Sanis Prent and the Urns of Korriban

[Sanis Prent]

Bespin

I'd gotten the summons two days ago through a courier on Sullust. That was the first strange thing. In this day and age of whizbang instant communications, a courier seemed pretty anachronistic. Either somebody too important to talk to me face to face, too busy, or just way too incommunicado. The courier had kept it simple. There was lucrative work for me, and I'd find it on Bespin. Good for me, nobody's schedule was full. We had seen as much of Sullust as was necessary to get our fill, so we pushed on.

* * *

I nudged my co-pilot's shoulder, as Layla began her descent, cutting a vapor trail through Bespin's feathery stratus periphery, leading to the glittering metropolis suspended on sun-sweetened cumulus dunes.

"Hey, we're up on approach. You want to navigate the vectors?"

I smiled lopsidedly, stretching in the pilot seat I'd occupied for too many hours.

[Daanarri Meorrrei]

"Would jI!" Daani popped upright from behind the pilot's seat and jumped in front of Cirrsseetto. "Please! Can jI!"

Her brother pulled her into his lap and tousled her blonde hair with a huge hand. "Daanji..." He was probably tired of dealing with her. James hadn't been on board since her accident, and everyone was starting to feel the stress of having to deal with Daani more than they were used to.

"C'mon, jyou've been teachjing me how!" She flashed Sanis a toothy, angelic smile as Cirr flushed under his captain's sudden scrutiny.

"You've been teaching her what?!"

Daani bounced up and down on Cirr's knee. "jYeah, when jyou and s'jIl werrre jin Sullussst Cjity! Can jI! Pleeeeeeease!"

[Teagan s'Ilancy]

"Me too!"

The patter of bare feet could be heard as Tak made her presence known. Months spent playing with Daani, and being with the rest of the crew, had given her a bit more of a command on Basic. Of course, it wasn't really unexpected to hear her lapse back into Cathar, but what few phrases and words she knew she used.

And 'me too' was one most often used.

Scrampling up into Sanis' lap, Tak grinned cheekily at him.

"Me too!"

[Cirrsseeto Quez]

"Ugh..."

Cirr slouched forward, letting go of his little sister as he wrung at his ears. Technically, approach vectors were as simple as coloring inside the lines. The harbor master brought up the waypoints in your nav computer and you just steered them. Still, this was Daanarri, and Cirr had reservations about her even touching his gravity wrenches.

"Sanjis, don't let herr crrash us. jIf jI surrvjived, Mama Taa would kjill me anyway."

[Sanis Prent]

I nodded back to my mechanic.

"She can work the vectors until we're over the pad. I'll take over if we deviate. Don't worry big guy.

Daani, show your brother that you aren't as left-thumbed as he is."

I laid an arm in Tak's lap as she scampered up onto mine.

"And you...little helper. You have to turn on the running lights."

I held onto Tak's little wrist gently, and guided her hand to a switch on the main console.

"Press that one!"

[Daanarri Meorrrei]

"WOOHOO!" Daani hollered, kicking Cirr out of the co-pilot seat and strapping herself in. She pulled the secondary flight stick from the console and studied the first set of waypoints as she flew the freighter towards them.

"jI can land too, jI prrromjise jI won't crrrash!" Which was, of course, a bold promise she couldn't back up.

[Teagan s'Ilancy]

Concentrating, and with Sanis' help, Tak bravely toggled the switch he held her hand over.

Her job done, she sat back with a large sigh - just as she had seen Sanis do many times after having sat too long in his chair.

[Sanis Prent]

I laughed at Tak's determined mimicry, and mussed her hair a bit.

"Good job, co-pilot."

Letting my attention turn back to my Cizerack harbor pilot, I watched as she carefully steered through the holographic waypoints as they formed on the screen. Cloud City grew large in the forefront, the individual spires of the city center now clearly visible. To the left, a cloud car buzzed, keeping pace.

"I'm slowing to one quarter, Daani. You're a natural. Keep to the center and don't yaw."

The comm switch blinked active, and I thumbed it for audio.

"This is Layla. Are we cleared to land, harbor master?"

A professional-sounding voice filled the pilothouse, crackling lightly with ambient static.

"Freighter Layla, you are cleared for Pad 14-D. I have a communication request being routed through to you. Shall I link you, or record it to comm cube for after landing?"

That was pretty unusual.

Gently, I hoisted Tak off my lap, gesturing for Cirr to take my seat. Standing in the back of the pilothouse, I switched the comm to my personal device instead of the overhead.

"Go ahead with that comm, harbor master."

I looked back at Cirr, who arched an inquisitive eyebrow. He knew this was out of the ordinary too.

[Daanarri Meorrrei]

Daani bit her lip, eyes fixed tightly on the holographic HUD in front of her. It would have been fun to play with the yaw of the ship, but Sanis warned her not to as soon as she thought of it. She grimaced with pretend concentration and continued towards Pad 14-D.

Glancing at Tak from the corner of her eye, the cub grinned. "Wanna go somewherrre else, Tak? jI can take us... anywherre!"

[General Dan]

"Mister Prent. Good to see you made it."

The voice sounded warm with sincerity.

"I hope our mutual friend is aboard and well. I can't dawdle on this message for long. Others may be listening so I'll be brief. My man will contact you, and bring you to a place we can talk.

Welcome to Cloud City, Mr. Prent."

And with that, the comm went silent.

[Teagan s'Ilancy]

Climbing up to sit next to Daani, Tak grinned from ear to ear.

"Cat'ar!"

[Cirrsseeto Quez]

Cirr's ears fluttered as he watched Sanis come back from taking the call. Sounded like Dan wanted an immediate parley, and it sounded pretty serious.

The old man paid well for his work and was fair handed, but Cirr had never heard him with all of his feathers up, so to speak.

"Daanarrrji, you take Tak and go wake Mjiss Lok. Sanjis and jI have grrown-up thjings to do."

It was part honest request, and partly a scheme to get the girl out of the pilot's seat.

[Daanarri Meorrrei]

"Okajy!" Daani bounded from the seat, the flight stick rebounding violently as she grabbed Tak's hand and pulled her towards the passage to the rest of the ship. "Don't crrrash us, Cjirr!"

[Sanis Prent]

"Krasst!"

I nearly face-planted on the deck plating as Layla bucked. Fortunately, Cirr's fast fingers transferred helm to his station, so the wild ride didn't get too out of hand.

"Freighter Layla, please maintain your vectors." the harbor master scolded in a clipped tone.

"Sorry bout that, harbor. Had a little, uh, wind shear."

I ducked into the seat Daani abandoned, returning flight controls back. Cirr leaned forward, propping his chin against his knuckles, lost in the view like he was trying to count windowpanes.

"Don't break a sweat, fuz. The old man probably has a lot of money in store for us on this one."

[Teagan s'Ilancy]

Pulled along by Daani, Tak was soon happily skipping along beside the Cizerack girl.

Taking her hand from Daani's and looping her arm into the other girl's, Tak began singing one of the more naughtier songs that Daani had taught her.

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

She'd fallen asleep hours ago, curled on her side with one of her books still open on the page she'd been reading before nodding off. Her slumber was a peaceful one, unfettered by nightmares.

Lok s'Ilancy soaked in what little peace that she could get, having spent the last few days cheerily entertaining both Daani and Tak with stories, games, and when her motherly instincts demanded, chores. She worried for James though, and every so often it showed in her demeanor.

But now, having been thoroughly tired out by the two girls, the Lupine had fallen fast asleep.

In the quiet of the Cat, s'Il slept on, oblivious to everything and everyone around her.

[Daanarri Meorrrei]

Daani put her finger to Tak's lips as they drew near to the Black Cat. "Shhhhhhhhhh..." The two girls giggled as they crept into the shuttle, inching closer and closer to Lok on their childish tippy-toes.

The freighter was making it's landing as Daani and Tak leapt onto the bed, both of them shouting "Steamrrrooooller!" and rolling around on the blankets and the woman sleeping underneath.

[Cirrsseeto Quez]

"jI don't doubt that."

Cirr shrugged, his drooping ears telegraphing his dour mood.

"jI guess jI'd just rratherr not expect bad news, rratherr than keep lookjing overr my shoulderr forr jit."

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

Roused from her sleep, s'Il recognized the two voices as the two girls they belonged to rolled haphazardly atop her.

Eye lighting up, the Lupine allowed Daani and Tak to have their fun for a few seconds before deftly wrapping an arm around each one's middle. Pulling them down into the covers, she tickled their sides mercilessly.

"So that's how it's gonna be, is it?"

[Sanis Prent]

"I dunno. Maybe it's our destiny if you believe in that sort of thing. We don't exactly pay taxes in our profession, so maybe our comeuppance for making it big is a healthy dose of paranoia."

I shrugged, smirking at Cirr.

"You'd rather be pushing cattle between farming moons? I guess a little bit of danger and uncertainty is healthy."

I glanced back with annoyance.

"What the hell...is she up or not? Some Jedi warrior, she sleeps more than you do, fuz."