my favorite weapons, it had been a gift from an officer friend who was very into exotic weapons.

“Oh, yeah? Well you won’t be doing that again, miss,” he said, sounding serious.
I gave him a dirty look, “You're just jealous because I figured out how to do that and you haven't.” I was feeling a bit bratty so to emphasize just how mature I am, I stuck my tongue out at him.

I placed the more important pieces of equipment in the room safe, then turned to him, “We should probably get started on finding costume. Are you ready for a lot of shopping?”
He groaned. “Let’s get this started,” he said, grabbing the keys to the rented speeder.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Despite the prepackaged look of the town, there were some excellent stores there. Yes, I know, if you really want to be posh, you don't buy off the rack, you have things designed for you. But I'm not rich beyond reason so prete-a-porte is fine by me. We actually found a nice gentleman's tunic, nothing too effeminate, a bit lavish but not ridiculous looking.

The mask store actually offered masks with and modification I had been thinking about doing myself. Apparently the height of mask fashion was to have covered eyes. The lens could lay flat or be convex, blocking the eyes from view but allowing the wearer to see with a full range, depending on the lens type. This would be a saving grace for both of us. We each selected a mask with an animal theme, they seemed popular, which also meant that they'd be in abundance at the event.

After some time we came across a store that had several possibilities for me. My favorite amongst the group was a dress that could be best described as made of fine golden colored chains that were draped like fabric. It was a bit flashy but would completely foul up most weapons detection devices. I was torn, a bit more revealing than I normally chose, but great for the technical aspects of a mission.

I stepped out of the room and asked Dante for his opinion.

TBC

read Cpt Typho's POV here

Guess What Today Is?

2006-09-18T23:52:00.000-06:00

That's right, boys and girls, it's National Speak Like A Pirate Day, a day that encourages people to use questionable grammar and proves that pretty much anything can have a day dedicated to it.

So go, be piratey, embrace your piratatude, bust out your corset and peg legs. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm all laced up and have a man with an eye patch to see.

Clone PSA: Amidala's Wardrobe

2006-09-17T20:29:00.000-06:00

Today’s PSA is once again a warning about clothing. But today it focuses on the ladies. Senator Amidala has been a fashion trend setter since she was the tender age of 14. She combines both tradition and fashion sense to have beautiful pieces created for her to wear. But the Senator and former Queen can pull off these outfits because a ) she has an awesome body b) she’s really hot and c) the outfits are designed for her. Today’s warning is for all women who don’t look like Senator Amidala in both face and body to avoid her particular fashion pursuits. See the below reasons as why only certain women should try said fashion.

And just to cover all bases, ladies, don’t try sporting the same style as Bail Organa’s aide, Sheltay Retrac. Chances are very good that you don’t posses the amazing genetics required to wear what she does. The woman just had a baby a couple months ago and she can wear form fitting white. And somewhere in there she has a gun. Trust us, the men in white, that fashion trails blazed by Amidala and Sheltay are only for a select few and goodness knows on the wrong person some of those outfits could ruin a good date.

This has been a Clone PSA, we hope it has been informitive. Any and all hate mail regarding this topic should be sent to the Lt. Cmdr's Intern. And yes, when threatened by large unruly headresses, we will shoot to kill.

What Do You Want?

2006-09-07T10:13:00.000-06:00

I’m thinking ‘I don’t know’ isn’t an acceptable answer for this question.

It was a hard question to answer. "Right now I just want a nice safe comfortable relationship that isn't stressful. I just want to want to be trusted and I want to be able to trust you. And I assumed we had a relationship, dysfunctional as it may be. If we don't have one, you get to sleep in your own bed tonight by your lonesome." I thought about it a bit more, "To be honest, I can't really tell you more than that, things have been pretty hectic recently and that makes it hard question to answer." I hoped I hadn't hurt his feelings, but that's what I wanted and what I thought.

"What about you, what do you want out of all of this and out of me?"

"I thought about this a lot after the first time you asked me," he said. "And like you, trust is important to me. I sometimes feel like I'm walking on eggshells with you and you're waiting for me to do something wrong. I feel like I can't make a mistake. I feel like I have to be perfect around you, and I'm not a perfect man. I may not even be the right man for you. When I'm stressed out thinking like that, that's when something is going to go wrong." Wow, am I that demanding, I wondered, I didn’t think so, but I am a biased perspective.

He gave me a serious look. "I know where the trust issues stem from for you. But I want to be forgiven for breaking our engagement, Jardena. It's done. I can't fix the past. Even proposing to you again wouldn't negate having broken things off before. If we can't get past that, we're going nowhere."

I had a response ready, “I don't expect you to be perfect, just honest. And I think the trust issue stems from breakup, but in a different way than you think. I've gotten over the break up, and to be perfectly honest, I don't think I was anywhere near ready to get married. But despite that acceptance, the end of our engagement left me with the feeling that I wasn't your first choice. That's what I'm mostly over, it just lingers a bit when dealing with certain women." I smiled a bit, I am trying to bring up Siri.

"As for fun and exciting, that's fine, as long as you don't qualify a few days ago as fun and exciting. When I say comfortable and safe, what I want is a person who I know I can go to and not have to worry about what he thinks of me; just to be able to know that he loves and cares for me."

"You said you want comfortable and safe? Well, I can compromise and settle for comfortable and safe, but I'd prefer fun and exciting," he said. "Maybe it can only be like that when you're first getting to know someone, but I'd like to believe we could have that again." I can do fun and exciting, but getting shot at definitely makes a person appreciate calm.

"Oh, and one more thing," he said, getting up and crossing the room tosit on her bed next to me. "I like holding you close, I love kissing you, and I want to make love to you every chance I get, 'cause you are so damn sexy. So, no, I'm not sleeping on my side of the room tonight." The back of my neck got warm as a I blushed.

He flashed what I think was meant to be an innocent look. "Besides, like I told you the first night, there's a draft in my corner of the room. You wouldn't want mecatching a cold, would you? Then you'd have to take care of me and nurse me back to health and that's a lot of work. I'm a very demanding patient. So when I crawl under the covers with you, I'm doing it for your benefit."

I laughed and rolled my eyes when he protested sleeping alone. "I think it's a bit odd that we ended up in a drafty space ship cabin." And just to tease him a bit more, "And I did offer to try to find and fix the issue. But," I sighed dramatically, "I guess you'll just have to sleep over here since I can't do this mission by myself."

TBC

read Cpt. Typho's POV here

What Do I Want?

2006-09-05T18:34:00.000-06:00

continued from here

I looked at him a bit closer, "Were you expecting a different question?"

"Yes, I was," he said, "but I'll answer your other question first. You asked if I'm sure I wouldn't go back to her? Yes, I'm sure. I don't gowhere I'm not wanted or needed. It's that simple." He looked down at his hands as he spread them on his lap.

"You keep saying 'relationship.' It's not a relationship if only one person thinks it is. That's how it was with her. I was doing all these things and she found it all very amusing. She's very..." he paused, searching for the right words, his face a variety of emotions, I think I saw both anger and a slightly wistful look mixed in there.

"She is who she is. I couldn't will her into being who I wanted her to be. Stupid of me to even try,” he eventually said.. "Yes, I'm done with her."

"Too much info?" he said with a shy smile.

I smiled and decided to let the Siri matter go. It was obvious it was a topic he really disliked discussing with me. The problem was that I wasn't entirely sure it was the truth. I didn't think he was lying to me, and he might have believed what he said. But I also think that beautiful elusive Jedi are hard to get out of a person's system. My best hope was that she wouldn't reappear in his life. And why are there all these rule breaking Jedi? Do any of them actually honor their vows to their Order? Still, the feeling that'd I'd always be his second choice lingered.

"I thought you were going to ask me something else, so since you didn't ask me, I'll ask you," he went on, not pausing much after his statement about Siri. "What is it that you want from our relationship, Jardena? From me? That assumes that we have a relationship. That assumes that you want me.”

I’m thinking ‘I don’t know’ isn’t an acceptable answer for this question.

TBC

read Cpt. Typho's POV here

Me and My Questions

2006-09-04T19:13:00.000-06:00

continued from here

I paused at the door and smiled. I considered leaving it at that, but decided to employ the age old military response. "I can neither conform or deny any involvement in the happenings at 500 Republica 24 hours ago." And with that I headed off to get some food.

~~~~

"You know," I said, two days into the trip, "A masquerade is much more about the masks, how pretty they are, that they are worn, than they are about the over all costume. If we could just find something nice to wear and a mask, we'll be set." I looked over at him, he was still working on his guitar. We'd spent a lot of time in our cabin. I'd wanted the chance to get some much needed sleep, and to be honest, it was best to keep our profile as low as possible. Not all that many people on Coruscant remembered Big Brother: Naboo, but plenty of people from Naboo did.

I propped my head up on my hand. I'd finally gotten up the courage to ask something I'd wanted to ask the whole trip. "Can I ask a question that might ruin the mood for the rest of the trip.

“Yes,” he replied, looking like he was comfortable with me asking.

"Have you gotten over Siri? Or do you still have feelings for her or..." I trailed off, you would have never known I'd really given the question and its wording some thought. "Would you go back to her if she reappeared in your life?" Wait, my gut said, I really don't think I want the honest answer to that. Oh well, too late now.

His face said that he hadn’t been expecting that question. "What?? No." he replied quickly.
Then just as quickly, he elaborated some, "I mean, 'No, I wouldn't go back to her,' not, 'No, I'm not over her.'"

"That's been bothering you this whole time?" he asked, a look of disbelief on his face.

"Are you sure you're over her? And it's not a silly question, your relationship obviously ended rather suddenly and with very little closure. When relationships like that end, sometimes people take a long time to recover from that kind of ending," I said. "And yes, that's been kinda what's been bothering me." Well that among other things, I could deal with the other issues once this one was resolved.

I looked at him a bit closer, "Were you expecting a different question?"

TBC

Read Cpt. Typho's POV here

Getting Kind of Hungry

2006-09-03T15:30:00.000-06:00

continued from here

"So, when you arranged for rooms, was this really the only one left or were you being optimistic," I asked teasingly. While the room had two separate beds that could be isolated from the room and the other traveler, it was still pretty cozy.

He just smiled at me. Ahh, gotcha. Actually, even if I had still been mad at him, sharing a cabin with someone you know is much better than a complete stranger. I decided to not pursue my question about the it further, it's not liked I walked into a suite with one queen sized bed. My gut feeling was to trust him, and though my brain argued otherwise, I felt comfortable with him.

"After the party, we head to Dee'ja Peak to check out Dorme, right? You do know that it's pretty close to winter right now, right? How are you at cold weather camping?" I was trying to get the camping question in gently, just to see his reaction. It was never really something he wanted to do, but I believed would be necessary. "I'm fine with it," he replied evenly. "I'm sure Dormé will be at the masquerade thing with Bibble. We won't even have to go to Dee'Ja Peak to find out what we need to know," he said dismissively.

"So show me some of this gear you brought," he asked, changing the subject.

I smiled, made sure the door was locked and then pulled out my case with all the electronics. Granted most of it was in various hidey holes, both other things were in with bits of clothing and whatnot. I produced several listening devices of various shapes and sizes, my personal slicing deck, jamming devices, my equipment array glasses that I was updating, I was almost to the point where I could control most of my equipment through eye commands to the sensors in the glasses. Those took some getting used to, lots of small flashing lights are very distracting. "I also have a small spy droid in my other case, but I don't want to activate it here."

I handed him a small bead listening device that slipped right into the ear. It could transmit as well as receive. I'd also brought two things that the a friend in the Special Operations Brigade was all giddy over. It was a tracking powder put into pellet form which could be fired at a target who would then inhale it. The powder and its carrier could be tracked and observed from a far distance. Not that I thought we'd need it, but just in case.

"Say, who's taking care of your pets while you're away?" he asked out of the blue. "I have an automatic feeding and watering system that makes sure they're fed. If I'm gone too long, Tak will probably check in on things." I didn't mention that Mal could as well, no need to bring him up. I looked at my things, "Not to be an anti-social traveler, but with all this kit, one of us should probably be in the cabin at all times. It's a 3 day flight, right?"

Then another thought struck me, "You do remember how to do court dancing, don't you." I could help the curious grin that followed.

He made a face. "No, I don't remember. I don't want to remember," he said emphatically. That was a bit disappointing, I liked court dancing, it’d always been a lot of fun. "Well, if you aren't going to dance, then you can hang out along the sides and watch people, maybe I'll even incorporate some surveillance equipment into your outfit. I, on the other hand, intend to dance. I've always liked court dancing," I stuck my tongue out at him. "I have to admit, as much fun as this could be, it'd be nicer if we didn't have to be armed, armored or bugged. I'd like to go out and not worry about who's watching me or listening to me, just be an insignificant person. That'd be nice."

"If you show me some of these dances and refresh my memory, maybe I'll dance with you," he said. "I don't want to spend the whole night watching other people interacting. That's 90% of what I do on my job." True, I’d never thought of his job that way.

I looked at my watch, then acknowledged my hungry stomach. "I don't know about you, but I'm super hungry. No breakfast due to power outage." I shrugged innocently. "Do you want me to grab you something while I'm there or do you want to get food?"

"Can you pick me up something?" he asked. "I'll stay here with the gear this time and go on the next food run." As I was about to leave he finally asked what I’d been waiting for, "That blackout in the building... that was you, right?” He had a curious look on his face.

I paused at the door and smiled. I considered leaving it at that, but then decided to employ the age old military response. "I can neither conform nor deny any involvement in the happenings at 500 Republica 24 hours ago."

And with that I headed off to get some food.

TBC

read Cpt. Typho's POV here

Where To Start

2006-09-01T17:39:00.000-06:00

continued from here

"So where are we going to start with Dorme and Bibble," I asked. Dante had a much better understanding of what was happening on Naboo. I threaded my fingers through his, we'd eventually have to talk, but right now, this state of happy-content worked.

"I have it on good authority that Bibble is going to be in the Moenia area," he replied. "Word has it that he's going to be inspecting the progress of the retreat the Chancellor is building outside the city. A huge function is planned – a masquerade ball, in fact. Everyone who's anyone will be there. Except, ironically, the Chancellor." He shrugged.

"Now, Dorme was a little harder to track. Her family lives in Kaadara, but I have a reliable source that says she may be living in the mountains in your neck of the woods – Dee'ja Peak."
I scrunched up my nose in distaste when he mentioned where Dorme was. "Well there goes the neighborhood," half jokingly. "On the positive side, at least that is terrain I know pretty well."

I rolled on to my belly and thought about the masquerade. "Do you think Dorme will go to the masquerade? If they want to be together as much as Padme overheard, this might be something they would chance. Since everyone would be wearing masks, it'd be hard to tell who was who. And it technically would not be unusual for a former handmaiden to get an invitation. Eirtae has become quite the social butterfly, why not Dorme? Well, aside from Eirtae's family having connections and money, of course."

I looked over at Dante, "When does the party happen? Soon, or do we have time to check out Dorme first?"

"I doubt it," he said. "We have about 24 hours from the time we land until this party takes place.

"Since I'm not a snob from Dee'Ja Peak, I'm not sure what these functions are like," he said, imitating my accent. "I assume one can't just show up in costumes bought at the local MegaMart. Yes? You'll probably want to go buy some things."

I rolled my eyes at him and reviewed the information he'd given me on the datapad. The room was small, it had two beds, storage for luggage, and a small bathroom. The only place to spread out our stuff and review it was either the beds or the floor, so the beds won out.

"People in Dee'ja Peak are not snobs. And if it's invitation only, we need invitations. As for costumes, nothing from MegaMart. But we also don't want the best or most noticeable costumes at the party. If it's as big as I think, people will have had their costumes handmade well in advance. Actually, what we really need are nice basic costumes and very good masks. There are probably stores in the main city that have something we could borrow." If I weren't so worried about being discovered, this could have all the makings of a very fun date.

I put down the datapad, "I have to admit, I'm surprised Padme wasn't invited to this. These type of parties are very much her thing and you'd think if they were trying to kill her, why not lure her back to Naboo.”

"Of course Padmé was invited," he replied indignantly. "It would've been a huge snub if she had been left off the list. But she's not here because she had the opportunity to spend some brief quality time with her husband, so she took it."

"However..." he reached for his bag and pulled something out.

"You asked for invitations, I've got invitations," he said, producing them with a flourish. I wondered if Padme knew he had her invites. If Anakin was with her, she probably hadn’t noticed.

I smiled at him. "Ok, one hurdle down. I think I can figure out the costumes when we get there." I paused for a moment then asked him something that had been niggling at the back of my mind. "So, when you arraigned for rooms, was this really the only one left or were you being optimistic," I asked teasingly. While the room had two separate beds that could be isolated from the room, it was still pretty cozy.

to be continued

read Cpt Typho's POV here

The Flight to Naboo

2006-08-30T23:20:00.000-06:00

continued from here

All I had to go on was the information that Dante had given me. I kind of had to guess on what to bring, there were a variety of elements to plan for, that and I hate to travel with more stuff than absolutely needed. Still, that was hard seeing that we had so little to go on, that and I had to pack listening devices into my case in such a way they would not be found.

The flight was full, I had no idea that travel to Naboo was so popular. I was a bit worried about who I might ended up in a cabin with, there were some less than savory characters boarding the flight. I found the cabin that matched my assigned number and lock accepted the key code entered. I was not expecting to open the door and find Dante. But as awkward as it was, I was also relieved. I smiled as I quickly moved into the cabin to avoid the crush of other passengers behind me. Dante was tuning his guitar, he's always been very particular about it.

I moved to store my luggage then sat down opposite him. "So I didn't get a chance to say this earlier, but I'm sorry for how things ended. I lost my temper with you and shouldn't have." I was keenly studying the lines in my palms as I spoke, I felt like I was bright pink. We'd have to debug the cabin if we wanted to talk more, though I doubted there were devices on this, our reservations were so last minute.

"Listen," he said as I kneeled in front of me and took both my hands. "I didn't handle that right. I thought I was doing the right thing. In my own stupid way, I was trying to protect you. Someone who would go to that much trouble to come between us... Who knows what they might do? I don't want anyone to hurt you, Jardena. Especially not me."

He paused, but then continued.

"I thought... Frak it, it doesn't matter now. What I want to say is... I say the wrong things and I do the wrong things. I know you've never really trusted me again since I broke off the engagement. I don't blame you for that. I wouldn't trust me either, if I were you. And what just happened with the frakking video didn't help, I know that. But you do know that I love you, don't you?"

I wasn't quite sure what to say to that. I wanted him to know that I didn't distrust him; I was just slowly working my way back up to trusting him. When I went to respond, he kissed me, and that's what we were doing when a flight attendant came around to notify us of departure. Eventually we set up a jammer and discussed the matter at hand.

"So where are we going to start with Dorme and Bibble," I asked. Dante had a much better understanding of what was happening on Naboo. I threaded my fingers through his, we'd eventually have to talk, but right now, this state of happy-content worked.

to be continued

read Cpt Typho's POV here

Free Food on Floor 501

2006-08-26T17:41:00.000-06:00

continued from here...

I looked at my neighbors before I replied, no one seemed to be paying direct attention to us. I pushed my hair behind my left ear, gently touching the ear lobe, the old 'all clear, everything is fine' signal. "As well as can be, I was in the middle of," I paused, not quite sure what to call it, "house cleaning." Well, it was kind of like house cleaning.

I took the papers from him and looked them over. "Well, the timing is excellent, I won't be expected on the base for a bit due to all of this," I said, gesturing to the power outage. I stood there, feeling terribly awkward. He now probably thinks I have some type of thing going on with one of my troopers. I tried not to fidget as I looked back at him. I was at a loss as what to say. I stared to say I was sorry for the earlier incident, but this wasn't the place, too many people watching. And I didn't think he wanted to come in, in fact, he looked like he wanted to get away. Crap, relationships shouldn't be this hard or complicated.

"Well, I don't want to interrupt your cleaning," he said, making the ‘be safe’ sign. He turned to go, then paused, "If you find a way to lock your door, there's an impromptu food fair going on in the plaza two levels up," he commented. "The restaurants are giving away food since they're afraid that it'll go bad before the power comes back online. You could go up there and get something, but the emergency stairs are packed. It could take you an hour to get up there." He paused for a moment, obviously thinking something over, then, "Well, I'll be going," he said.

When he mentioned the restaurant, it occurred to me that I'd just subjected all of my appliances to one hell of an EMP; it had affected more than we'd anticipated. Not our fault though, the building specs indicated a better quality of transperisteel and ferracrete in the materials of the building. Those should have dampened the pulse, but apparently not. Opps

As he turned to leave, I couldn't think of a good excuse in my mind to have him stay. "So I'll see you tomorrow?" I asked as he walked off. I hoped we'd be on the same flight, maybe we could talk some.

read Cpt. Typho's POV here

Lights Out And....

2006-08-23T22:07:00.000-06:00

I stood by the door that had just closed behind Tak. The only light in the apartment was that which filtered in through the windows. Through the closed door, I could hear the sounds of confusion and concern, muffled, and a bit surreal. I figured that I should change and join the crowd so I didn’t look too suspicious. A wispy tank top, while not something that would arise suspicions about causing blackouts, might cause some other gossip since Tak had just walked out the door. As I turned to go to my room, there was a knock on the door. I turned and opened it without looking to see who it was; I just figured it was Tak.

“Did you forget somethi..” I trailed off, it wasn’t Tak, it was Dante. He had something in his hand.

"No, I didn't forget anything," he said with a sigh. The he noticed I was looking at his hand, "Oh, this," he said awkwardly, "I managed to get everything booked for you before the power outage," he handed me the papers.

After more awkward silence, he spoke again. "Are you okay here?" Well, I guess that’s better than him accusing me of having something going on with a clone trooper or my C.O.

Then it occurred to me that my door lock is powered by, well, by power. I was going to have to run power from my office room through the living space to the door. Hmm, that will take some time. Crap, it’s funny the little things that you take for granted, things like door locks, tinting on your windows, water flow in these high rises. But I guess on the plus side, I don’t have to worry about getting calls in the middle of the night for a few days.
But back to what Dante was saying….

To be continued

Read Cpt. Typho’s take on it here

You're Going to Stick What Where?!?

2006-08-20T16:09:00.000-06:00

*Sigh* well it’s that time of the year again. Time to report to the base medical facility for my annual exam. Actually, the exam isn’t at all bad; the droids just run their little scanners all over you, look at the results, nod, then roll away. I’m sure if something were wrong on one of the scans lights would start flashing on them or an alarm would go off, you know, things meant to increase your anxiety over the unknown. Military people love to raise anxiety levels.

No, what I dislike is the endless amount of shots I get. I know, most are those little injection devices that leave a minimal amount of skin trauma. But after about 10 of those, it starts to get really uncomfortable. And some of the shots are regular needles which get stabbed in all manner of places.

I reported to the facility today at 0800. A nurse pointed me into an exam room, the droid did its thing, no alarms or lights, and then I was sent on to await my shots. I was given a datapad with my schedule of shots I was due. If it didn’t have my DNA signature, I would have tried to pull rank with a lower officer and get a shorter schedule, but alas, not to be achieved. Anyways, there were only guys in the waiting area. I couldn’t have given them my datapad, that would have just been plain mean.

My Shot Schedule
-MMR
-Hep Q,R, & T
-Gungan Pox vaccine
-TPV vaccine (twi’lek papilloma virus, not just for twi’leks anymore!)
-Endorian Rabies vaccine
-Bothan Allergy shot (what can I say, I’m allergic to Bothans)
-Krytos Virus vaccine (Don’t ask, I dunno what it is either)
-Wookie Flea & Tick repellent (not a shot, it’s a band you wear in your armor. I mean, have you ever seen a Wookie tick? They’re friggin’ ‘uge, mate! Like the size of your palm, no, wait, like the size of your head! Trust me, you want the repellent.)
-PAX inhibitor (it neutralizes a gas this planet Miranda tried out, bad results, don’t want it in your system)
-Corellian Cocktail vaccination combo (yeah, this is pretty much for what you all think it is, the Navy really doesn’t trust our judgment much. This is a mandatory yearly vaccine)
-EHBBC (1 year of birth control in one shot, also usually means no menses either. Please use a back up barrier method for at least 7 days if you have been off of EHBBC)

So, that’s all of them. And while it’s a lot, it beats my first year of active duty and the first year of the academy. So, if you’ll excuse me, they’re calling my number. I’ll be coherent again in 24 hours.

Tagged? But I Thought I Was On Safe!

2006-08-17T21:05:00.000-06:00

Warbird tagged me with something I'd never seen before. I wish I could say I have more exciting reading material at hand, but this was honestly the nearest thing to hand.

1. Grab the nearest book.
2. Open the book to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the text of it and the next 3 sentences on your blog along with these instructions.
5. Don’t you dare dig for that “cool” or “intellectual” book in your closet! I know you were thinking about it! Just pick up whatever is closest.
6. Tag three people

"The inferior and superior vanae cavae return deoxygenated blood to the right atrium. Since oxygenated blood from the umbilical vein mixes with the deoxygenated blood of the venae cavae, the blood entering the right atrium is only partially oxygenated. Most of this blood bypasses the oulmonary circulation and enters the left atrium directly from the right atrium by way of the foramen ovale, a shunt that diverts blood away from the pulmonary artery, The remianing blood in the right atrium empties into the right ventricle and is pumped into the pulmonary artery."

Thrilling, I know. But if it makes you all feel better, page 123 of the next closest book was basic information of the Univerity of Arkansas School of Medicine. Maybe I need to keep something more interesting than my textbooks near the computer.

Oh, as for #6, if you feel like you've been tagged, then you have been tagged. If you don't feel like you've been tagged, you haven't been.

New Kit Can Be Hard To Get

2006-08-13T23:51:00.000-06:00

So amongst all the chaos and drama that seems to be dominating my life, I do actually perform a job. I know, shocking and unbelievable. Cmdr Andros and I are still on friendly terms, even if people seem to think he’s evil. We’ve been reviewing equipment that could be used in the field. This is usually a pretty fun job, but like all things in government, there is a catch.

Sienar, the trusted name in ships, weapons, and various items to rain doom upon your enemies, has come out with a new deck for on the go combat slicing. It’s nice kit. Actually, its kit so nice it’s damn near sexy. But we can’t have it, at least that’s the word right now from on high. KRB, a firm with ties to high muckety mucks in the senate, has come out with something similar to the Sienar slicing deck. It’s nice, but not what I’d call damn sexy, the case is a bit clunky. It also happens to cost 10 times what the Sienar deck costs. But that’s what the Admiral wants because he feels that it’d be best, since KRB has such a great reputation. My boss, Cmdr Jansen, is none too pleased. He doesn’t want the field agents not to use our decks in tight situations because we’re afraid of breaking it and not getting a replacement. The Navy isn’t made of money, you know.

So, being the nosey creatures that we are, my team dug into why the good Admiral would want such an expensive deck when one 1/10th the cost was available. Well, it turns out the Admiral is close to retirement. But he’d like to work in his retirement and KRB has graciously offered him a consulting job, but gee, they aren’t sure if they’d have the money if they don’t sell a bunch of their new slicing decks. Yes, I know what you’re thinking, isn’t this illegal? Yes, yes it is my friends, completely and totally illegal. But since there is no way to prove it, they get away with it.

Well, in the end we got the Sienar decks. Cmdr Jansen dug in and fought for what we’d asked for and got it. I think it also helps that Jansen knows a lot about a lot of high ranking peoples personal lives. But this experience enforces my belief that having ideals will never ever make you money or earn you invites to spiffy parties. But it does makes me respect Cmdr Jansen a whole bunch more.

Things To Do, People To Spy On

2006-08-10T20:23:00.000-06:00

continued from here

I held out a hand to Dante to help him up. "We should probably get started looking into this. I'll check out Bibble and see if I can manage some time to travel to Naboo."

"How incognito do you think we need to be when we go home? If at all?" he asked. He held my hand comfortably as we slowly walked towards the park's exit. I love little things like that, it’s comforting and reassuring with still a bit f thrill behind it.

I pondered his last question as we walked. "Honestly, I'm not sure. I would say we shouldn't hide that we're going or that we're on the planet. I'm not so sure we should make our itinerary common knowledge, though. Would you want to do surveillance on either of them while we're there? I'm not sure we'd catch anything useful in a short time." I walked slowly, trying to absorb as much of the sights and smells of natural things before we left. "What do you think," I asked.

"If we're going all the way back to Naboo, we can't not spy on them," he replied. "But you're right -- it's doubtful we'll catch them doing anything obvious."

"As far as a cover story, I could say I'm looking to invest in some property or some businesses and you're along to give me some advice. That way when we travel to a few different cities it doesn't look in any way odd," he said. "Does that work for you?"

I nodded, "Yes, though I think we should only mention that if asked." Of course if either of our mothers found out, it’d be a much bigger issue, but hopefully they wouldn’t know what we were doing. I made a face when he mentioned Good Morning Naboo.

"If that's the case, then I'd like to avoid them knowing we're on planet. I really don't want to be on the holo again. That and I'd like to keep my personal life personal," I replied, smiling up at him, "I'm sure you can appreciate that." "You mean you don't like being the object of public speculation?" Dante asked in mock surprise. "Then I guess I can't drop by my house to say hi to my mom, 'cause she'll tell everybody." he pouted, indicating that he was joking. "Well, we could always stop by and say just as we're leaving, that way, if anyone gets told, we'll already be back on Coruscant, where we are thoroughly uninteresting and unexciting. Of course this could end up being low key time off if Padme is wrong, which is also fine by me."

As we walked on a little further, another question popped up. "Who do we want to observe? Or do you just want to let the intel we collect decide that?" "The latter," he replied. "I don't know what we'll turn up once we start digging." I nodded and started thinking about what we should bring with us for surveillance, then switched out of that mode and just enjoyed the walk.

As we exited the park, Dante looked down at me and smiled, “This should be interesting.” I had no idea how right he’d be.

Fin

see Cpt Typho's POV here and what the good Senator is up to here

And The Answer Is

2006-08-08T22:32:00.000-06:00

continued from here

We were chatting happily about other people; then he asked me what I would do if I fell in love with a Jedi. Well, that's a loaded question. I want to be honest, but I run a high risk of offending him since he had that little dalliance with Siri. I leaned forward and rested my chin on the base of my hands. "Hard to say. I'd like to think I'd be smart enough to avoid that situation. Jedi have taken an oath to their order, a relationship would be a direct violation of that. I'd have a hard time fully trusting someone who could easily ignore or disregard something of that magnitude and importance." I thought about it some more, trying to put myself in Padme's position. "I certainly would not have fallen for Skywalker. As for being in Padme's place, I can't put myself there, we've had vastly different experiences. Maybe she fell for Anakin because she saw him a protector. Which is funny seeing that he's rarely around these days. Honestly, I think I would walk away if I fell in love with a Jedi." I sat back and made of gesture of concession, "But who knows, maybe it'll work great between them."

He laughed a bit, "That's funny. I would've said almost the opposite. She likes to 'fix' things and he strikes me as one of those 'tough guys' who's needy on the inside. In other words, someone who needs 'fixing.' I could see her gravitating towards someone like that." I thought about his take on why the two of them had gotten together, while different than mine, it had some good points.

I looked him over, then decided to ask him a variation of his question. "So, what would you do if you were in Padme's shoes? Would you have married your Jedi?" Yes, yes, a prying question, a prying question he failed to answer. “At her age, I could walk away from someone I was in love with and tell myself it's the best move for all concerned. At my age, maybe not." Wow, that’s not a cryptic and somewhat worrying response. But that Jedi isn’t around, so I’ll not worry about her.

"At your age? You make it sound like you're an old man," I teased, gently poking him in the side. "You're not that much older than she is." I stood up and turned to him, "And somehow I doubt even at your current venerable age, I doubt you'd settle for something you didn't think was wise." I held out a hand to help him up. "We should probably get started looking into this. I'll check out Bibble and see if I can manage some time to travel to Naboo."

TBC

see what Cpt Typho's POV was here

The Issue at Hand

2006-08-07T23:08:00.000-06:00

continued from here

“How exactly does one go about annulling a secret marriage?” Initially I’d meant it in jest, but honestly, if she did want out of a secret union, who would she turn to for help?

“If it’s a secret legal marriage, it can be annulled, silly,” Dante said mildly. “If it’s a real marriage they signed legal documents and there were witnesses, right?” I wasn’t so sure, there are many places in the galaxy that require only the word of the two in the marriage and holy person who married them, no documents, no witnesses. "Yeah, but annulling a marriage could draw some attention to them." And let’s be practical here, if they had filed papers, it wouldn’t be a secret.

"They might not run into problems for some time. As long as the war is going on, they won't be around each other enough to get past the romantic aspect of a secret marriage. And what if she wants out and Anakin doesn't. He can be ... erratic at times." I wasn’t sure how much about Anakin’s issues I should bring up. My troopers and I had been privy to at least one of his and Master Kenobi's heated arguments at a inopportune moments. Dante nodded, "He has a stalker vibe, that's for sure."

Moving on, I came back to the matter at hand. "How do you propose we start investigating Bibble and Dormè? I could look into finance records for both, maybe see if I can find out who they've been calling. You should be able to go through some of Dorm'ès information from the datapad and terminal she used while a handmaiden." "I'll also have to discreetly question my staff to see if anyone knows anything outright or noticed anything that could be of help,” he added. We needed to cover all possibilities and who knew what someone in the retinue might have noticed.

"Well, I can start looking into Bibble when I get back to my apartment. I'll wait to see what you find out about Dormè. I think we'll probably have to make a trip to Naboo to do some information collection and talk to some contacts." Dante made a face when I mentioned a trip back to Naboo.

I frowned, "I still can't believe she went off and got married and didn't tell anyone for so long. What if she gets pregnant? That'll be a hard one to explain to the constituents."

"She didn't take an oath of celibacy when she became a senator. She doesn't owe her constituents any explanation if she gets pregnant," Dante replied. "Besides which, she's so well-liked, people might actually respect her privacy."

I managed not to snort when he suggested that Padmè's privacy might be respected. "It's possible. I'm just so used to personal privacy being eroded during this war in the name of safety, it's hard to think that privacy really exists. And I think she's entitled to be as romantically active as she wants, but having a child would complicate her life, and Skywalker doesn't strike me as the type who'd change a diaper."

I decided to voice something that had been rolling around in my mind for a bit "Should we tell Master Kenobi about this? Anakin is breaking some serious rules; it could put a lot of people in danger." I really wanted to tell Master Kenobi, but part of me thought it wouldn't be wise.

Dante’s response was quick, "We shouldn't be the ones to tell Master Kenobi," he said firmly. "Padmé and Anakin need to take responsibility for that. Hopefully they trust him."

He then fell silent for a moment, I thought that perhaps he was reconsidering telling Master Kenobi, but he wasn’t. He looked over at me and asked, "Humor me -- if you fell in love with a Jedi, what would you do? If you were in Padmé's position, I mean. Just curious." Of course, just curious, aren’t we all?

to be continued

read Cpt. Typho's POV here and check out what the Senator is doing here

What Would You Do If...

2006-08-07T00:35:00.000-06:00

continued from here

I held out my hands in a gesture of surrender when he asked why Dorme would or could do this to him. "There could be countless reasons. She could have been in love with you and felt spurned, she could have felt she deserved more recognition, or maybe she just wanted to get you fired so there would be some level of upheaval in Padme's security. I really don't have a good answer for that," I replied.

He nodded, obviously thinking about it. Then a thought struck me, "Do you think Dorme knew about Padme & Anakin's marriage?"

“She could very easily have figured out what was going on with Padmé and Anakin. That would give her tremendous leverage over both of them if she chose to use that knowledge,” he replied, frowning.

He then changed the subject slightly. “By the way, did you notice how Padmé glossed over my question about whether Anakin plans to give up being a Jedi?”

"I don't think Anakin is likely to give up being a Jedi. And I don't think Padme wants to admit that. They'll both hide behind excuses like 'the Republic needs me' or 'you're too important to the cause to quit' and my personal favorite, 'I'm the chosen one'. Maybe when the war ends it might change." Despite saying it, I didn't really believe it. "What do you think," I asked, looking at Dante.

“I agree that it’s doubtful that Anakin would give up being a Jedi, but what about her? I don’t think she’s in any hurry to resign as senator. I wonder which one will be the one to bend? They’re both strong-willed. Would she take a less active role in politics, or remove herself from the public view entirely if the story broke today? And would she be happy doing so?” He seemed t be vocalizing a stream of thought.

He paused, small creases forming at his eye as he squinted a bit, lost in thought, very cute. “She loves being a senator, and she’s very good at it. He loves being a hero, and he’s good at that. If they both keep their respective jobs, they’ll see each other maybe six times a year. If he resigns from the Jedi order or is kicked out, what’s he going to do with himself? Open a droid repair shop or become a professional podracer? If she resigns as senator, she’ll be bored out of her mind in about a month. I wish them luck, but this has ‘annulment’ written all over it.” It struck me as a bit odd to be discussing another person's long term relationship with someone who I used to be engaged to; funny how life works out.

I smiled a bit as a thought struck me, “How exactly does one go about annulling a secret marriage?” Initially I’d meant it in jest, but honestly, if she did want out of a secret union, who would she turn to for help?

yes, it's to be continued

read Cpt. Typho's POV here

Kvetch

2006-08-02T23:50:00.000-06:00

Continued from here

I shrugged some when he mentioned the Jedi. "Jedi are they're own creature, and it seems while there are many rules to govern them, very few actually seem to follow them." I wanted to ask about what he'd meant that they weren't what he'd expected, but this wasn't the time.

"I can start looking into Bibble, though I think a thorough investigation will require at least one of us going to Naboo for a fact finding mission. We probably shouldn't mention this to anyone." I gave him a meaningful look. His uncle did not need to be involved with this, I suspected he might try to hamper our investigation.

"As for Dorme, do you know why she left? Was she really pregnant? That would be a serious mis-step on her part if her role was to be someone on the inside of Padme's security," I mused, more thinking aloud than anything.

"But why wouldn't I ask my uncle for help?" He’d picked up on who I didn’t want involved, and was clearly surprised. I really didn't want to make him think I distrusted his uncle, and it wasn't his uncle I specifically distrusted. "Dante, what would he say if we told him that Padme suspected Bibble? That we were going to investigate Bibble? What if he told someone about it?" I thought about it, "Even if he didn't think we were nuts, what happens if he tells the Queen about it? It might get back to Bibble.".

He looked determined to put in a good word about Panaka, “"Uncle might scoff at the idea that Bibble was untrustworthy, but he certainly wouldn't betray our confidence.” Fortunately, he let the subject go after that. He returned to the topic of the wayward handmaiden.

"I have no idea what happened with Dorme. She left me an odd message that I didn't understand when she handed in her letter of resignation to Padmé. I responded after I got back from Naboo and asked her to clarify, but she never did,” he answered. The look on his face indicated that this was a question that was not new to his mind.

He shook his head. "I probably overstepped the bounds of our friendship by asking her to go with me to Ansion. She was never the same after we got back. I assumed that was the reason she resigned until I heard the rumor about her being pregnant from Moteé."

He then paused for a second. "If she was a spy, she wasn't a very dedicated one. Why resign? Why get pregnant?" He then blushed a bit, that wasn’t the most tactful statement and it was a bit awkward.

"Regarding Dorme," I trailed off. This was hard, Corde had been one of my closest friends, even after I left Padme's service. To suspect her sister was hard, but not improbable. "Dorme might have inadvertently been passing information on to Bibble. She might have decided to help him after Corde's death. Maybe she resigned because they had all the intel they needed. As for getting pregnant, maybe she really wanted a child, that isn't uncommon in women," I pointed out.

Dante frowned and became more agitated as he spoke. "I can see how Cordé's death could've been the catalyst for a lot of things for her. It hasn't escaped me that she's got to be the one behind the 'Typho got a handmaiden pregnant' rumors. I don't see how that rumor helps her at all, however. I can't believe she did that to me. What did I ever do to her?" I hadn’t realized how angry he’d been at that rumor, one that had really caught him by surprise. It’s always interesting to see how men react when their honor is the one in question.

to be continued

see Cpt Typho's POV here

A Handmaiden's Job Is Never Done

2006-07-31T23:45:00.000-06:00

It's weird the memories that can be triggered by everyday items and events. And this is a memory I've still not figured out how to deal with...

I was having a hard time processing everything Padme had told us. I half expected it to be some type of joke that they play on former handmaidens. But Dante looked as confused as I felt, so I doubted it was a joke.

I don't even know how to begin sorting this out," Dante said, "but I do know this isn't the place to do it. Where would be a good place to talk?" he asked, looking at me.

I thought about it. "We could head to one of the skyhook parks, they tend to be pretty private," I offered. He paid and we were off, trying to figure it all out.

……..

We took a seat on a bench near a fountain. Dante plucked a pretty flower and placed it behind my ear. It was a sweet gesture, and it took my mind off of Padme momentarily. The park was lovely, things were in full bloom. It was a nice escape from normal Coruscant.

Dante started the conversation neither of us knew how to handle. "You know, I always assumed she'd eventually get married, but... not like this," he said. "I knew there was something going on between her and Skywalker, of course."

"You knew she and Skywalker were involved?" I asked incredulously. Several different things ran through my mind, foremost of which was, 'why didn't you put a stop to it?' But I know Padme, and there was nothing he could have done to break it up.

I sighed and sat back against the bench. "I figured she'd get married, but not to someone like him. And I figured her wedding would be the social event of the year on Naboo, not some clandestine ceremony with nobody there. But Anakin? He's such a whiny kid!" I frowned and crossed my arms while I thought about it.

"And then there are her suspicions about Bibble," I commented.

"I could see that there was an obvious attraction, especially on his part," Dante replied, "but I assumed she'd put a stop to it. She's always been very mature, but he's very impulsive. You know, Jedi aren't always what we expect them to be." He didn't bother to elaborate on that. And as much as I wanted an explanation for that type of statement, now was not the time; I’d ask him later.

He shook his head when I mentioned Sio Bibble."If it is true... was he always corrupt, or was he compromised somehow? Then of course, there's the connection to Dorme that she suspects." He frowned, obviously trying to work it all out in his head. I’d given up on trying to get my head around it completely at this point, there was so much I didn’t know.

to be continued

read Cpt Typho's POV on his blog

Big Bada Boom

2006-07-27T16:19:00.000-06:00

continued from here

"Lt. Cmdr. Did you want me to help install the replacement parts?" He asked. "Yes, yes, I think I would like your help for this, Tak, let’s see if we can get you back to base by evening Mess”He rolled his eyes at that, “Of course Lt. Cmdr. Who would want to miss out on Crud on Toast? Let’s get to it.” It then occurred to me that I should have probably offered to take him out somewhere.

We headed over to the small bank of listening equipment; he started to take apart several pieces that I wouldn’t be using. As he worked, Tak swore a bit in Mando, as well as making the noises associated with fixing faulty equipment.

I then moved to my com station and started in on slicing a path to the building. I move the system quickly; I’ve become used to it. In short time, the building specs came up on the screen. I looked over my shoulder at Tak, while pointing to a power cuplink two floors down. He pointed to one a floor above and one apartment away. It was the residence of the Berchest ambassador. She had made a speech attacking the Banking Clan recently and would be a believable target. I nod, smart guy, much better choice than I had made as a target.

A power feed loop was set up that would go undetected for an hour or so, and then blow up. Did it need a big boom? No, but it would make me feel better. We applied a Separatist signal signature we picked up on our last mission. It is old enough that security should be able to pick it up, but new enough not to look like a plant. And if anyone should get suspicious, well, Tak and I would be in a place to keep the investigation on track. I finish in about 15 minutes. Sometimes, this type of thing can be fun; though blowing up parts of the building that Senators live in is kind of a no-no.

We worked in relative silence for the next hour, making small talk about G.A.R equipment failures, regulations that annoy the rank and file and when we think this current conflict will end.

Then there is a muffled boom from out in the hall. The power in the apartment went out, both our comlinks went dead and we moved into action. Within 2 minutes, Tak had collected all the all the listening devises placed around the room and I had scooped up all the clothing in my room that was bugged. While in the bedroom I decided to quickly pull off the shirt I had on and grabbed another. Quickly putting on the bug free top, I turned back towards Tak.

I tossed him the top along with the rest of the clothing. “Get these back to my office, scan them and see if you can figure out who made them. I’ll take the others devises and work on them. I’ll contact you as soon as I find something out. I may need you help again, you up for it, Tak.”

He handed me 5 of the devises we pulled from the walls, “Of course Lt. Cmdr. If I need to, I’ll try to contact you through secure channel.” He paused, like he was figuring something out, then headed out the door.

As he left, I called out after him, “Thank you for everything, Tak.” I really need to do something nice for him for helping me.

read Tak's POV on his blog

A big thanks to AOC for doing a lot of the grunt work on this

House Call

2006-07-20T23:22:00.000-06:00

Continued from here

As Tak scanned the closet, he discovered that some of my clothing has listening devices. Some had actually been woven into the clothing.

I can't even begin to describe how pissed off I am right now. Yes, I'm also a bit concerned about the security of my assignment, but mostly pissed off right now. As I moved to deactivate the devices, Tak gave me a negative signal.

"What kind of animals are these, Lt. Cmdr.?" he inquires "I don't think I have seen anything like them before."

I stared at him, trying not to be angry confused and annoyed. I understand that he's trying to make small talk and keep things normal looking. But I don't quite understand what he's getting at.

"Oh these are Voorpaks. Pets from the south of Naboo. A friend got them for me to remind me of home." I made a breaking motion with my hand as I looked towards the closet.

Then Tak took off his helmet. "Oh Pets, I remember someone saying that 'pets' have names. Did you name these Voorpaks?" he inquired. The he leaned in extremely close to my ear. I didn't move, allowing him get that close. Normally, it wouldn't be permitted, unless in combat. Out of combat, I try to maintain some personal space. And with Tak, it's even more important. We've gotten very close to a line in the past neither of us should cross for a variety of reasons. So I try to maintain my personal space, and my sanity.

He whispers in the quietest of voices, "if we deactivate them like this, whoever placed the bugs will know that you found them. We must create a distraction."

I processed what he'd said. "I named one Edee and the other Bodooka. I sure you know the Mando translation for Edee, but Bodooka means 'energy ball' in Gungan."

Tak continued to whisper, "If we set off an EMP pulse on the five surrounding floors, it would fry the devises. You main equipment should be safe due to it shielding."

"The names match their personalities." My voice dropped to match his "how?" Then I raised it to normal and continued what I was saying, "and I like having the reminder of home here."

Tak continued, "slice into the buildings computer, overload the power converters on floor above this, and leave a ghost with a Separatist signature." He paused, then shifted a bit, "these etyc aru'e won't know they have been found out and building security will be increased." He then drew his head back

"It is always nice to have reminders of home, Lt. Cmdr," he replied in a regular voice. I could tell he wasn't entirely calm or comfortable. I don't say anything. This really isn't the place at the moment.

"Lt. Cmdr. Did you want me to help install the replacement parts?" He asks. "Yes, yes, I think I would like your help for this, Tak," I replied evenly, determined to take out every device in the apartment.

to be continued

see Tak's POV on his blog

Another Intermisson

2006-07-19T02:26:00.000-06:00

So I found a cute little doll creation site and had fun.

No worries, the story should be finished by the end of the week, hopefully.

House Cleaning

2006-07-17T02:11:00.000-06:00

continued from here

About an hour after I called, Tak arrived, bearing the equipment I'd requested, and thankfully, was by himself. I knew he'd been running the range earlier today, and might have even heard about how the date ended, though I doubted it. When he entered, I signaled where he should place the equipment, then made the motion that the room needed to be swept. "Thanks for coming," I said.

He nodded at me, then put the replacement parts on the table. He pulled the two bug sweepers out of his boots and tossed one to me.“How was your morning Lt. Cmdr?” he asked in a neutral voice. He began scanning the room. “You would not believe the morning I had. No offence, but some of your fellow Nabooan just don’t know their weapons. One guy kept calling the DS-15A the DS 15-D. I mean, come on, they are as different as night and day” He give a little laugh, trying to lighten the mood. At one point he looked up at me, I gave him the hand signal to keep scanning.“Captain Cordilia got me confused with E775, again. And you know how funny Sev and I think that is. Captain Cordila has worked with us for 7 months now and still can’t’ tell us apart.” I knew how much he hated that. While some of us had figured out who was who among the clone troopers, some of the officers had never bothered. That really annoyed me. How can an officer hope to command and inspire confidence in others when he can’t even figure out who is who.

We focused on the living room, that's where it had to be, but I also realized that I had completely missed any possibility of a device being present, so I shouldn't assume anything. "Well, like I've told you before, some people just aren't that good at telling people apart. I had a superior officer when I first got out of the Academy who thought all Sullustans looked alike and called them all the same name." Tak laughed a bit at that.

I looked over at him to see if he'd detected anything, he was using the more sensitive of the two scanners. "Can I get you something to drink," I offered. The scanner I was using was telling me that all looked fine, that there wasn't a thing in the apartment, but I knew this device did have it's limitations. I put my device down, then wrote on a piece of paper, which I held up for him to read.

'I know there is something in here, I just don't know what. Doesn't appear on normal scanners. Gran? Tethian? New tech possibly?

And why the *%@#!!! is it in my apartment?'

Tak motioned to me: two fingers to his eye and a negative head shake a tap to his ear with a positive nod. So the device had audio but no visual; that made me feel a bit better, at least some privacy was to be had. Then another device appeared on his scanner and then another. As he made my way closer to my bedroom, he looked intently at the scanner. He appeared surprised. He held up five fingers.“Yes, Lt. Cmdr. I would appreciate a drink. I’ll just have water, though.”

I went and got him a glass of water, then watched as he peeled a small device out of the wall. I kept up the small talk as I handed him the water. "So how has your day gone? You had range duty,right? How did that go" I asked, deactivating the small bug.

As he took the glass of water from me, he frowned.“I had range duty today, Lt. Cmdr. I helped the Naboo security force become accustomed to G.A.R. weaponry. We are working with many of the senate security forces to bring them up to speed. I meet Captain Typho, your friend from Big Brother:Naboo. He is an excellent solider.”

Tak pointed the scanner at my chest, then more specifically, at my officer's insignia that was on my uniform jacket, then pointed at it with his finger. He ran the scanner over my entire outfit as I removed the insignia and deactivated the device in it. I watched as he walked into my bedroom, scanner still silently working. The voorpaks scurried out his way, watching the entire process. Mentally, I'd moved on from being angry to wanting to stake the heads of those responsible these devices on spears out on the porch. I was also mad at myself, how did I let this happen to me? I’m suppose to be an expert in this field. Despite my brain being focused on anger, I did catch his comment about Dante.

to be continued

Mystical Tarot. Why, You Ask? Why Not?

2006-06-28T11:45:00.000-06:00

Just a fun little diversion, yoinked off of here. I am working on more stuff as we speak, but it all depends on goodness of my fussy cable connection.

You scored as III - The Empress. The Empress is a maternal symbol. She is the mother figure who loves, nurtures and protects.
She will protect you, she will always be there when you are in trouble. When you fall over and graze your knee, the Empress will kiss it better.Yet she is not a weak figure. Her compassion is strength. If her children are threatened she will stop at nothing to protect them. If well aspected in a Tarot spread, the Empress can symbolise security, protection and unconditional love. If badly aspected it can represent over-protectiveness, fear of risk taking and refusal to face the real world.

III - The Empress

81%

XI: Justice

69%

IV - The Emperor

69%

XIX: The Sun

63%

II - The High Priestess

63%

I - Magician

63%

VIII - Strength

63%

X - Wheel of Fortune

56%

XIII: Death

50%

XVI: The Tower

44%

VI: The Lovers

44%

0 - The Fool

44%

XV: The Devil

25%

Which card are you (hopefully the link works now)
created with QuizFarm.com

I Am A Leaf On The Wind

2006-06-22T02:02:00.000-06:00

Ok, off topic, off Star Wars, but still in outer space in a different time. But in all fairness, I did get this from a SW blog. It has sound.

http://serenityhaxbot.ytmnd.com/

Get Over It

2006-06-20T23:52:00.000-06:00

I’ve been having a bad day. Actually, it was a continuation from last night, which had started off pretty well, but then had fallen apart with the arrival of video with incorrect dubbing. So being the mature person that I am, I stormed out his apartment, changed my security to let no one in aside from me, and then dragged my bedding into my closet and slept on the floor of my 3’x6’ closet. I’ve always liked small dark places to sleep, they feel very secure.

Needless to say, when I woke up, I was still feeling pretty upset about it all. But I had a bit of an epiphany in between bits of sleep. I think Dante was trying to use hand signals, which means maybe he wasn’t trying to be a complete ass. As I lay on the closet floor staring up at the perfect pressed uniform pants, I realized that I needed to vary my wardrobe some, and that I may have over looked something in my apartment. There was just too much personal information popping up that shouldn’t have been. Unless my voorpaks can talk and have been chatting with random people, but that’s highly unlikely. I needed to do a sweep of my apartment, starting in the living room area.

Part of me wanted to get up and start searching immediately. But another part of me was tired and wanted nurse my bad mood. Very unproductive of me, but it’s what I wanted to do. So I lay there for 15 minutes, at which point my pets felt that I’d indulged my grumpiness more than enough and it was high time I got up and fed them. Gotta love pets, they really don’t give a piss about silly human relationship issues; they just want food, sleep, and the occasional belly rub.

The beasties got fed and I thought about hand signals and possible hidden camera locations. Not things I should be pondering before several cups of caf. So if you don’t mind, I’m going to stop by the caf shop, get some of the strong stuff, then hopefully figure out what I want to figure out first. Wait, what am I talking about? I want the pervie voyeur camera out of my apartment first. If I ever find out who did this I am going to break every joint in every finger of their dominate hand. Have I mentioned I’m a bit grumpy in the mornings?

The Lovely Letter D

2006-06-19T01:04:00.000-06:00

Alrighty, I have a bit of free time on my hands, I figured I’d take a shot at a meme I received from a certain someone. It’ll help calm me down a bit so I can get back to the matter at hand. There are, of course, rules for this little meme.

They are…
-Come up with 10 words starting with a letter that either you choose yourself or that someone chooses for you.
-These words must be meaningful to you and you must give an explanation of why each word is important to you.

My letter is D, which gives me a range of options. Let’s begin.

Dance: It’s what I would do professionally if I weren’t already committed to blowing away enemies determined by the Republic. It was my job as a handmaiden to teach the Queen how to do all the court dances. I love to dance and when I leave the Navy, I want to go home and teach dance.

Deeja Peak: Home, my family lives outside the main city. There are days where I miss the solid safety of the mountains.

Droids: I have a love/hate relationship with droids. Some, like my recon droid, make life much easier. And some try to make my life as short as possible.

Drills: No, not the fun type of drill, the monotonous repeated drills of military life. Yes, I know, they could one day save my life, but there comes a point where having to break down your gun every hour gets old.

Determined: I am a determined person. I am determined to survive this war. I am determined to go back home and have a normal life. I am determined to be happy.

Defend: That’s what I do, it’s what I’ve always done. I am a defender. At some point a decision was made that what I defended was worth my life, was worth more than my life. Funny, I don’t really recall coming to that conclusion myself, it was just something I’ve had to live by; it might be time to maybe rethink that.

Dote: I dote on my clone troopers and Commandos. They’re like a bunch of younger brothers. I love being able to take them out to new things and places, especially places that don’t require body armor.

Debate: Not something that I can really do much of in my current job. It’s unpatriotic to debate the wisdom of sending 1,000 troopers to take on 5,000 tinnies (droids). But I suppose debating wisdom with a bunch of idiots would be just as frustrating as inadequate troop levels.

Defer: Something I’ve done a lot of during my life. I’ve deferred a good portion of my life to meet the obligations of my job. I’ve deferred vacations, time off with my family, relationships. In retrospect, it wasn’t worth it, but you can’t change the past.

If you want to play the letter game, let me know and I’ll give you a letter.

What Do You Hear?

2006-06-12T15:44:00.000-06:00

A link that yes, makes noise, but the question is, can you hear it?

What do you hear?

I will post more soon, my intern is taking an allergy related break. Let me know, what, if anything, you hear.

Bad Times

2006-06-07T23:16:00.000-06:00

continued from here

"Offhand, I'd say that was the most entertaining thing I've seen all night," Dante said, voice laced with anger and sarcasm. Then he got and left the room, only to return with my com link in his hand.

His face held an expression of suspicion directed at me. I knew he wanted to look at the messages. The only emotion that comes close to how I felt was betrayed, but if he wanted to watch the messages, if they'd provide him with more faith than my words could, so be. I took the communicator out of his hand, keyed in the password, then threw it back at him. "There, they're both there, dated and labeled, watch them to your heart's content. Watch all of the messages on there if you want."

I was still so angry. Once he had the com link, I got out of bed and quickly put my on my dress. At that point, it didn't matter what he thought of the messages, I just wanted to leave. I picked up my shoes and purse, he could keep the com-link, I was going to get another one. I headed for the door, needing to be as far away from all of this as I could get.

He caught the comlink and rubbed his temple again. Dante pointed to himself. "You've got nothing to say to me about this?" he asked as I got dressed. "'Friends at best,'" he mocked, putting his hand over his heart "I'm touched. I guess that's 'friends with benefits.'"

"Hey, take all of your things," he called as I was about to leave. "I don't want any of your stuff in my apartment."

He wanted an answer, a response to the message he'd gotten. I could barely see straight, then he threw my com-link back at me, at which point I lost it. "What the hell do you want me to say to you," I screamed at him as I stood in the doorway, "Why should I even bother, you won't believe what I tell you." I threw the communicator, it connected with the far wall and disintegrated into small pieces.

I got on the turbo lift and pushed the buttom to head down. On the way, it stopped and picked up some passengers. No shoes, hair mussed up, dress not quite right, I'm positive I looked a mess, and perhaps had a bit of the crazy eye, but I didn't care. Senator Organa and his aide, Sheltay, both studiously tried to avoid looking at me, staying in there corner of the elevator. Bad elevator muzak was the only sound beyond the gentle swish of air as we descended.

When I got into my apartment, I went about changing the codes on my lock system. When that was done, I let myself slide down the door, absolutely exhausted. My voorpaks came out of my bedroom and nuzzled against me, which made me feel a little better, but not much. The situation in Dante's apartment kept replaying in my head, what he'd said, what he'd done.

Then it hit me, he'd been using hand signals, at least I think he had been, that wasn't something I remembered all that well from when I was a handmaiden. I sat there for some time trying to remember all of his hand gestures and movements. What I really needed was some sleep, and I wasn't likely to get any in the near future.

read Cpt Typho's point of view here

Lip-Sync

2006-06-07T00:38:00.000-06:00

continued from here

It was like someone had knocked the wind out of me, and I can't even describe the growing rage I felt as I watched video of myself and Mal at the restaurant with a completely different conversation than we'd had. I could feel my hands go cold as the recording progressed, then my arms and the rest of my body. And I couldn't speak, I couldn't believe that someone would go to so much effort to ruin my relationship.

Start of video:

JARDENA: You're looking handsome today. Is it just for me?

MAL puts a hand on her back and guides her into the restaurant. They sit in a booth by the window wall.

MAL: This is a great place. I always enjoy it when you make me try new things.

J: I know, I remember. So Mal, you going to flirt with me all day or do we get to bypass a lot of the small talk?

MAL looks confused.

M: Sorry, I had thought we weren't going there again, now that you're seeing Captain Typho.

J: I never said we couldn't be together again. The "Captain" and I are friends at best.

MAL looks intrigued.

J: You didn't think I could be serious about him, did you?

M: Jardena, I hadn't thought so. This reopens possibilities for us. Maybe we should get out of here? I have to work, but would love to see you. Later?

Jardena shakes her head, no.

J: Soon. Not yet.

MAL puts his hand over hers in an affectionate gesture. After about 10 minutes they get their food packed up and leave the restaurant.

MAL walks her back to his speeder, then drops her off at hers. He kisses her on the forehead.

M: I can't wait to hold you again. I'll call as soon as I can.

She nods, then gets in her speeder.

End of video.

"Offhand, I'd say that was the most entertaining thing I've seen all night," Dante said, voice laced with anger and sarcasm. Then he got and left the room, only to return with my com link in his hand.

read Cpt. Typho's point of view here

I Think I Remember How This Goes

2006-06-06T00:36:00.000-06:00

continued from here

I followed him into the bedroom. While I was certainly enjoying the moment, I half expected one of the guards to come dashing in to report some occurrence or another. When we got up to the edge of the bed, I pushed him back onto the bed and playfully pinned his arms down. "You know," I said, "A small part of me is waiting for one of your officers to come bursting in with some 'urgent' information," I teased while kissing his neck.

"If someone on my team comes knocking on my door tonight, I swear there's going to be one very unhappy officer on the first transport back to Naboo tomorrow," he replied, trying to sound serious.

"Now that you've got me trapped, what do you intend to do to me?" he asked with humorous false concern. "Hmmm, I don't know," I replied, pretending to ponder his fate, "But whatever it is, it doesn't require your shirt staying on." I released his arms and slid my hands up his shirt to help remove it.

As I did that, I contemplated his awaiting messages. As much as I wanted to ignore them, that was a selfish thing to do, he has an important job guarding the safety of others. Neither of our jobs provided us the luxury of true off time or the choice to ignore messages. All the more reason to ignore the message, my brain reasoned, anyways, if it was really important, they'd have sent someone to his apartment. No reason to waste time on some silly message.

I kissed him his sternum, then straightened up, "You know, I'm so used to getting interrupted, that I think I may have forgotten what happens after this point. Do we discuss politics, sports, how the crops are growing back on Naboo?" I gave him a saucy smile as I let a finger nail gently run down his side.

Dante sat up. "I have a few topics in mind," he said. "Ladies fashions, for one. I think women from Naboo wear too much clothes. I intend to do something about that, starting with you." He finished easing me out of my dress. The rest of my clothing soon followed.

"Of course, the men tend to overdo it as well, which is something you can help me with." I have to admit, he’s rather good at this, I thought to myself.

"On the topic of the weather, it's chilly outside, so that means I get to hold you really close," he continued, slipping his arms around my waist.

"Last, but not least, on the subject of business... a merger is coming in the near future," He slow placed a line of kisses from my earlobe, to my neck, to my collarbone and downward. As he kissed my neck and collarbone, I thought about trying to switch the situation up a bit, but as things progressed further, I decided it was in my best interest just let it all progress as it would. That certainly turned out to be the right choice.

Much later and thoroughly exhausted, I vaguely remembered curling next to him surrounded by subtly different smells and textures than my own bed. I recall feeling very comfortable and happy that we finally had a date that ended well and without any surprises or drama.

Dante woke me, I had vaguely registered that he was watching messages on the monitor, but he'd turned down the sound and the volume, allowing me to drift back to sleep. Then I felt his hand on my shoulder as he roughly shook me awake. I sat up and looked an him, and he indicated towards the screen. So I watched. So much for a drama-free evening.

read Cpt Typho's point of view here

Message, What Message?

2006-06-05T00:47:00.000-06:00

continued from here

We chatted for a bit, then a distinct *ping* went off, indicating that he a message.

He looked intently at me. "I'm off duty for the next 24 hours. Besides which, I didn't hear anything. And neither did you."

Dante then inclined his head towards the bedroom and smiled, implying that he preferred to be far away from the messages and doing something completely different from work.

"I didn't hear a thing," I said, giving him an overly sweet and innocent look. I put my purse down on the table. The com link inside of it made an audible 'thunk'. Rolling my eyes, I looked at Dante, "At some point I'll have to show you those messages. But no hurry on that, right?" I gave him a suggestive smile as I lightly ran my finger tips over the back of his neck. I hoped that he'd be willing ignore the messages a little while longer, the evening had gone so well once we'd gotten past the Mal issue.

"You can take your time with that," he replied. One of his hands was placed lightly on my hip. The other was deftly unzipping my dress. "I'll take my time with something else..." he murmured as he led me into his bedroom. I smiled as he started to unzip my dress. We could deal with the messages later, it was just so nice to end an evening without fighting or some emergency popping up. And he didn't have to be up and awake by 4a.m., which, in my mind, was another big bonus. Maybe this whole evening would end well after all.

read Cpt Typjo's point of view here

A Subtle Dance

2006-06-04T00:46:00.000-06:00

continued from here

"Your friend is very touchy feely. You may think you're friends, but he thinks of you differently," Dante said pointedly.

I folded my hands on the table in front of me and looked straight at Dante, "I know, it's something I've dealt with for a while now, and it was going fine until today." I shifted in my seat a little, "He's never been that forward before. And I don't think he's the only one." The last sentence popped out before I realized the thought had been there. Dante would give me such a hard time if I told himI thought some of my clones might have a small crush on me. "Look, like you pointed out on Naboo, the girl to guy ratio is pretty skewed, it's bound to happen that a few guys like me more than they should. I am dealing with the Commander, but I also have to work with him, so I can't exactly tell him to shove off."

"Actually you could," he said. "There are regulations against fraternization. But I understand if you don't want to go there."

The waiter returned with the wine Dante had ordered. He poured it for us and left. "I should give a toast to whoever's behind these messages. That's a lot of effort to break us up, if that's really what it's about. It's not going to work, though.”

I thought about raising my glass, but didn't. While it was reassuring that he said it wouldn't work to break us up, the situation still worried me. Dante made a face after he tried the wine. I just took a sip, I really can't drink much if I haven't eaten.

Then he voiced his suspicions about Mal. "I thought about that," I replied. "But unless he's got some impressive slicing skills that I've never seen him use, I don't think he could have done the tech for it. But I could be wrong," I conceded.

I rested my chin in my hand and looked at him, "So is there anyway I could convince you to change the topic to something a little less stressful and unpleasant?" I gave him a hopeful smile as I waited for him to answer

"We could talk about the weather. Sports? The economy? The state of the Republic? No?" Dante said, making a show of changing the topic. "I've got it -- you could tell me how you'd like to spend your birthday this year so I don't do or buy anything you'll hate."

His willingness to change the topic made me feel better, I smiled warmly at him. "My birthday? I hadn't thought about it. And I always liked what you did and what you gave me, I just worried about breaking it." I pondered the question. "I'd like to do something fun and laid back. Maybe visit the mountains here, I've not been yet. Unfortunately, there aren't any beaches here." He looked like he was starting to relax, "Do you have any thoughts or ideas?" I asked.

"Well, since you mentioned it, we could do the touristy stuff at the Manarai Mountains," Dante replied. "They have monuments there and shops and restaurants. It's also the only place on Coruscant where you can touch the planet's actual surface." "That'd be fun, we could stay at a bed & breakfast and get to see if this really is a planet and not just a ball of buildings like the urban myths say," I teased.

Dinner came and the food was excellent. Once we were done, we headed off towards the second part of the evening, the Mon Calamari ballet. I'd never been, and therefore had no frame of reference for it. It was, unique, to say the least. We chatted about it on the ride back to the apartment building and as we entered his place.

"It was an interesting experience, I will give it that," I laughed as we walked into his apartment. I turned around and gave him a kiss and a hug, "Thanks for taking me, I had a lot of fun." I wondered vaguely if he'd bring up the subject of Mal again, he didn't usually give up on a subject that bothered him so easily. "It really was... something, wasn't it?" he replied, giving me a kiss on the top of my head.

We chatted for a bit, then a distinct *ping* went off, indicating that he a message.

looky looky, I finally got my picture of my outfit for the evening to load

read Cpt. Typho's point of view here

HoloDrama

2006-06-03T01:25:00.000-06:00

continued from here

I scanned over them menu, the looked back up at him, "Did you do anything fun or exciting today?" I asked.

"For someone who doesn't watch a lot of holo-dramas, you've outlined the plot pretty well," he said. I smiled, "I have had more time than I'd like listening to my troopers go over holo-dramas. They love that stuff, though hearing them break it down puts more of a military spin on getting the guy or girl than I've ever heard before."

Then he mentioned that he'd seen something someone had wanted him to see. I was confused at first, but then it dawned on me. "Wait, were you in the area of the diner?" I asked. I was stuck somewhere between confused and concerned, but it was starting to make sense why Dante seemed so grumpy.

"I got an email from Jar Jar asking me to do a security check for Padmé on a new store in CoCo Town," I said. "At least I thought it was from Jar Jar." he shrugged. "And yes, I saw you and your friend," he continued, a look of forced calm on his face.

I sat back and gave him an appraising look. "Is that why you're been in a bit of a bad mood today," I asked. I watched for his reaction, but I continued, "I promise, I don't have anything romantic going on with Mal, we work together and he is a friend." I really wish Dante would trust and believe me, but I don't think he will; Mal had been a very friendly in his greeting today.

The waiter returned to take our order. I looked over to Dante to see if he was ready yet.

We both ordered, and once the waiter was gone, Dante continued. "Your friend is very touchy feely. You may think you're friends, but he thinks of you differently."

read Cpt Typho's point of view here

Let's Chat

2006-06-02T00:21:00.000-06:00

continued from here

He looked at me and said, "Tell me everything.”

I was a bit surprised by his response; it had an air of interrogation about it. But I shrugged it off; he might as well know why I'd been somewhat jumpy this evening.

"I didn't have to go into my GAR office today, all I had to do today was computer updates and reprogramming. I'd gotten most of it done in the first part of the day. At about 1130, I got a message on my holo-com from Cmdr Andros asking if I'd meet him for lunch at this place in the CoCo district since he was headed that way. I sent a short confirmation, but didn't actually talk to him. We met about noon, and about 10 minutes in realized that we'd each gotten a message, but neither of us had sent them. The messages were a bit fuzzy, but pretty good. Mine had Mal's image and voice. His was just a voice message." I paused. I had tried really hard to get past this, it was really stressful.

I spent the rest of the afternoon trying to track the signal back. Whoever sent them is very well trained. And I can't figure out the reason for it, if they'd wanted to do something to us, the situation would have been ideal to take out two intel officers, though I'm not really important intel." Then something occurred to me, the style in the code slicing wasn't completely unfamiliar, but I couldn't place it.

Normally I'd have pulled out my holo-com and shown him the message, but the message would make him pretty mad, Mal had mentioned how he’d asked me about seeing other people. That might cause Dante to wreck speeder. I had a little time before we'd arrive, so I decided I'd think about showing him the actual message.

"It was his likeness and his voice, and he referenced something that very few people would have known about." That was what bugged me the most, Mal and I were the only ones who knew that he'd asked me to consider dating him and Dante at the same time. But Mal couldn't do this level of slicing, and Dante didn't know the details. I'd have to do a manual sweep for other listening devices when I got back to my apartment. I looked at Dante, he had a skeptical look on his face. Great, he probably thinks I'm over reacting, I thought. I started to think that maybe a topic change was needed.

"Any theory who would want you and your friend to have lunch in CoCo Town? And why?" he asked.

I frowned as I thought about his questions. I'd been thinking about them all afternoon, and it's required me to be brutally honest about the people I knew and my relationships with them. Whoever had sent the messages knew both myself and Mal pretty well, and the message hadn't been work related, it'd been personal and private. I didn't think it was Mal; he didn't have the training do this. I didn't think it was Dante because why would he? But there were a few people who had the training to do it, but would they do something like this? It was all far fetched speculation, and I was embarrassed that was all that I had.

"What exactly did the message you received say?" he asked. "It had to have been pretty convincing for you to assume it was him.

I looked over at Dante as we walked in to the restaurant, "That's just it; I can't think anyone who would, unless it was work related, in which case it could be people I don't know. I mean, if someone was trying to cause trouble between us, they'd have called you, right?" I commented.

The restaurant was quite nice and smelled wonderful. I smiled at him, "Good choice." “You’re welcome,” he replied, giving me a kiss.

I casually glance around the restaurant as we followed the host to the table. As we sat down, Dante asked, "What did you mean when you said someone wanting to cause trouble would've called me?"

"Well, if you want to cause trouble in a relationship, it wouldn’t do much for your cause if you just sent me out to lunch. Logically, they'd want you to see or know what had happened, or show you just enough to let you make your own conclusions. At least that's how I think it works, I don't watch too many holo-dramas. As I said before, I don't have any good ideas who might have called us." I shrugged, not really wanting to devote much more of my evening to the issue.

I scanned over them menu, the looked back up at him, "Did you do anything fun or exciting today?" I asked.

read Cpt Typho's point of view here

Dinner & A Show

2006-05-31T11:58:00.000-06:00

I spent hours trying to figure out where the messages had come from. Whoever had sent them had been very good, the messages had bounced through several sources so far, I hoped that there wouldn't be too many more. Each of the systems the messages had been sent through were huge, and sifting through all the data took a lot of time and effort. But I needed to discover who'd sent them, and I wanted to know why.

About an hour before my date, I showered, did my hair and make up, and then got dressed. Despite the concerns of earlier, I was looking forward to my date with Dante. I'd never been to Mon Calamari ballet before, it sounded interesting. I have to admit, when I look at a Mon Calamari, I don't instantly think of dance, but I do only see them out of water. I'd picked out my outfit yesterday, I wanted something nice, a bit flirty and definitely a bit sexy. Once that was all done, I sat back down and went back to work on my problem.

About an hour before our reservation, Dante arrived looking very handsome. My security system recognized him and allowed him access to my apartment; I've only done that for him and one other individual. "Take your time. We've got over an hour before our reservation," he said as he entered. As much as I wanted to figure the message mystery out, I wasn't anywhere close, and honestly, it could wait. I stood up and smiled at him, then fully appreciated the mess on the floor. "Sorry about the clutter, it's been a long afternoon," I said, trying not to frown. I wanted to tell him what had happened, but I didn't want him to worry. "I'm pretty much ready to go, unless it's still a bit early," I said, looking at the chrono. He smiled, “Then we should go, you never know about traffic.”

"Is that new?" he asked, indicating my outfit, "Very nice." I smiled, "Yeah, it's new, I haven't been out much in the last couple of years, so I figured I should go shopping when I got to Coruscant." I took his hand as we walked to his speeder. He looked for a moment like he was going to say something, but he didn't.

We got to the speeder and he opened the door for me, then walked over to the driver’s side and got in to it. As we were driving, I asked, "How'd your day go? Have things gotten less hectic with Padme on vacation?" He was being so quiet, I was starting to wonder if he was mad at me for something. I shifted in my seat a little to smooth out the front of my dress.

He reached out and tweaked my knee then teased me some about distracting him, “Well, if you’re going to crash the speeder, I should be doing something more exciting that just adjusting my dress," I teased back. He smiled, and it occurred to me that it might have been the first time tonight that he had. He talked about what he's been up to, trying to catch up on all the back work that had accumulated during his absence, a shooting exercise with the Corellian Security force the next day.

"I really hope you give the Corellians a hard time, they have way to much fun harassing my troopers." "Busy day for you?" He asked then frowned. Before I could answer he quickly added, "Speaking of Corellia, this restaurant we're going to is Corellian. Their chief of security recommended it to me, so it better be good."

I thought it was interesting that he’d tried to change the subject. Maybe when I do talk about my day it's just boring techno babble to him and he just asks to be polite, but it's never seemed to be something he's wanted to avoid before.

"I'm sure the food will be excellent," I replied. I was going to let the question of my day pass, but realized his speeder was probably secure, and it'd be the last place I could talk about it safely. "Do you not want to know about how my day went? Or you worried it'll be the same boring day as usual" I asked, watching his reaction.

He looked at me and said, "Tell me everything.”

read Cpt. Typho's point of view on his blog

Umm, Popcorn Anyone?

2006-05-27T22:48:00.000-06:00

*kicks the side of gimpy old school style projector* Sorry, haven't gotten the story back up and running. Here are a few more things to occupy you all.

http://www.unleadedjokes.com/html/Star-Wars-Episode-3-Captioned.html

http://www.angryalien.com/1205/starwarsbuns.asp

It's Intermission Time!

2006-05-24T23:25:00.000-06:00

Just something to keep you all entertained. Not really for younglings or those with delicate youngling-like ears.

http://www.devilducky.com/media/45466/

http://www.devilducky.com/media/39099/

And might I add, wow, you all (excluding Jaina) are a cynical suspicious bunch. Accusing Cpt. Typho and Cmdr. Andros of being behind all these messages and intrigue. They’re both nice honorable men. But I figure I should get this all checked out. So, I decided to break out the investigative skills.

They say the most obvious answer is usually the right answer, or is it that the simplest explanation is usually the correct one? However, you get the idea. So, to discover the true culprit, I turned to a creature that has experience with beings that are very adept at pointing out not only the obvious, but also the embarrassing.

But please, I enjoy the theories, very entertaining, as is the advice some people give. And yes, the mystery will continue, but I figured you might want a break from all my angsty relationship issues. I do have life outside of all the boyfriend drama, but it is some dull reading.

Guest Poster: Cmdr. Mal Andros

2006-05-23T18:56:00.000-06:00

Our Short Lunch

cont. from here

I watched Jardena discreetly observe all of the patrons as well as potential exits. I did the same thing; it’s become a habit now. We’re shown a booth that overlooks the square. We chat about little things, what we’ve been up to, how things are going in general. Since she contacted me, I’d let her broach the subject. I made a comment about the café and how I’d never been here before. I kind of liked the idea of being able to explore new places with someone. She gave me a funny look, but said nothing.

“So Mal, can I ask the story behind the flower?” Jardena asked, looking at it. Now I was confused, I’d reviewed the message several times to make sure I wasn’t doing anything I shouldn’t. “In your message, you asked that I have one if I wanted to talk seriously,” I replied. She frowned a bit and looked at me, “My message? You’re the one who contacted me,” she replied. She produced her holo-com and played the message. It was a bit fuzzy, but it certainly looked and sounded like me. I played the message I’d received. A pang of disappointment hit, but was quickly replaced chilly prickly sensation of adrenaline when I realized that we’d both been lured out into public by messages that had come on secured com-links.

We’d both scanned the restaurant when we came in for potential threats, and I had watched every person who’d come in since we’d been seated. I hadn’t seen anyone, Had I missed something. I wished we weren’t by the window, someone could have gotten a pretty clear shot either one of us, I wanted to make her move. The waitress put the food down in front of us. Jardena smiled and thanked her. I looked down at the food and felt for a scanner in the breast pocket of coat and discreetly took removed it. I passed it over my food, it came back negative. I passed it Jardena, taking her hand and placing within it. Her results were negative as well. “We should probably eat a little, get the rest to go, and get out of here,” I suggested. She nodded. We ate in silence then got our stuff packed up to go, and we left.

We’d decided to head to my speeder first. I’d drop her off at hers so she wouldn’t have to walk alone. I worried about her, Jardena wasn’t extensively trained for all of this, her specialty was as a combat slicer. When we got to her speeder, I gave her a kiss on her forehead, “Be careful, and let me know what you track down.” She nodded and got into her vehicle. Once she was safely on her way, I headed back towards my office. I needed to see what I could find out and to get both of us new com-links. I’d have to pay a few of my contacts a visit to see if they knew anything about this.

Guest Poster: Cmdr. Mal Andros

2006-05-22T23:36:00.000-06:00

Our Lunch Date

The day started off as all the others on Coruscant have, uneventfully. I have to admit, I could get used to being able to sleep through the night without being wakened by an attack, an impending attack, or an urgent demand for information. I could think of some things that would be far more pleasant to wake up to, but I don’t see that happening any time soon.

Like any other day, I got up, dressed, and went for a run. This is how I’ve started my mornings since I graduated from the Academy. Lt. Cmdr Oneida tried to get myself and her two commando units to take up Yoga, but it never stuck. Not that I think any of us minded seeing her do Yoga, but we didn’t want have to try to bend like that. I finished my run, took a shower, and headed off to my office. Since I live within the GAR base, it’s a pretty quick commute.

Solid sleep is a perk of being on Coruscant. The endless paper work is not, it’s what happens when you get an office planet-side. I’ve actually put in for any intel ops that they need done just for a change of scenery. I could do with the change of perspective that comes with intel missions.

At about 1100 my com vibrated, indicating that I had a message. It turned out to be an unexpected message from Jardena.

‘Hi Mal. I just wanted to call and say…oh why is this so awkward…I wanted to call and say we need to talk a little more. A continuation of our last conversation, You know. Can you meet me for lunch at Zabar’s café. It's about two block down from Dex's diner in the Coco district. And wear a red flower on your lapel to let me know if you want to talk seriously.’

I’d been so close, I know I was, she was actually showing some interest and then she went on the stupid game show. Oh well, not much I can do now but sit back and see what happens. Her relationship with Cpt. Typho seems to be rather tumultuous, and seeing that they are ex’s, obviously there were some problems the first time around that may still be around. From what I’ve gathered from Jardena and clone gossip, there seems to be a lack of trust between the two. A lesser man would meddle and try to sabotage things, but really, that’s pretty low. But now I have a message from her wanting to go over things from our last conversation. I must be interpreting it wrong, I don’t think Jardena would try to stress things in her relationship by involving me. I’ll have to wait to see what the conversation yields. But I will admit I am a bit excited.

I saw her across the small square, she was looking at all of the buildings around the area, hair down, completely unawares that anyone had noticed her. She looked lovely, but she usually does. I hurried over to where she was, taking a chance by greeting her with a hug and quick kiss on each cheek. She smiled at me “You seem to be in a good mood, Mal. What’s been going on?” she asked. I just smiled and guided her into the restaurant. We’d have plenty of time to chat over food.

to be cont.

It's Not Paranoia if...

2006-05-21T16:24:00.000-06:00

“You’re in a good mood today, Mal. What’s been going on?” I asked. He smiled at me, then put a light hand on my back to guide me into the restaurant.

We sat down in a booth by the window wall, able to watch the little square in front of the restaurant. We chatted about work, ordered our food, and chatted some more. I wasn’t quite ready to jump into continuing our conversation from earlier. The memory of Dante getting angry at the idea of me dating someone else at the same time was very fresh in my memory.

“This is a neat place, I’ve never been here before. Good choice,” Mal commented, looking around. That’s strange, I thought, he picked the place out. Of course, maybe one of my troopers mentioned it, and he took it as a recommendation from me. But still, the comment didn’t sit well. “So Mal, can I ask the story behind the flower?” He gave me a confused look, “In your message, you asked that I wear one if I wanted to talk seriously.” It was my turn to be confused, “My message? You’re the one who contacted me.” I pulled out my palm holo-com and played the message. He looked at it in shock. The confusion that registered on his face and most likely mine slowly turned into a look of concern. “You didn’t send that, did you?” I asked, looking at the hologram. He shook his head no. “Jardena, I had a message from you, but it was just voice, no image.” He pulled out his com and played the message he’d received.

There are variety different feelings of worry. There is regular concern, there is dread, and there is the very distinct and acidic sensation of ‘oh shit, someone just managed to lure two high ranking intelligence officers out into public’ type of worry. That particular feeling of worry dawned on both of us at the same time. We’d both assessed any potential risks when we entered the diner, as well as those around the diner. We’d seen none.

The waitress put our food down as we sat in silence. We thanked her and looked at our food. “We should probably eat a little, get the rest to go, and get out of here,” Mal suggested. He discreetly ran a sensor over his food. We’d decided to make the attempt to look like we’d not figured out what had happened. I thought we were failing miserably, but what do I know? I’d thought the Ansion mission was a complete loss and it wasn’t. Mal gently put his hand over mine to transfer the scanner, making it look like a affectionate gesture rather than a transfer. Our food checked out safe. I had a small scrambler attached to the underside of the table to prevent anyone from listening to our conversation. If you ever want to make a situation more awkward, the threat of surveillance will do that for you. After about 10 minutes, we got our food packed up and we left the restaurant.

Mal walked me back to his speeder. We’d agreed that we’d go to his speeder first then he’d drop me off at mine, to reduce the amount of time either of us spent alone. As I went to exit his speeder, he gave me a kiss on the forehead. “Be careful, and let me know what you track down.” I nodded, then transferred to my speeder. I took a more scenic route home over the usual route to see if anyone had followed me. No one did, and that left me to ponder who’d set the lunch meeting up.

We both hate feeling like we're being followed

The Message

2006-05-20T01:28:00.000-06:00

The day started off like any other regular day. There was even the added bonus of not having to report to her office in the GAR facility. Today’s mission was simply to update some of my office's software and to check for any irregularities in the system. I’d get to hang out at home and take it easy. I’d also get to work on a plan I have for dispersing more surveillance equipment throughout the building.

The easy day also meant that I didn’t have to worry about missing my date later tonight. Except for the occasional squabble that Dante and I have, things are working out fairly well. I have to admit that I was, and still am, a bit worried that it wouldn’t work. We just seem to keep running into strange problems, such as his com going off at a bad time. I’ve been called in on several false alarms, though everyone assures me that they are perfectly normal. Quite a few people have been pretty nervous recently, there haven’t been any terrorist events on Coruscant in awhile, and people seem to feel that we’re overdue for one. I try not to worry about that, right now I’m just excited for tonight's date.

At about noon. my com flashed, indicating I had a message. When I went to replay it, a small somewhat fuzzy image of Mal appeared:

‘Jardena, I want to apologize for being so forward the other day. I should have never asked you about seeing other people…Ahhh, this is awkward. Would you please meet me for lunch at Zabar café, it across the street from that new Naboo shoe store in the Coco district. I just need to talk to you in person. I’ll wear a red flower so you know who I am…*nervous chuckle*… sorry a bad joke. I’ll see you.’

Hmm, well, I suppose that’s alright. And I do need to talk to him about that anyway, just to let him know it really isn’t a possibility. The message pathway looked correct, so I put on some civilized clothing, grabbed a bag, and headed out to meet Mal.

I parked my speeder near the restaurant and walked leisurely through the streets, looking at all the stores. I vaguely remember Tak mentioning the new shoe store as a place Padme might like to go. My clones have a peculiar attention to detail.

Mal was walking across the walkways, heading towards me. I waved and went to meet him. He was in a remarkably upbeat mood. And he was wearing the little red flower, the meaning of which I didn’t quite understand, but it didn’t seem important. “Jardena!” He smiled and gave me a quick hug, followed by a quick kiss on each cheek. I suppressed a look of surprise, but still gave him a quizzical once over. “You’re in a good mood today, Mal. What’s been going on?” He smiled at me, then put a light hand on my back to guide me into the restaurant.

To be continued

Just Another Day, part 2

2006-05-16T22:56:00.000-06:00

"Only two more locations to go. You want to drive?"

"Sure," Sev said quickly, glad for the distraction. As he climbed into the driver's seat of the speeder, he turned towards Oneida. "Are you cold," he started to inquire, "or was it something I did?" He pulled the speeder up, into the lanes of traffic and waited for her reply.

"Cold, it's very windy this high up in the city, I wasn't really expecting it. The body suits may be good armor, but they aren't very warm. I'm surprised you're not a bit chilly. Why do you ask?"
"Oh, no reason, really, just wondering. And who says I'm not cold. *mutters "If I had my regular armor..."* "Well, here's the next spot." Sev reached in the speeder to activate the droid. "This one should be quick. Here, take this." Sev tossed a palm sized thermal generator to Oneida, and headed off towards the site.

She caught the det with soft hands, "I'd love to let you wear your armor, but it makes you a bit conspicuous here." She placed the det in a pouch and followed him. "And I'm going to meet with the Brigade's Jedi General and see if he can't get some of the black armor ordered for you all." The speeder remained in the hidden alcove next to another large ventilation pipe. They'd been placing dets and surveillance devices for several hours around a 'perimeter of interest', or in simpler terms, following the days orders. She peered over the edge of the pipe, it probably went down for 500 meters, very daunting. To anyone passing by, they'd look like a repair crew, nothing worthy of note. "So what are your plans for the rest of the day, once this is done, Sev?" she asked as she tried to keep pace behind him.

"Uh, well, I think I might... nope, I'm not doing anything after this." He replied somewhat embarrassed that his day was so unfilled. "Here, this should keep you warm," he said, realizing that he had a spare det. "Just activate it, and set it to manual detonation, then, the heat will begin to emit from it, and you can deactivate it." He tossed her the spare detonator and stared off at the tops of the buildings of Coruscant. As he headed back to the speeder, he looked behind his shoulder. "Where's the last one?" he asked.

"Uhh," Oneida looked at the det in her hands, "Thanks, but I'll pass, I think I'll make it through the cold with all my fingers and toes. Not so sure that'd be the case if I went messing around with a det." She pulls out a datapad and looks at the locations list. "It's a pipe system in the side of this building, on the SW side. But we probably should do a quick scout for anyone who might be watching us. We have been at work a long time for a normal Coruscant repair crew," she says with a smile.

"Are you saying something about my work ethic?" Sev asked sarcastically. "Anyway, I'll check the N side." He pulls out a pair of electrobinoculars. "Well, you didn't think I would actually go over there, did you?" He returns the EB's to his side pocket. She laughed and nodded her head, "Yes, it's much better than any non-droid work crew I've seen on this planet, we should have taken at least 3 breaks in the last 4 hours." She waited, staring ahead of her as Sev surveyed the area. "Nope, nothing and no-one that I can see. Are you doing anything after this?" he asks nonchalantly.

The droid hovered over towards her, indicating it'd completed its task. Even it looked appropriately scruffy for the task. She inserted the datapad into the droid, downloading it's next task, which would include setting surveillance cameras and a det. When he asked his last question, she checked the datapad, "Nope, looks like this was the only mission for the day. Kandosii!"

"Great!" replied Sev enthusiastically, "Ma voule kesta-won miam nu ghis. Once we're done here, want to go over to the Coruscant Diner to get something to consume?" He glances over at her. "I mean, strictly business, we worked, we have to eat, I don't mean it like... sorry, I know you and Typho are dating again, I didn't mean it like that."

She smiled at him, "Don't worry, I won't take it that way then. And I'm allowed to go and eat with guys," she winked at him then headed for the speeder, "I've never eaten at the Coruscant Diner, is it any good?"

"Well, yeah, but it's more of an enormous food court than a diner," replied Sev,ecstatic that he didn't make a mistake. "The good part is that there's so much to choose from. I've only been there once in my life, though, it might have changed, a lot." He climbed into the driver seat of the speeder and slightlyblushes.

"How long ago were you there? And I've been told that the diners tend to not change all that much in the lower levels of the city, not like the upper levels." She frowned for a moment, "I have to admit, I'm not a huge fan of the upper level, it seems very...pretentious? It always feels like people are there are trying to be what their not. Have you ever gotten that feeling about a person?"

"Yeah, I have kinda gotten that feeling, it makes you feel uneasy, like everyone's masquerading and you're supposed to be as well." He pulled the speeder up next to the diner. "Damn, I hate parallel parking." he said with a grin

"At least there is parking. So what do you like, Sev? What do you enjoy doing, aside from shooting things?"

"Well, I, I guess I really don't always have enough time to ponder that. On Kamino, we would dive and see who could survive, but that's illegal here, besides, there's no water clean enough for diving here," he said as he stepped out of the speeder. "Need a hand?" he asked. He turned and walked into the enormous diner, whispering to himself "Oya!"

Thanks to E775 for providing his responses and reactions

Just Another Day, part 1

2006-05-15T14:51:00.000-06:00

Oneida peered over the edge, down the gapping hole that was the air exhaust for the building she was standing on. Next to her stood one the troopers in her unit, E775, Sev as those in the unit referred to him as. They watched a small recon droid make its way down the hole, obviously laden with something. She checked my datapad to ensure things were going as they should.

"You ever wonder about who makes the incendiary devices we use? What they were thinking as they put together something that could kill them in an instant, and then having to do over and over?" She looked over at Sev, waiting for a response

"Well", replied Sev, slowly, "I think they had their minds set more on the profits, rather than the products. At least the owners probably did. The workers probably just looked more for the aspect of either helping the GAR or just making ends meet in their own lives." He paused, and searched Oneida's face for a clue to her thoughts on his remark. "Not that I'm saying they're ignorant, they probably just don't know anything about the army, what this war is really like, or what their devices have the potential to do to people." He glances down the hole and stares aimlessly, obviously not in deep concern, at the ground.

"Hmm, probably right, though I'm sure they have some idea of what the device can do, that would be a career ending work accident if you messed one of those up." She chews on the side of her lip for a moment, watching the droid disappear from sight. She looks up, "Do clones have personal space issues?"

"Well, not really towards each other," he began, "And in the populated places like here, Coruscant, it's the civilians that tend to gravitate away from us." The tone of his reply indicated that he didn't even really hear the question. "But," he quickly interjected, having now contemplated the question, "Some of us do, towards, you know, officers." He tried to conceal the fact that he was slightly nervous from her presence.

"Is it all officers, or just female officers?" She looks over at him and shrugs, "Though if I made you uncomfortable, you’d probably never tell me." A tone indicated that the droid had placed its device, and was making its way back up the exhaust tower. She watched Sev fidget with his gear as they waited. He like all of his clone brethren, seemed to disliked being out of their standard armor. And as hard as she might try, she could never seem to manage to get her team the black Katarn armor kit. So, for this mission, they'd had to rely on the black body suits, which, while armored, weren't quite as good as the regular armor.

When she saw the droid come back into sight, she pulled her jacket close around her, and slowly made her way back to an obscured speeder. Once she reached the speeder, she stepped in, then turned at smiled at Sev, "Only two more locations to go. You want to drive?"

Thanks to E775 for providing his responses and reactions

Early Morning, eiplogue

2006-05-13T00:50:00.000-06:00

I closed the door and walked back over to the couch. I collected the food he’d brought and put in the cooled storage unit, placed my dishes in the sink, then walked back out into the living room area. The voorpaks were sleeping happily, so I left them where they were and head back to my bedroom. Yes, I was going back to bed, I needed at least two more hours worth to make it through the day.

Assuming he'd be literal about the 15 hours, at about 2130 I set most of the computers in the office on record. There would be a lot to go through in the morning, but that was no big deal. Once that was done, I set upon organizing the apartment. I'd actually gone food shopping so the food he'd brought wasn't as alone in the cooled storage unit as it had been. Then I went and changed. After a few minutes deliberation, I picked something out lacey, cute and not very comfy, put it on, then promptly put my robe on over it. Then I sat down to watch something on the holonet ‘til he showed up.

My com flashed and jumped at some point with a message from Dante saying howthings were going, which was how things usually go in the Senate; long winded self-important Senators needing to repeat what the last four people had said, and that he'd be late. I decided to get some more work done in the office.It was about two hours later than expected when he showed up, and he looked exhausted. He flashed a weary but appreciative smile when I opened her door for him, the second time in a day.

"Sorry I'm late," he said.

I smiled and held a hand out to him, "Don't worry about it. And last I checked, there is nothing a being could do to stop the unending flow of hot air in the Senate."

I looked him over, he looked beyond exhausted. "I hope for your sake you don't get your people up at 4AM on Saturdays." I gave him a hug, then looked up at him, "You know, it's alright if you want to go back to you quarters and sleep," I said, gently rubbing his back.

"Not a chance!" he said. He picked me up in his arms, and, with a wink, carried me into the bedroom. He gently laid me down on the bed.

"Did you say Padmé helped you pick out this lingerie? I ought to thank her," he said, playing with the little satin ribbon on outfit top. With a sigh, he sank down next to me. He looked relaxed, but still fatigued.

He lay down next to me, closed his eye, and was out. I waited for a bit to see if he'd wake up, though I doubted it. He didn't, he was fast asleep. I smiled and kissed him on the forehead. Then I got up, managed to get his boots and most of his uniform off and hung it neatly over the back of a chair. Sleeping in body armor is uncomfortable, and I’d already had some practice on how to get it all off. I pulled the covers over him and left the room to lock up the apartment.

Once that was done, I changed into a much more comfy sleep shirt, programmed my little hover droid to wake him at 3:30AM (ugh!), brushed my teeth, washed my face, and went to bed.Yes, the lives of military officers and Senate staff are an exciting, action packed, fun filled adventures for some, but for most of us, it's just exhausting. I hope he remembers where he is when he wakes up

***

"Good morning, sir. The current time is 0330," said a smooth metallic voice. My brain registered the sound of my hover droid politely notifying me of the time. Actually, not me, but Dante. I hoped he wouldn’t sleep through the alarm, it’s programmed to get louder and more persistent over time. He stirred the second time the droid announced the time. The he leaned over to me and whispered, "I have to go back to my apartment."

I’d almost fallen back asleep when I heard him say "I'll be back later," and he kissed me on the cheek. His departure was marked by the quite sound of my door opening and closing. Oh well, maybe next time. Then I went back to sleep.

Thanks to Cpt Typho for his dialogue and his perspective

Early Morning, part 8

2006-05-11T22:37:00.000-06:00

"Honestly, your voorpaks are probably right about the sleepwear," he continued. "It doesn't matter what you're wearing if it's going to end up on the floor anyway." He gave me a mischievous grin.

His last statement caused me to give him a mock look of shock, though it did catch me off guard. "You mean I went shopping for nothing? Padmé even came with me once she'd figured out what you'd sent." As I leaned backwards, my hand bumped the pillow the voorpaks were sleeping behind; a chorus of unhappy chirps rose up from it. I smiled, "I think that's voorpakese for 'geez, why don't you two get a room?' I could show you the sheets..." I took his hand and led him off toward the bedroom.

Once in the bedroom, I got an impromptu lesson on how many layers of clothing the Naboo Senatorial Guard uniform had. There is the outer vest, then the body armor, boots, belt and gun holster, gauntlets, gloves. And that’s just to get to the clothing underneath. But it’s a bit like getting a present on the holidays, unwrapping is half the fun. This was all so familiar, the way his skin felt, the way he smelled. It was comfortable and provoked a faint sense of safety and security, among other things. Things progressed nicely once all the complicated stuff was off.

But wouldn't you know it, the minute he hit the bed, his com started beeping incessantly.

Crap.

I looked up at him, "If you turn off the volume, could you pretend that you didn't hear it?" I covered his ears with my hands and smiled.

Sadly, he shook his head slowly and shot me a wry smile. Dante fished his com out of his uniform on the floor and checked the caller ID. Unfortunately, it was official business. He turned back to me "Looks like I ran out of time. I've got to go, but I'm going to be back here in this bed in about 15 hours. Okay?"

"Okay. Barring an invasion of Coruscant, I'll be here." I sat up and grabbed my robe so I could walk with him to the door. "Thanks for breakfast," I said, and gave him a hug and a kiss, "have fun at work."

"Ack! Don't talk about an invasion -- with our luck, something like that'll actually happen," he said. Dante straightened his uniform and retrieved his hat from the coffee table. With a sigh, he put it on and kissed me goodbye.

"See you later. It's going to be a looong day for me." He flashed a smile, kissed me one more time and left for work.

to be cont.

read a different perspective of this encounter on Cpt. Typho's blog

Early Morning, part 7

2006-05-10T22:42:00.000-06:00

I moved the voorpaks and looked back at Dante. "Better?" I asked.

“Better." Dante smiled and moved quite close to me. At which point I understood why the voorpaks were in the way. "What's with the pajamas?" he teased. "I'd imagined something a little more seductive with a thousand credits to play with at Fredericks of Coruscant." He kissed me and as he played with the buttons on my top, he added, "Or do you have a surprise for me later?"

"The pajamas are for just in case someone stops by in the wee hours of the morning. And what's wrong with them? Until you stopped by, there was no one here during sleeping hour except me and the voorpaks, and they aren't too terribly impressed by cute or sexy sleepwear." I let him kiss me, I mean, it has been a month. A very long lonely month.

I smiled teasingly at him, "Don't think you're totally off the hook for that question, though. And as for what I bought with my gift card, you'll just have to wait and find out." I had gotten a variety of different things while shopping. It had been an interesting experience, I've never paid so much attention to my underwear before.

The hum of traffic was becoming slightly audible through the transperisteel windows, though they'd dampen the noise when it hit a certain level. I looked at the clock behind him, then back at him, "So, about what time do you have to be at the Senate building?" I was hoping it wasn’t any time soon.

"You let me worry about that," he murmured, not bothering to look at the clock. "I've got time for this. For you."

"Honestly, your voorpaks are probably right about the sleepwear," he continued. "It doesn't matter what you're wearing if it's going to end up on the floor anyway." He gave me a mischievous grin.

to be cont.

read a different perspective of this encounter on Cpt. Typho's blog

Quick Interlude

2006-05-10T00:44:00.000-06:00

Just a few more reasons to join the Navy (lots of free time, dancing and high quality special effects!), courtesy of the U.S.S Enterprise. Even Cpt. Picard makes a cameo. Enjoy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rP0I3ylUkA0

Early Morning, part 6

2006-05-09T21:14:00.000-06:00

"Can I walk out the door and come back in and pretend I didn't say any of the stupid things I've said so far this morning?" he asked with an apologetic look.

I couldn’t help but smile and laugh a bit when he asked that, I could relate to wishing that closing a door and reopening it would change all that lay beyond. Never works, but it does give a person a few moments to collect themselves.

"Since it's so early in the morning, and I suspect you're more tired than you realize, yes, you could, but you'll have to eventually answer the question. You said that me dating another guy wasn’t what you expected, so you obviously have some expectations, even if they’re nothing too profound or detailed. Unless you have the expectation that I be awake, cute and perky by 6AM every morning, in which case, I don't want to know," I said, giving him a teasing smile.

"Actually, yeah, I was kinda thinking along those lines, but your pets are conveniently in my way at the moment," he said with a grin.

My brain half processed what he’d said, which was the ‘your pets are in the way’ half. ‘In the way of what?’ the sleep addled part of my brain asked. ‘Who cares’ said the other part, ‘just move the fuzz beasts.’ I picked the two voorpaks, both still sleepy and set them down at the corner of the couch, they like to burrow in the corner and sleep behind one of the throw pillows. They happily obliged, disappearing into their little sleep area.

I looked back at Dante, "Better?"

to be cont.

read a different perspective of this encounter on Cpt. Typho's blog

Early Morning, part 5

2006-05-08T22:03:00.000-06:00

Why would I do something to get back at you when I didn't believe you'd done anything in the first place?" I couldn't believe he'd yell at me like that. I was getting upset.

"You're right, that wasn't fair of me," he said. Dante looked a little bewildered.

I took a deep breath and let it out slowly while rubbing the bridge of my nose in an unconscious effort to calm down. "What's bothering you? Or better yet, why don't you tell me what you had in mind when we decided to give this a try again. You obviously have some concerns I need to know about." My voorpaks had woken up at the sound of the raised voices and had scurried out to see what was happening. Both of them crawled up into my lap and gave Dante a suspicious look, they could tell that I was stressed.

As much as I wanted to be mad at him, I wasn’t; I was just frustrated with him. I knew he was tired, and what little I did know about his relationship with a certain Jedi, I could almost understand the outburst. Almost. I’m not her. I’m short, dark haired, dark eyed, and lacking in the force abilities. Not easily confused with tall, blonde, and lightsabre equiped.

He reached out to pet Edee. Not surprisingly, she shied away from his touch, but at least she didn’t try to bite him. "Can I walk out the door and come back in and pretend I didn't say any of the stupid things I've said so far this morning?" he asked with an apologetic look.

to be cont.

read a different perspective of this encounter on Cpt. Typho's blog

Early Morning, part 4

2006-05-07T22:42:00.000-06:00

read a different perspective of this encounter on Cpt. Typho's blog

"Your CO was helping you move into your apartment?" he asked. "That was nice of him," Dante said, though I think he had kind of a suspicious look on his face.

As much as I wanted to avoid the issue of Mal, I realized that I needed to just be honest about it. "No, he didn't help me move, he stopped by yesterday, he'd been off planet on some assignment. He wanted to see how I was doing." At that moment, my brain seized that feeling of queasy unease that had formed in my gut just taking about Mal to Dante. I realized there was no way I could date the two of them at the same time, it'd stress me out too much. I also remembered that Dante was an only child, and only children don’t usually share well. What little debate that had occurred in my mind about possibly dating them both at the same time ended then. I prefer to keep my drama to a minimum, and two guys is not a minimum of drama.

"So what time do you get off tonight," I asked.

Dante ignored the second question and asked one of his own. "You're seeing me and some other guy?" he asked. "That's not what I had in mind when I thought we were getting back together. Why are you doing this? Is it because of that stupid rumor? I'm trying to find out who's behind that, but like I told you already, it's not true."

Dante caught me completely off guard with his outburst, I think I felt my jaw drop about a cm. "What?!? I'm not dating my old CO! He came over to talk, and that's what we did, then he left." The queasy feeling in my stomach had intensified, and for some reason I was having a very hard time maintaining my composure.

"I told you I didn't believe the rumor! Why would I do something to get back at you when I didn't believe you'd done anything in the first place?"

I was still sleepy, the food hadn't fixed that, and was not in the mental shape to have an argument without breaking out into tears. I hoped it’d end quickly, I hate crying in front of people. If I’d had an hour more of sleep, I would have been angry and ready for an argument(fight), but I didn’t have that hour of sleep, and it’d look real weird if I stuck a stim in my leg to wake up so I could have an argument.

to be cont.

Early Morning, part 3

2006-05-07T00:16:00.000-06:00

read a different perspective of this encounter on Cpt. Typho's blog

"Why is there a rumor about you and a certain handmaiden?"

"I don't know why that rumor is out there," Dante said flatly. "It's not true."

His expression turned into a frown and for a moment he looked tired. "How're those little furballs I sent you doing?' he asked, changing the subject.

"Nice subject change, they're doing great, they have a little cubby bed they love. I'd wake them, but then they'd be all over you." I felt bad, I hadn't meant to imply that I thought the rumor was at all true. "And Dante, I don't believe the rumor. I was more curious as to your insights about it. It's a rather unusual rumor to pop up, very un-Naboo. But," my stomach was demanding a change in topic, "since you want a subject change, how's this; what's in the bag you brought, it smells good."

"I've got pastries, fruits and sausages," he said, obviously glad for the change in topic. Dante took the food out of the bag, but didn’t eat anything himself. "You fixed up this apartment nicely," he commented. "You did this all yourself, or did you hire people? Pretty impressive. You should have a housewarming party.

I got up and retrieved a plate to put the food on, as well as a glass of juice. I sat back down on the couch. "Well, actually, my clones helped quite a bit, they're the ones who found the couch and some of the other stuff. They can be very resourceful. As for a housewarming party, that could be fun, I haven't had too many people over yet, still trying to get comfortable with being here," I said, indicating the place. "Thanks for the gifts, by the way. The hot tub presented us with quite the logistics challenge, but it was definitely worth it. You'll have to come by and try it out some evening," I said, giving him a teasing smile.

"Would tonight be too soon?" he said, answering my smile.

He picked up a pastry and took a bite. "So who's been here so far to welcome you to Coruscant?" I asked. "Besides the clones you force into the role of interior decorators, I mean."

"No, tonight would be fine, we even managed a privacy shield around it, very cozy." I cut up a piece of fruit and had some. "As for visitors to the apartment, a few of my troops, my old CO, and you." Ever notice how people put the one thing they hope no one will really notice in the middle of a grouping? I have, and I've seen it work, though I doubt it will here.

"Your CO was helping you move into your apartment?" he asked. "That was nice of him," Dante said, though I think he had kind of a suspicious look on his face.

to be cont.

Early Morning, part 2

2006-05-05T21:58:00.000-06:00

"Did you miss me," he whispered in my ear.

"Terribly," I replied, and then kissed his cheek. "Did you miss me," I asked teasingly, moving out of the doorway so he could come into the apartment. "How was your trip back, how long have you been on Coruscant, and," I gave him another kiss, "I'm really glad your back. Want to sit down," I asked, indicating the couch.

"The trip was quick and uneventful, which is exactly the way I like hyperspace to be," he said. Then he glanced around my place a bit. He took off his hat and tossed it on the coffee table. "I've only been back a few hours, but I hit the ground running. I feel pretty good right now." With a grin, he pulled me down onto the couch with him and kissed me again. "Oh, and to answer your question, yes, I missed you a lot."

I blushed a bit when he told me he missed me. As insecure as this proves me to be, a small part of me worries that he’ll lose interest, so when he says he misses me, it makes me feel a bit better. "So what was it like being on Good Morning Naboo? What is Randi Roice like in person?" Then a thought hit me, "would you like something to drink, or eat, I'm not being a very good hostess."

"Good Morning Naboo was rough, to put it mildly," Dante said. "But Randi was pretty nice to me. I'd heard she was kind of bitchy off-camera, but that wasn't the case. She even suggested that I should consider doing a political talk show when I retire."

He just smiled at my comment about being a hostess. "You're doing just fine," he said. "I came here for the company, not for the menu."

“Well, that's good then. I haven't been food shopping recently. So," I paused and looked at him. I've been dying to ask about the mysterious caller and the rumor about the handmaiden. I’d be willing to bet Dante wasn’t involved with one of them, but I wanted to hear his response. He’d deflected the question nicely on the talk show, which made me curious to see if he’d actually answer the question.

I tilted my head to the side as I looked at him. The head tilting thing is some weird habit I picked up as a kid and never got over. "Why is there a rumor about you and a certain handmaiden?" I figured this was going to be an uncomfortable question no matter when I asked it, so maybe by asking while I'm in my pajamas, I would be in a little less trouble for being nosey, hopefully.

to be cont.

read a different perspective of this encounter on Cpt. Typho's blog

Early Morning, part 1

2006-05-04T23:02:00.000-06:00

I'm not a morning person, 6AM is usually the earliest I wake up on a typical day, and that's only after 6 hours of sleep. I can get up earlier if the situation warrants, but fortunately for me, it doesn't much. It really all depends on how the night went. In this current job, late nights are great and earlier mornings are a bit of a waste. Very little political hanky panky goes on before 7AM, most starts around 9ish. Lots of political whatnot goes on late at night and can make for interesting viewing, and no, nothing naughty, I leave that for the Lt. back at base to watch. Last night was no exception to the late night rule. I was up until 2AM. Needless to say, I was a bit sleepy, and I wasn't expecting a knock on my door at 6AM.

I got out of bed, quickly splashed some water on my face, dried off and went to see who was at the door. At that particular moment in time, there were very few people who I’d be happy to see at this hour.

It was Dante, and it looked like he'd brought me breakfast. He qualifies as someone who can show up at any hour and be welcome. After making sure he was alone (hey, I didn't want anyone I didn't know seeing me in my pajamas), I opened the door.

I hadn’t seen him in a month. We’d kept in touch, but it’s so much nicer to actually see the person, talk in person, be able to touch him. If I wanted some platonic pen pal to send letters to, I’d have signed up for that. So, despite it being way too early to be awake, I was thrilled he was standing in my doorway.

When I opened the door, Dante gave me a big hug and a kiss, which I returned."Did you miss me," he whispered in my ear.

to be cont.

read a different perspective of this on Cpt. Typho's blog

Wheel of Morality

2006-05-04T00:30:00.000-06:00

Three clones are standing around on the corner of an empty parade field. Suddenly one perks up, “It’s that time again,” he announces.

The other two clones look puzzled.

“To remember the Alamo?” Wil offers.

“To get our rabies shots?” Sev asks.

“No, no, it’s time for the Wheel of Morality!,” Tak announces, and from out of nowhere, pulls the wheel into existence. He then gives it a mighty turn, “Wheel of Morality, turn, turn, turn, tell us the lesson we should learn!”

They watch as the wheel spins, making its clacking noise, and eventually, it slowing down. “You know, Tak, if you spun that thing a little less hard, it wouldn’t take forever to slow down,” Sev points out.

Eventually the wheel stops on the number 4. The dot matrix printer begins loudly printing the moral.

Tak tears it off and reads the moral aloud. “The answer, my friend, is blowing in the wind. (Except for in New Jersey, where what's blowing in the wind smells funny.)”

Wil looks a bit confused, “What’s New Jersey?”

“I don’t know,” Sev replies, "but it can’t smell any worse than a Hutt’s place. Come on, we’re gonna miss chow.”

The three hurry off towards the mess hall.

Dinner with Mal

2006-05-01T23:36:00.000-06:00

Right, so Cmdr Andros stopped by today, just back from some mission on the mid-rim. While waiting for him to arrive, I got to contemplate what exactly I would say to him. I assumed he watched the show, though what that would have told him about me and Dante, I have no idea. Editing can change the reality of the situation into great holonet entertainment. But I’ve not had much luck in regards to relationships with men in the Galactic Republic military for a variety of reasons including rank and rules about who you’re not supposed to become involved with, rules I try to obey. When the door opened, he looked tired and a bit grim. I thought about taking him out to a little diner I know of, but last time I went, the uniforms had decreased significantly. Ladies, have you ever tried to get a man to take you seriously when there are half naked women all around? Damn near impossible. And it used to be such a nice place. I ordered take out and had it delivered.

Mal dropped down into the sofa and gratefully took the cup of caf I offered him. “That good of a mission?,” I asked, sitting down at the other end of the couch. He rolled his eyes and took a sip of the drink, then put it down. “Well, it’s over now, and most of us came out of it intact. So how do you like things here so far,” he asked, shifting his attention to me. I shrugged, “So far, so good. I’ve never lived anywhere quite to hectic as this. And the apartment required some rewiring.” I smiled as I said that, he laughed. “It’s sad when they bug their own people’s quarters. So how did you enjoy the Big Brother show?” Yeah, that’s not a loaded question or anything. I gave Mal a hard look, “Just ask what you want to know, it’ll take less time.” He actually blushed a bit, and then was saved momentarily as a tone announced the arrival of the food.

We ate for a bit before he finally asked. “So have you gotten back together with your ex-boyfriend? I had no idea that you’d dated the head of a Senator’s security.” I nodded, “We’re going to try dating again,” I replied. He looked thoughtful as he ate his food, “So is it exclusive, or can you also date other guys?” That caught me off guard. I’ve never been in a position where multiple guys were competing for my attention. It’s a weird place to be. There are some good things about Mal, as there are about Dante, and they’re both good looking. But I have no idea how to handle this. I need to go back to just shooting things, that’s much easier. The confusion must have shown visibly on my face. “Could you give it some thought,” he asked, watching me. “Yeah, I’ll give it some thought,” I promised. He left after dinner.

I locked the door behind him. My two voorpaks looked up from the couch and purred at me. The mature person would sit down and work this all out in her head, find a balance, and then confront said problem. Sadly, I’m not a mature person. I wanted to crawl in a hole to get away with avoiding the situation.

And I do know why I don’t tell Mal that I’m not interested. It’s because of my ego, that stupid little frail thing that I lug around all the time. It wants a safety net in case Dante decides he doesn’t like me, again. It wants a back up plan, I want a backup plan, and admitting that makes me feel like a bad person. Mal deserves someone who really cares for him, not because he’s a great second choice.

Bleh

Stupid ego.

Stupid me for not being a better person.

Excuse me while I go adapt some software in my recon droid.

Just Another Day

2006-04-28T00:59:00.000-06:00

I only had to go onto base for 6 hours today, mainly to check up on my troops, inspect kit, sit through meetings, planning for possible outings. Bodie, Edee and I sat in the office in the apartment for several hours reviewing surveillance data to package and send on to other intelligence officers who determine what may or may not be interesting to the intelligence community. The voorpaks find the job much more entertaining than I do. Whoever set the cameras had some interesting ideas about what qualifies as a strategic location. I mean, honestly, who talks politics in the loo? The Naboo, Alderaanian, and Chandrilan were all quietly advised that now would be a great time to remodel certain rooms, which required construction that damaged our surveillance cameras. Shame.

After watching various senators do not much of anything but eat and complain for several hours, I called it a day for reviewing and monitoring the residents of the complex. Have I ever mentioned how damn creepy I feel watching people where they live? Super creepy. But anyhoo…

I have to clean up some, I do have a guest coming over later, and I really need to organize a few things so the apartment looks presentable

So Now What?

2006-04-26T23:05:00.000-06:00

Well, Coruscant is certainly interesting. But it is a bit lonely. Dante is still on Naboo, as is Padme. Cmdr Andros returns tomorrow from a mission. My clones have been pretty patient to hang out with me, but they all seem like they’d rather being doing something that involved shooting or blowing things up. We eventually got the giant gift (a huge hot tub) figured out. We had to adapt my terrace to accommodate the thing, install a security screen that now domes over the terrace. And I’ll not tell you how we acquired the hot water hook up, we just did, and it works great.

So since I haven’t had much of a social life, when I’m done with my work, I’ve had a lot of time to contemplate what I’ll do when I leave the military, and I have yet to come up with a real idea. To be honest, I’ve been trying to get out for so long that I’ve kind of forgotten why I wanted to get out in the first place. One of the big pushes was so I could have a regular life, be with Dante, live in one, that whole routine, you know, be normal. But then we broke up. The goal of getting out still hadn’t been achieved yet though, so I kept at it, determined to achieve what I’d started after. And here I am, 4 years later, and now, there is a pretty good chance I’ll be able to get out. And I have no idea what to do with that. No idea what to do, where I’d fit in, and I really don’t want to go back home and live with my parents.

Once in a while I think for a moment that maybe I should stay in the Navy. It’s a job I know, people I usually like. Then I laugh for a while. Let’s be honest, who in their right mind wants to stay in a profession where you could die in the blink of an eye? Bleh. I’ll talk to Mal about this, he wanted to stop by and say hi after his ship docked. Maybe he can provide some perspective on all of this.

Named

2006-04-21T00:19:00.000-06:00

Thanks for all the name ideas, and I think I’m going with Edee and Bodooka, though I think that one might get shortened to Bodie. They seem to be ok with living in an apartment, and since they’re pretty small, they won’t take up too much space.

Speaking of things that take up space, I got a delivery of several different packages from Naboo. One is enormous, I had to ask a few of my troopers to come help me with that. I’m not sure what it is, or more importantly, where it’ll go. I’ll let you know what I got when Tak and Sev show up to help me open it up. Perhaps Dante and I need to have another chat about gifts. I was absolutely thrilled with the voorpaks, so much so he could dent my speeder and still be forgiven. He really doesn't need to send me things. Don't get me wrong, I'm always happy to get presents, but I don't expect them. The big gift has me worried. And now that I think about it, perhaps I should open the smaller packages.

Opening the package, she pulls something out, then blushes. Then she sees the little card in the bottom. She reaches in, takes the card out of the package and opens it. She blushes all the way down to her elbows, then quickly scoops up the items and takes them into her bedroom.

My clones would never let me hear the end of it if they knew I’d just gotten silk sheets and a gift card to Fredericks of Coruscant. They might also never stop asking me what I’d bought with the gift card. Every once in a while I get the impression that some of them might possibly have a thing for me. Which I know is really vain to even think, but I get that vibe from some of them once in a while. Probably just me being silly.

I Got a Present!

2006-04-19T13:27:00.000-06:00

Two, actually. Dante sent me a pair of Voorpaks, he's such a sweet heart. I'm absolutely thrilled. I love voorpak, I had several growing up, very sweet creatures, though they do have pointy teeth, and will eat your younger brother's pet lizards.

So I'm thinking of naming the female Lelu, but am not set on anything. I have no idea what to name the boy. Any thoughts or comments on the naming issue would be appreciated. Thanks!

A to Z of Me, Oh Boy!

2006-04-17T20:43:00.000-06:00

I found this while reading a rather random blog that is not one I'd normally admit to reading. So, to maintain my dignity, I'm just going to say I stole the idea from one of Captain Typho's old posts. I really miss him. He should be back soon, I'm not sure if he'll go see his family. Other than them, I don't think he has any commitments on Naboo. One of my troopers keeps pestering me about the rumors regarding Dante. Fi really wants to know what would happen if the rumor about him and a handmaiden were true. Fi is probably more persistent than is good for him.

Onto the questionnaire.

Accent: Southern Naboo, but not quite as heavy as Queen Jamilla's accent
Booze: No thanks
Chore I Hate: Dishes
Dog or Cat: a what or a what? I'd like a voorpak...
Essential Electronics: iPod
Favorite Perfume: Arden Beauty
Gold or Silver: Hmm, why isn't platinum an option?
Hometown: Deeja Peak
Insomnia: Nope, thank the force
Job Title: Leader of Asskicking Clones
Kids: None yet, maybe later, much later
Living arrangements: Me, myself and I
Mom's birthplace: Somewhere on Alderan, she was a bit early
Number pets you've had: I grew up on a working ranch, so a lot
Overnight hospital stays: Many
Phobias: I really dislike small cramped spaces
Quote: Be the change that you want to see in the world. Mohandas Gandhi
Religion: Heathen
Siblings: An older brother and a younger brother
Time I wake up: whenever the klaxion goes off
Unusual talent or skill: I know all 32 native Naboo dances (hey, it said unusual, not useful)
Vegetable I refuse to eat: Okra
Worst habit: Procrastination
X-rays: A few, but mainly they just use the med scanner to see what I broke
Zodiac sign: Gemini

Ahhh, do you now feel like you know me well? That you have a deep and intimate bond with me because of the info I've shared? No? Me either, oh well, maybe next time.

Got Purpose?

2006-04-17T00:17:00.000-06:00

Have you ever had moments where you stop mid-action and realize you have no idea what you’re doing? And not just what you are doing in that moment, but overall, what you are doing on the planet you’re on, what you are doing with the people who surround you, what your place is in the whole thing. A moment where there is no way you can rationalize your life up to this point to yourself.

I had one of those moments this morning as I watered the two little plants I have. As I watched the chaos that is Coruscant outside my window, I realized I had no idea what I was doing here. My presence or absence would have very little impact on the people here. And honestly, what do I care for most of them? Why am I here risking my life? So a bunch of people can keep shopping in safety, so their moments at the café are undisturbed? Why do I have to die for them? Why do my men have to die for them? I put down the watering can and let the feeling linger.

And because I have zero serious honest resolve, I put on my uniform, left my apartment and went to work. I wish I could say that I picked up and left, that I refused to continue with something I disagreed with, something that left me feeling so detached. But I can’t imagine myself actually just walking away, dropping everything and creating a new life. Ever have one of those days where you just realize that you suck? I’m having one of those days. I’ll go find Tak or Sev, they’re usually pretty good at cheering me up. Tak’s had guard duty with one of the Senators, that usually yields pretty funny stories. And don’t worry about me, I’ll probably find some purpose in a cup of caf.

It's Friday and...

2006-04-14T00:54:00.000-06:00

...and I am without a funny thought/post for you all today. I have a self indulgent whiny one, but I'll spare you all that. So here's funny picture or two for your viewing pleasure.

Actually while spell checking this epic post of mine, I had some fun with the dictionary, not that I don't trust blogger spell check or anything, well, actually, I don't.

whinny adj covered with whin or furze
what the heck is furze??? or whin for that matter???

whin n. furze

furze n. whin (haha, not really, that was the second definition) a prickly evergreen shrub of the pea family, with dark green spines and yellow flowers, native to European wastelands furzy adj.

So that's the educational post for this blog. Being whinny sounds painful and a bit bleak. Who knew Europe had wastelands?

Today's post was brought to you by the letter C

Adjusting to City Life

2006-04-12T12:16:00.000-06:00

Bleh, I’m starting to miss the peace and quiet of a star cruiser. This planet/city makes so much noise all the time. My apartment walls and windows dampen most of the sound, but still, every once in a while, the sound of a car accident/explosion makes its muffled way into my abode. And the planet smells, well, dirty in a chemical sort of way. Some of my clones have been getting a rash at the joint areas of their armor like on their shoulder and their legs. We’re trying to find a way to reduce that, though bacta does seem to do a pretty good job clearing it up when it appears.

So my mission here will have two parts. The first and somewhat acknowledged part is that I will be running support for special ops missions here on the planet. There have been several attacks on government buildings recently, and Separatist sympathizers are suspected. There had been a series of attacks last year, but they were dealt with and there had been no activity until recently. The second part of my mission is to monitor the goings on within my building, apparently the Chancellor feels that there may be Separatist leaning senators, and he wants to know who, as well as what ever else I find out in my spying. So, I have some issues with the second part of my mission, you know, the moral kind of issues. Why would the Chancellor need to spy on his Senators?

Ok, let me just get this said and out of the way. The Chancellor creeps me out, epically. Always has, even when he was just a Senator, there is just something about him, icky, creepy, wouldn’t want to leave your puppy with him type of vibe. Eirtaé and I just never liked him, so much so that we could almost tell when he was about to enter the room. We’d both get stressed and nervous, then in he’d glide. We tried sharing this with others, but all of the other handmaidens thought he was just a nice old man. Padmé was happy that Naboo had a serious place within the Republic government, so she suggested we temper our opinions some. Then I got shipped off to the Academy, and Eirtaé kept quite about it all, choosing to retire her position when she turned 18.

I’ve gotten more stuff for my apartment, it’s starting to look homey and welcoming. I also did a sweep for bugs. Lots of listening devices, had to take those out, and then removed half the cameras and left the other half on a loop. No need to make whoever is watching me think that I’m completely aware of it. My clones come by once in a while and keep me company, though I do get to see everyone almost daily when I head into the main base. Big Brother: Naboo should be almost finished, so hopefully that means I’ll get to see Dante again soon.

Well, I’m off, I need to warn Bail Organa’s senatorial aide that someone put cameras in locations throughout her living quarters that she may not appreciate.

Breakfast Insight

2006-04-10T00:35:00.000-06:00

Over never ending caf, a plate full of eggs, nerf strips and toast, my clones filled me in on a world that I was unaware existed. I knew that due to the tight living situations and sense of brotherhood the clones have, there are really very few secrets amongst them all. What I didn’t know is that their incredible intellect loves to collect and share all types of information, but most especially about people they know and know of, which is a pretty impressive group of beings.

Not surprisingly, they knew quite a bit of gossip about the officers. They were pretty mum about gossip about other clone troopers, but the non-clone folk were areas of active discussion. Being that I’d just spent a lot of time in front of cameras, I was amongst the gossip subjects, but nothing particularly scandalous. All four of them did want to know if I’d be dating Cpt. Typho in the future. “Yes, most likely since we do live on the same planet now.” Sev sipped his caf, made a face, then added two spoonfuls of sugar, “Well, are you two going to date exclusively?” “I guess so, I hadn’t really talked to him about that.” I paused and looked hard at Sev, he looked like he wanted to say something, but was holding back. “Why do you ask,” I inquired, looking first at Sev and then at the other three. Wil coughed, or giggled and tried to make it into a cough. I arched an eye brow and let the full weight of my gaze rest on him. He tried to make a straight face, “Well, there was a rumor going around for a bit that he’d gotten a handmaiden pregnant, but then that rumor changed into rumors that the handmaiden had left to marry a man with suspected CIS sympathies. But we’ve also heard that a certain Jedi hangs out at the Naboo apartments quite a bit when a certain Senator is on planet.” “I doubt that,” I replied, “Anyways, I think he’s been pretty busy with a pretty blonde non-handmaiden up until right before the show started.” They all gave me lame knowing looks, then continued on with various bits of information.

I felt left out of the flow, so I contributed the only piece of info I had, “Well, I heard that a commando trooper got a Jedi pregnant and she’s been stationed to some very mundane duty on some remote planet.” They all looked shocked, but not the type of shock of being scandalized by some falsity. Oh no, this was the look of ‘how the fierfek did you know that?’ I looked at all of them, shook my head and sighed, “I don’t even want to contemplate that one being true, lets move on. What else have you heard about Senators?” They all glanced at each other, then Tak started talking about the delegation from Garos IV, then onto some gossip about a prominent ship builder. Sorry, no gossip good or bad about Sen. Organa.

The conversation continued on, but I kept going back to what I’d said that had caught them so off guard. I know that quite a few of them hold some hope that the war will indeed end at that they might get a short chance at the type of life they have lost so many to defend. And why shouldn’t they? But unless there is a way to stop the aging process, I don’t think many will get the chance to try what most consider a normal life. And this type of work brings people together, I could see a commando and a Jedi as a couple. I just don't want to imagine their child. But that is just one solider, it seems unfair that so many others don't have a chance at a family.

By the time we left, my head was swimming with all the random information I’d just gotten from my guys. I think I should make breakfast with my unit a weekly thing, it was all very enlightening. And I’m sure when Dante gets back from Naboo, he’ll just be thrilled with the rumors regarding him.

One More RL Thing...

2006-04-09T13:46:00.000-06:00

Michelle/Cpt. Typho had her little one and has posted a picture and an update on her non-Star Wars webpage. Go check it out, he's a cutie :)

Now For Something Completely Off Topic

2006-04-07T00:15:00.000-06:00

Hi folks, it’s the Lt. Cmdr’s intern. I know, I know, you all really want to know the latest clone gossip. And she’ll get to that, but not right now. Right now you’ll have to bear with me for a bit. Today is World Health Day 2006. This year, the World Health Organization is celebrating healthcare workers around the globe. They also want to highlight the need for more healthcare workers, particularly in developing countries. Why am I telling you this? So the next time you have to go to the doctor, see a nurse, or get care from a first responder, you say thank you. Say thank you to the people who have dedicated their lives to making your life easier, healthier and longer. And also realize not everyone in this world has someone to thank, so please appreciate who you have taking care of you, if only for a day.

Furniture 'Shopping'

2006-04-06T00:59:00.000-06:00

The ship made it back to Coruscant in a short time. I haven’t been told my complete assignment, but I do know that it has me living off base. A few of my guys offered to drive me over to the building and help me move my stuff in, not that I have all that much, but the help is welcome. And I figure I can take them out to lunch afterwards.

My orders state that my apartment is in 500 Republica, the same building that houses so many senators. From that alone I can make a guess at what most of my home time is to be spent doing. We all managed to fit on the lift with my stuff. It shot upwards at speeds that could qualify it as an amusement park ride back home on Naboo. My quarters are located about midway up the building, I think it’s more of an administrative worker area, which works for me, no being kept up at all hours because of a noisy Senator’s party.

The apartment is actually quite nice. It was completely empty except for one room, which had a large desk and was filled with computer equipment, monitors, and a variety of surveillance equipment. My troopers and I looked at each other, then closed the door. No need to mess with the expensive delicate equipment before I got my orders.

Tak looked around the empty apartment. “May I make a suggestion, ma’am?” I nodded, trying to figure out where I could get some furniture. “I believe the Corellian Senator is redecorating, I doubt Senator Bel Ibis would mind if we took a couch or a chair that was on its way out.” I looked at Tak incredulously, “You mean dumpster diving?” I asked, a slow smile sneaking up despite my best efforts to look shocked. “Whatever you want to call it, Oneida, but it’s certainly nicer than what you’ve got,” he replied teasingly. Wil(WK315) looked up, “Well, I don’t know about that, this imaginary couch goes with simply everything, it’ll never go out of style, and it’s easy to move, though it isn’t very comfy.” I laughed, “Ok, I get it, let's go. And it’ll be from the Corellian delegation, so it’s probably pretty nice.” As we got in the lift, I looked at Tak, “You do realize that this is not how I’m going to find a bed, right?” He colored a bit and shrugged, “I haven’t given your sleeping situation much thought.” Wil rolled his eyes.

After applying our military skills in stealth, evasion, and coordination, we had a really nice comfy couch, two chairs and a few other things. Your tax dollars at work, and recycling in action. By that time, we were famished, so we dropped the things off, and I took them out to eat. Only four of my guys, Tak, Wil, Sev and Fi had come, so it was pretty easy to find a place to eat, and being clones who usually get ration cubes, they’ll eat just about anything. We found a diner nearby on one of the lower levels of Coruscant. I’ve eaten many meals with clones before, but not all of my meals, and not always during down time. Either I’d never noticed before or they’d never done it before, but these boys could gossip something fierce. And no topic was safe. I’ll tell you about the gossip tomorrow.