Trax and Nim: In Transit

[GM Craig]

As the Rogue Shadow transits hyperspace, there are some things and people that need to be taken care of. Captain Eclipse and Galen keep to themselves for the most part. PROXY is an attentive droid, and is more than capable of looking after the injured. As the most severely injured, Rand was put into the bacta tank, and she will need to stay there the entire trip. Her spinal damage was also too severe for mere Bacta to help, and she'll need implants to recover the use of her legs.

Thanks to quick action by Nim, Doha is up and around fairly quickly. He is still badly injured, but he'll survive and make a full recovery.

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Trax ends up needed to spend a week in the medical bay, which does not sit well with him. PROXY however is insistent, even to the point of reducing the pain medication to convince Trax how injured he is. Eventually, at Nim's behest, PROXY resorts to sedatives, and Trax is a model patient after that. So a week under a combination of sedatives and orthopaedic reinforcement and Trax's broken ribs and sternum have mended. He wakes up a week into the journey to find his hand and forearm have been replaced with a crude but functional prosthetic. PROXY apologizes profusely, but pleads a lack of supplies to fashion a more aesthetically pleasing prosthetic.

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Nim spends some time getting to know the little droid Buzz. The droid is more of a gadget, really. There's not enough processing power for true intelligence, but the thing is a marvel of technology. Inside that tiny frame is a full holoprojector / recorder suite, a "holy crap ton" of data storage, and specialized software that allows the droid to aid others with various technical tasks. He's also got a shield projector, which could be useful in emergencies, an a stealth-field generator built into his frame that can hide him.

Nim stumbled on something while Trax was under sedation. She was digitally poking through Buzz when the holoprojectors activated. Suddenly, Mariah was standing there in the workshop. She stands there, her wild hair unkempt and grease stains on her clothes, face and hands. She says, "Are you recording?" You hear some off-screen beeps and clicks, and Mariah claps her hands together and giggles. "Buzz, you are amazing! You and I are going to be best friends!" She reaches out again, and the image shatters and is gone.

A quick scan of the rest of the data store shows she made a few more recordings. There are also hundreds of hours of other recordings that appear to be two young children growing up. From the scenery in most of them, they appear to the wealthy. There is also a recording that Nim does not investigate - it is time stamped the same day and time Mariah was ambushed on Corellia. It seems Buzz was recording from the moment Mariah took him out of her bag.

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In a quiet moment, Nim questions PROXY on what happened in the observatory. The droid dutifully says he was directed to record the historic meeting, and has everything on a holo recording from the moment Bail Organa told him to start recording until Vader rendered him non-functional. Nim can review the entire attack if she wishes.

[OOC: You can include the Trax thread from Corellia as IC knowledge if she wishes to record it. Trax clearly sacrificed himself to try and give the senators a chance at escaping, taking down a number of ice troopers on his own.]

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When Trax is up and around and getting used to the new arm, he goes to the cargo hold and finds Mariah is no longer there. In a mix of panic and rage, he finds Juno. Apparently, Galen's ship had been equipped for live captures, and he had a couple of stasis pods. Captain Eclipse, not sure what to do, had placed Mariah in one of the pods. She was not sure what customs might be applicable, so she thought preserving the body until a decision could be made was prudent. She clearly meant no offence. It just seemed cruel to leave her there on the deck. if Trax checks, Mariah has been settled comfortable with a blanket and pillow.

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[OOC: Just filling in some gaps from the transition. Feel free to post reactions here if you guys want. Galen spends a lot of time in meditation, and Juno busies herself in the cockpit. There's a lot of tension on the ship, in addition to whatever the two of you might contribute. Doha is injured enough that he stays in the medical bay, and Rand is in bacta the whole trip, so the two of you have the run of the cargo bay and the workshop if you want to have some discussions.

[Nim Naja]

Week 1 Day 1

The medbay was cramped. Trax on a table, Doha on a table, Rand in the tank, Mariah.. no, don't go there.

Nim stood with a blanket wrapped around her for an untold amount of time watching PROXY work on these people - her people - ? She watched in silence, still unsure if the use of that word was appropriate. She barely knew any of them. The woman had clearly taken to Trax in a ridiculously short amount of time. What was it called, chemistry? Something like that. She didn't think of it in relationship terms. Nim liked him - a lot, he was fun and satisfied a lot of her needs without all of the complications of the usual crap. Maybe that's what he liked about her too. Although, he insisted on being her bodyguard after her search on Niil set off alarms across the galaxy, and she was sure she'd seen this kind of situation in a holovid once. Or maybe a porn. Probably both.

Trax laid on the table, sedated. Something about a droid and not a sexy nurse tending to him was the last straw. PROXY did admit he could tailor a nurse outfit later. Nim might have to take him up on it.

And then there were the others.

Her compassion for Siobhan was the strangest. She knew very well that Rand could have been an imperial agent. It had made her paranoid, distrustful. When Rand had disappeared into the trees after the sniper splattered Wrix all over Nim, her mind did a silent ?wtf?? and she wouldn't have been surprised to find the spook leading a squad of snowtroopers soon after.

But what finally got to her was the site of the ambush. Mariah was its own personal haunting. But Rand, struggling on the ground and dying with the rest of the team - no, not even Nim's paranoia could go beyond that. She wasn't a rival agent. She was a rebel like the rest of them, and she was dying a horrible death, one that Nim would have shared with her had she stayed.

Should have shared with her?

With folded arms and tired eyes she stared at the bacta tank. It would be a long time before they could get her to a full recovery. If they could. The woman had given up - those eyes, the expression, her bloody grip - she had been scared to die, but did it anyway.

She didn't know Siobhan and yet at that moment on Corellia it was as if she was suddenly responsible not only for her death in abandoning them, but accountable in saving her and now her recovery. The tears she'd spilled in the snow for Rand were genuine. These things weren't fair.

And there was Wyrren, who clearly sacrificed himself so no one else would be shot.

And back to Trax, whom she was sure met with a lightsaber in trying to save the senators.

And finally to herself. Her hands and face were barely nipped by frostbite and she was alive and well. If Wrix hadn't exploded onto her and her clothes one might not even have known she was at Corellia.

Should she have shared their fate? She was beginning to doubt the reasons she went back for Wyrren.

Alexa had saved these people and yet she didn't feel celebratory. What she did feel was the proverbial wall, having finally hit it. She wasn't built for this osik anymore.

[Nim Naja]

Week 1

Nim must have fallen asleep standing up. She awoke at some point later on a cot in the cargo bay. It was a startled waking, like instead of sleep she'd just merely lost track of time. But more than that, she didn't recognize the room right away. It took a good groggy moment to register it but even then it wasn't a welcome feeling. Mariah's body was gone and that was karked up enough, but it was so quiet there.

The hum of the ship in hyper should have been enough white noise but at that moment it wasn?t; it was creepy and worse, it was suddenly very lonely. To the heavily social Lorrdian it was nearly solitary confinement.

She looked around in a sleepy daze, clearly not having had enough sleep yet. A set of clean civilian clothes sat on the floor next to the cot. Although they were strange and clearly something out of Juno's spacer wardrobe it was a welcome departure from her current gory disgusting mess. They didn?t fit perfectly but that was hardly a complaint, she changed into them regardless.

But in leaving the cot Nim didn't feel right or well at all. Her ears had a faint ringing to them, hands trembled and sweat glistened on her forehead. Her heart raced and in thinking about it it dawned on her what was going on.

Oh frak me.

The infochant looked over to her boot with concern. It?s too early, isn?t it? How long has it been since they left her station? She was lucky, very lucky the former ship?s cargo had glitterstim samples. It should get her through the trip and the mission, but then what?

Frak me.

The woman had to somehow brush off the withdrawals for now, just for a little while, as much as she could at least. Nim needed to get out of there and make sure the group - her people? - were okay. She wasn't comfortable sleeping while they were out, with no one to protect them.

The ship was dimly lit outside the bay, but a flourescent light spilled out from a section she had been too busy and freezing to have ventured into yet. Another hum distinct from the ship emanated through a door and curiosity took her past it, but recognition also shortly stopped her feet in their tracks:

Stasis pods.

She was snapped wide awake then, suddenly very wary of the situation. This was, former or not, a Dark Jedi?s ship. An imperial assassin?s ship. They were generally for live captures though, and her heart leapt in her chest, all sorts of conspiracy theories flooding her brain. Someone was in a pod. Were the other ones for her and the team? They were all out cold, what happens when they found her awake?

Her hand fell to the blaster on her hip and she looked behind her, as if expecting an ambush at any second. But Nim had to see whom they had on ice and moved forward cautiously, adrenaline pumping in the fight or flight mode. She looked back one last time and then stepped in front of the pod, the glow eerily lighting up her feminine features.

And she gasped, taking a subconscious step backwards and hitting the wall with both heels. A pained expression fell upon her visage and she could not voluntarily take her eyes off of the girl inside.

Mariah looked so peaceful against the pillow and blanket, and yet it hurt with the power of a thousand suns, a cruelty and torture that would just never end. It had been easier with Trax there. Now she just felt alone again, with medical machines that again told lies. The bitter, biting wind and a horrible, unforgettable scene.

She squeezed her eyes shut to block out the images, pulling in the beautiful, mischievous smile of Alexa instead, but that only made her furious.

It wasn't fair. It wasn't fair that Nim had killed herself a hundred times only to be forced back by Alexa but Alexa would let someone like this innocent girl go. That was cruelty. Cruelty with no explanation and by the gods she was angry.

A long-held breath released. Nim wasn't on Corellia anymore. There was no ticking timer. No one was dying now, and there were more qualified people aboard if there had been. No, that nightmare was over, she just needed to deal with the aftermath.

The Lorrdian opened her eyes again, this time forcing herself to look. It'd been the smart thing to do, preserving the body in a pod. She almost felt bad for assuming the Imperials had prisoners in there. Almost. She still felt that they'd find metaphorical skeletons aboard somewhere.

She eventually stepped out and closed the door, wondering if it would be Mariah that started talking to her next. She likely hadn't known the girl well enough, not like Allie. But Buzz was a constant reminder, and who knew, Mariah might even start communicating through him. That'd be a little weird.

The ringing hadn't stopped, in fact it was even louder and more obnoxious. She headed back down the ramp to grab the pillow and blanket to move to the medbay, but didn't make it to the cot before her stomach gave out all over the floor.

No no nonono?

Even if she could push through the withdrawal herself, her connection to Alexa would diminish or maybe break entirely. As pissed as she was at her, she couldn?t do that. Nim would lose her karkin? mind without the last vestiges of the woman - and that scared her more than anything.

I?m not going back to that hellhole. And I?m not losing you.

She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand and sat up, yanking her boot off and pulling out one of the hidden stashes. Trax probably would have been ultra angry if he found out she?d broken into the cargo but she would have made up the money easily enough once they?d gotten back to non-Rebellion business. It was a shame the cargo went up with the ship. The infochant would have found them a buyer for everything else.

Nim looked at the drugs with dismay, feeling the gnawing hunger although she had only wanted it for one thing these last few years. It was worth the addiction though. Living hadn't been worth it without her.

Nim just didn't know what she'd do after this last bit was gone.

[Nim Naja]

Week 1 Day?

Doha is out of it for several days. With Rand in the bacta dip, Doha is sedated to help with the pain while PROXY works on him.

It's crowded in the med bay, what with Trax needing to be sedated as well, so PROXY sets up a cot in the workshop and enlists your aid to keep an eye on Doha. So, you are there when Doha first wakes up.

You are in checking dressings when he groans and opens one eye. He looks at you for a moment, as if trying to place you.

"You... you're Nim, right? Where am I?"

?Hey!? she replied, reaching for his hand. ?Yeah, I?m Nim. How could you ever forget??

She very much wanted to say you?ve died and gone to hell, but didn?t think that?d go over as well as it would with Trax. ?You are currently on a pretty sweet ship.?

He closes his eyes for a few seconds. He opens them again. "How did I get here, and why do I feel like lukewarm filth?"

Nim sat down next to the cot, pulling her knees up.

"I imagine you feel like osik because you've been knocked out for like.. three days - four days? What's the last thing you remember?"

"That Rodian... Wrix? Got shot by a sniper. It's all a little fuzzy after that. I remember getting hit? Nothing else."

She nodded, looking at her fingers for a moment.

"Yeah, Wrix went down. Yespari and I were pinned behind a rock or something. Rand needed a distraction to take out the sniper, and you went running into the woods like a loon. He shot you a few times but Rand got him. Next drink for your crazy ass is on me."

Nim threw the jokes in there but knew it was just a defense mechanism. She knew where the conversation was heading, and it was heading there at lightspeed. And of course she was the only one awake enough to discuss it.

"Ok, yeah... it's coming back to me." A hand reflexively goes to his shoulder and encounters bandages. "What happened then? Did we save the senators?"

?No.? Nim shook her head. ?I ran back to get you. Yespari advanced with the girls and didn?t make it. Trax and Galen were taken down by Vader and he carted off the senators.?

She sighed deeply, placing her forehead on her knees. ?Galen is onboard. Trax is sedated. Rand will be in bacta for a long time, and even then.. I don?t know. It?s just you and I for now.?

"What the frell is that traitorous bastard doing on board?"

?Uh.. well.. it?s his ship. Yeah, I know, risky business. I took a giant leap of faith for the group but it was better than the alternative. It?s.. a complex story.?

He considers a moment. "Where are we headed?"

?Okay? long story short, Galen is taking us to some massive battlestation at Horuz where the senators are headed for execution by the Emperor. Infil and extraction it is our last hope of saving them.?

"And Galen is helping us do that?"

?Yup. It?s his idea,? she shrugged. ?Juno is the ace pilot and his friend. She was an Imperial officer. One of their best, according to my records.?

Nim snorted. ?I know, it sounds so karked up. But we?re ?small potatoes.? (ooc: a phrase she takes such sardonic delight in now) The imps left us to die on that mountain, including Galen. These two have no other reason to pick us up, patch you up, give you all their med supplies. Put Rand in their tank, and Mariah in one of their stasis pods so we can give her a proper funeral.?

?I?m paranoid as a rule. But even I can?t see this being some long con.?

He considers a moment. "Well if anyone would know, it's you, I suppose. You said Mariah's dead, Rand's in the tank. Trax is alive, Wrix bought it. I suppose everyone else died too."

It clearly wasn't a question.

"So what are we going to do when we get where we're going? Ask nicely? Or does Galen have some sort of a plan to rescue the people he led into capture?"

?I don't know yet, ? she replied. ?I haven't gotten to the details. This ship has cloaking though, I guarantee it'll be a part of it. It even has a tractor beam. Which, I'll tell ya Wyrren, was essential to getting your ass onboard? I wasn't aware that they feed you cake in prison...?

He is quiet a moment. "You said the others went on ahead, but you stayed back for me?"

Nim stared at her feet between bent legs, hugging her knees a bit. "Yespari gave me flak about the mission, but yeah.. I ran back anyway. You were somewhere in the woods behind us."

Doha nods. "You saved my sorry life, Nim. And probably saved your own as well. Yespari was good, Nim. I've worked with her before. She was a soldier, and veteran of some heavy fighting. If she was killed, I don't doubt you would have been too. She probably took more than a few with her."

He looks up at you. "I see you. Put those thoughts away. If you hadn't done what you did, we wouldn't have this chance now. If Yespari went down, we were doomed from the start. The fact that you and I and Trax and Rand are here is entirely due to you. We have another chance. That's because of you."

?Nah man, that was definitely someone else - you guys had an angel looking after you. I just happened to be there.?

Recalling the memories were enough for her to break out the few smokes she had left. Her hands trembled as she lit one. Nim was upset most with Mariah, having felt like she had in fact been on her own and completely out of her element with the girl's life in her hands. All Alexa did was try to comfort her. But it wasn't enough. Allie had saved the others - she could have saved Mariah too.

She brushed a damp eye with her cigarette hand. It wasn't fair.

Doha looks at your trembling fingers and is quiet a moment. "Even 'angels' need someone to act through. If you hadn't been there, we'd all be dead, and there wouldn't even be a hope of rescuing the senators. Whatever we lost, whatever our scars, you gave us something valuable an important. Hope." He grabs your shoulder then to get your attention. "Whatever happened out there, remember - there's three people on this ship who owe you their lives. You couldn't save everyone. But you did save three of us. Do not forget that, Nim. As dark and as terrible as it may have been, remember that you told death herself, "Kark-off! You can't have them all!' And I bet you made her work hard for the ones she did get."

He looks like he wants to smile encouragingly, but in the end he doesn't - his heart isn't in it, and it's no time for smiles. He's wrestling with demons of his own.

A moment later he says, "It's never easy losing people, Nim. With the stakes so high and the odds we're facing, lots of good people are going to get hurt. Sometimes you can save them. Sometimes you can't. That doesn't make it a failure."

She was quiet for a long moment but eventually looked up to Wyrren. ?You?re right,? she smiled faintly. ?I know. I couldn?t save one, long time ago and.. she?s been that guardian angel since. Working through me, I guess. As you said.?

She slowly shook her head. ?I don?t know why I didn?t stay on the ship. I know, I?d be dead, we?d all be dead, but Alexa sacrificed herself so that I couldn?t be captured by them. I?ve spent all these years underground, building my network in secret. Adopting fake identities, fronts, relocating a million times. We weren?t careful enough back then, we didn?t know we needed to be, what the Imperials were capable of, what they even knew about us. But I have been damned careful since. I can?t go through reeducation. They?ll mind-kark me into compliance and.. gods. It frightens me to think what they'd have me do.?

?And..? her voice practically went up an octave, ?we're doing what now? I?ll tell ya, I never expected to be hands-on, Wyrren. Once spooks are made, that?s it, ya know? Game over. Getting face to face with Imperials was the last thing I expected to do. Hell, that's why I was pissed that Trax put me in the same room as Rand and just volunteered my name and occupation.?

He gives you a wry smile. "And yet, I bet Trax wasn't the first client you met face-to-face, hmm?"

"Ha, true. But I vet the hell out of them first. Yours was risky but I didn't want to be recorded somehow and I definitely couldn't have you walking into my 'office'."

"Speaking of you, why the prison ship? Why wouldn't they just kill you outright?"

"I was highly placed in the Senators inner circle. They caught me spreading sedition, and wanted to roll up the senator. The Senate still has some power, and Garm Bel Iblis is popular on Corellia. If they snatched him without hard proof, there would be an uproar. I figured I was being sent to the Core Worlds for a thorough interrogation by Imperial Intelligence. A nice public confession would allow them to grab the senator. They also wanted to try and roll up his associates - I couldn't tell them much about that, but they didn't know that."

"As terrible as it sounds, I figured it was only a matter of time before they either dug up dirt on him or created it. He was too loud, too obvious. And yet, someone has to be."

[Nim Naja]

Reserved

[Nim Naja]

Reserved

[Trax]

For the most part, Trax spent the first day he'd been 'released' from medical still in the medical bay.  He was feeling a little weak and unsteady after being forced into bed rest for a solid week and strangely enough, he felt most comfortable in the med bay.

There were small exceptions of course, the first thing he'd done was fashioned a wrap and wrapped his left arm up from the elbow down to his wrist and then put a glove on his left hand.  There was no pride or vanity in the action, seeing the artificial limb triggered something that unsettled him right to the core.  For that reason, he had to cover it.

The other notable exception to Trax's continued time in the med bay were brief visits to Mariah's stasis pod.  But those visits, despite happening every few hours never saw him get within more than about ten feet from the pod.  The man couldn't will himself to get any closer.  In fact, he could barely bring himself to even look at Mariah's form, laying there so peacefully he could have sworn she was just sleeping.

The final exception on that first day was simply a matter of sustenance.  He had to eat, and though the rations were stored elsewhere, he found himself eating in the med bay.  The day had basically been a write off.  The rebel that couldn't face the demons that raged within him had been quiet and polite, but mostly unresponsive to the others around him.  It was only late in the day before he finally approached Nim and interrupted her.

"I," he took a deep breath.  "Thanks." he said with a small smile.  His body language told the woman he wanted to say more, and that he knew his words were seriously inadequate but something kept him from elaborating further.

[Nim Naja]

Although the medbay had clearly been where Nim had slept that entire week, curled up in a tight corner, she'd let Trax have as much privacy as he wished. She visited with Wyrren as much as he could stand it but found herself back in solitary in the cargo hold before too long.

She passed the time watching holovids, mostly more with Nim and Alexa, practically the only thing that got her through drug withdrawals and social deprivation the first week. The withdrawals were still there but not as bad as they were before. She mostly just needed to keep her mind occupied, which wasn?t easy on a tiny ship where everyone kept to themselves or was unconscious.

The woman shut down the vid as Trax came down, sitting up in a cot in the middle of the room and giving him the widest, brightest smile in greeting. She didn?t have to say a word, it was clear she was incredibly happy to see him. Nim stood and rushed to his side to help him towards the cot if he wanted or needed it.

Although his body language was clear, it wasn?t specific. She looked at him quizzically after the thanks but didn?t ask, knowing he would elaborate on his own time, if he ever felt so inclined.

[Trax]

Trax couldn't deny it, it felt good to see Nim smile at him like that when he entered the cargo bay.  But the man furrowed his brow a little, Nim's quizzical look telling him his simple thanks wasn't as clear as he'd hoped.  He struggled to say anything for a few moments, trying to get out the real meaning behind the word he'd spoken but something wouldn't let him

Finally he switched to something that did come naturally.  He put his arm around her and let her help him to the cot.  He leaned on her a little more than he needed to, might as well play the wounded soldier, he had a hell of a good looking nurse.

"Thanks, you know, for braving the weather like you did." he began as they moved towards the cot.

"Nice to wake up and see an attractive woman wearing a friendly smile and not much else."

[Nim Naja]

Nim smirked in reply and sat down next to Trax after getting him settled. Yeah... I definitely missed him. "Play your cards right, and it won't be the only time."

She cocked her head to the side and looked him over, flipping her visor down and back up to the top of her head after checking his vitals. "I'm glad to see you up and about. It bothered me to have you knocked out all that time, ya know?"


OOC: Btw she's changed into some borrowed spacer civvies on loan from Juno.

[Trax]

"Nice to be up and about.  Being pumped full of sedatives and spending a week in and out of consciousness doesn't exactly crack my fun list.

And no need for the pretense," Trax said indicating the woman's visor.

"Feel free to check me out all you want." he smiled playfully at Nim.

"Just no whistling or catcalls, I do have some self respect."

[Nim Naja]

"Shut up and kiss me," she chuckled. "I missed you, dammit."

[Trax]

Nim's response surprised Trax.  He'd expected a response that would be amusing, probably even a little insulting but not this.  Either his conversation skills were that bad she wanted him to shut up or his flirting skills were that good and she just wanted him.  Mentally he shrugged, either way it was a win and he wasn't going to make her to ask twice or wait too long and risk the woman changing her mind.  He leaned in and pressed his lips against hers, gently at first, but his pressure quickly increased, along with is heart rate.  He missed her too.

His eyes began to close as he reveled in the moment, but the moment they were shut there was a red flash.  He jerked back and his eyes snapped open, but all he saw was Nim's face.  A look of confusion passed briefly across his face before he leaned in again and gently touched his forehead to hers.

"I swear, those lips should be classified as a narcotic." he said as he smiled at her.

[Nim Naja]

Nim smiled happily, enjoying his simple touch again. But when he yanked back it startled her and she looked to him with concern for a moment. Whatever it was it was gone when he smiled...very strange.

"Welll... they've touched enough that they should be registered as a controlled substance. Illegal in most star systems. And wildly expensive.?

The woman thought back to the glitterstim samples she?d taken from the former ship?s cargo and felt guilty for a moment. But with that ship having been decimated at least the drugs she?d confiscated wouldn?t go to waste. She doubted she?d even be able to speak to anyone right about now if she hadn?t.

[Trax]

Trax backed away slightly, feigning a look of seriousness.

"Wildly expensive huh?

Then unless you're willing to accept IOUs or we can figure out some type of quid pro quo arrangement I'm in some serious trouble."