In Search Of Maris...

[Keshani]

A few days later Keshani still remembered the invitation that the elusive female had directed toward her before she ended the conversation with Collan in the Galley.

The female Zebrak was a total enigma to the teenager, but she was interested to hear what she had to say. She felt totally lost in what she should do now that she was free of both the slave camp and the planet of Bakura.

She didn't know enough about this Rebellion to really see it as her fight - she hated the Imperials for imprisoning her in the slave camp and what they did to her while there, but that was a personal vendetta, wasn't it? She also wasn't sure how well she would like being ordered around all the time...

But, now that she had met the others, she wasn't sure she wanted to go back to being on her own......

She wandered around the engine room, just poking around, hoping that Maris would appear....

[GM Craig]

It is only moments before the zabrak materializes out of thin air.

She is sitting on the deck in a corner, her back against a pipe, and legs out before her. Her arms are crossed.

"Hey."

[Keshani]

"How do you DO that?!", the girl exclaimed, doing her best to not show how startled she had been by the Zabrack's sudden appearance...

[GM Craig]

"With the Force. I can let light pass through me. Well, not really, but that's kind of the effect."

She brings up a leg and hugs it. "I could teach you, maybe. If you're sensitive to the Force."

[Keshani]

She offered the female Zabrack a hint of a smile. "I..uh..don't think I am. Collan tried to explain a bit the other day. It didn't work out so well..

"Um. So the other day you said there were other options..."

She was still standing, remembering how the conversation the other day had ended up and not wanting to offend the woman...

[GM Craig]

"Sure. Lots of options, especially for someone with your skills. These folks are going to stand up to the big bad empire. But people like us - we know what happens when someone weak stands up to someone strong. Don't get me wrong - I admire that they have the guts to do this. Noble cause and all that. But in the end, this only turns out one way that I can see."

She shifts a little. "Come on, sit down. I won't bite. I know that Collan guy probably put a fear of me into your head, but I'm not the big bad monster they're trying to make me out to be. I'm just a survivor. Like you."

[Keshani]

She sits, but asks a bit suspiciously "what do you know about me? "

[GM Craig]

She shrugs. "Very little. But let me tell you something about me, and maybe it will explain. I was an orphan - just an infant - when a Jedi found me and took me in. He raised me for a few years. Then when I was 5, he told me he was going away for a while, but promised he would come back. I never saw him again. I was forced to grow up by myself, alone in the world. Growing up rough, learning to survive on your own - it shapes you as you grow, like a tree in a constant wind."

"I see that sort of shaping when I look at you."

There is no sympathy in her voice, no pity. Just a statement of facts as she sees them.

"So I don't know much about you at all, Keshani. But I think we have some things in common."

[Keshani]

It was like an echo of herself and it was erie.

"Um. Yeah..." she finally stammered out, feeling rather embarrassed at the super witty reply she had managed to come up with.

[GM Craig]

"So, options. I've seen your skills. You've got a marketable talent. You could make a fine living for yourself, away from all this talk of rebels and fighting the Empire. I could help you get set up, you know, if you want."

She looks at you. "I bet I know what you're thinking. 'What's in it for me?' right?" She shrugs.

"Nothing, really. I may come to you with a tech problem from time to time, but I wouldn't do this to hold anything over you. This'll sound silly, but I see a lot of me in you. When I was your age..." She stops talking for a couple of seconds.

"Well, someone really helped me. Or tired to. It meant a lot to me at the time."

She looks away, picking at her leggings. "I'd like to do that for you - just to give you options."

[Keshani]

She felt a strange feeling inside of her - something that could only be described as "warm". What Maris was offering....

But could she trust her? It was hard to trust someone you DID know, let alone someone you didn't know.

And if she went out and left the others and then this turned out to all be some scam....

But then she was almost just as surprised to realize that she almost WANTED it to be a scam. SHe WANTED an excuse to say no, to have a reason to say she needed to stay with the others....

But Maris seemed so genuine. And she WANTED to believe, her, too, because it meant that maybe there WAS hope that she COULD survive and be strong....

She bit her lip and looked around the engine room for a minute, giving her an excuse for a few extra seconds to think.

Finally she turned to the older female.

"It does kinda occur to me that you're still here WITH those who are talking of rebels and fighting the Empire...", she commented...

[GM Craig]

She gives you a lopsided smile. "Sure, but don't read anythuing into it." She shrugs. "I didn't have a lot of other options for getting out of that hell hole. I'd have kissed a Hutt to get off the station. So I'm here for the ride at least. It might become more than that - I don't know yet. I'll see where it goes. But whatever happens, my offer stands. No strings attached."

[Keshani]

She smiles-  a genuine, grateful smile. "Thank you." She answered. "Really."

"So um how did you end up on the station anyway?"

[GM Craig]

He smile fades, like Alderaan silk in a flame. She takes a breath before she answers.

"It's Ok. A fair question, and I'll answer. It's just pretty recent for me.

"Like I said, I've been on my own since I was 5. But I've been on the run that whole time from people trying to capture or kill me. Well, a few weeks ago they finally caught me. I got hauled to that station, and spent a couple of weeks on the pain table. I'd be there still if you guys hadn't busted me out."

[Keshani]

She nodded. "I'm sorry," she said. "I was there for a few months." She rolled up her sleeves to show the scars on her arms from some of the torture sessions they had put her through. "Definitely made me hate Them...."