Ours Are The Furies: There's No Crying On Jovan

[Q. Samus Dage]

The'd been making their way through the crowds, intent on the lift that would take them back to the officer's habitation quarter. Their conversation had fallen sharply into a somewhat obvious silence. It was tangible and quiet even despite the bodies around them, the words being traded left and right that only grew quieter the farther they went from the main merchant promenade. It was a silence that only got louder the further the went. He carrying the bags, and her gnawing on some little leaf like it was gonna save her from some horrid fate. Whatever that fate might've been was anyone's guess.

That she'd run out of her mother's credits?

A stupid thought, and one that Dage instantly felt a small bit of shame for. The earlier moment of honesty from Rai'faani had been like a breath of candid fresh air, washing over the previous interactions with a bit more stability. There was truth and a sense that the girl had gone deeper than she might've cared to. Which, perhaps chewing on that leaf was a way to cope with the act. Whatever it was, Dage kept his eyes forward and his mind on T'yeellaa. The look on her face was a haunting one. It was one that he'd worn himself at times.

They were a few meters from the lift when the entire station shook. It bucked beneath their feet, and mere moments later the lights all around seemed to flicker off, then on, then off again before finally dying out. They were replaced by the lower level red of emergency lighting. More shaking, and cries rose from behind them. Surprise mixed with just a little bit of anger at having stalls mussed about. There was a fair amount of cursing, loud griping at some perceived failing of Alliance engineers and their abilities to keep a space station still.

But it was the nature of the shaking that pulled his attentions around. This was no stabilizer malfunction. No. Samus Dage had enough experience with this kind of rocking, this kind of feeling, and the sounds he was hearing. Some things you could just feel through the bulkheads and decking. They were things that so many men and women from the old days knew. Even as his stance went wide and the bags he held discarded, the rangy blonde was moving on instinct. He reached out quickly to grab Rai'faani by her arm, pulling her with him as Jovan took another bit of angry rolling.

Another one, came the grim thought.

Pressing both himself and Rai'fa against the closest bulkhead, Dage cast a wary eye at the distant crowds of the promenade as they became like a hive of disturbed Myomarian flame ants.

He grunted, let out a snorted breath, then started off down a side corridor, Rai'fa rather ingloriously towed behind with a firm hold on her upper arm.

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

"That felt ljike an earrthquake..." it blurted out of her mouth before good sense could keep it there. Earthquake, seriously? And then before she could ask Samus about it, he'd dropped all of their shopping, and was pulling Rai'faani along by the arm.

"Hejy! jYou drropped all the...ow! Kosa, sslow down jyou rrou rrou..."

Behind them came the sound of something rolling. Curious, Rai'faani looked back to see a trio of...wheels? Except the wheels then suddenly stopped and began to unfold.

"jYou drropped...all the...bagss...back therre." her words petered off into an unsure mumble.

[Q. Samus Dage]

There were certain things that triggered in times like this. Muscle memory that had not been used in so long. For a brief second he considered the silliness of her protestiations, but in the next breath he'd dismissed it.

"No time for that now."

He continued to pull her along, further down the side corridor and further away from the accursed mobile balls of death.

"Droidekas don't care about your bags, and right now neither should you."

He paused at a junction, just as the first volleys of blaster fire and resultant screams reached their ears. It took less than a nanosecond to make his decision, and Dage dragged her with him once more, taking a left turn that sent them further away from the promenade.

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

The first volleys of blaster fire cut over the sound of everything with a throaty metallic CHRAA CHRAA CHRAA CHRAA and that was all the convincing Ra'ifaani needed.

"Aaaaaaiiiiiiii!!!"

A split second before she'd been digging in her heels against Samus pulling at her arm. Feline reflexes immediately snapped her forward like a rubber band to nearly jump on his back. She scrabbled there, unsure whether to pull him along or attempt to somehow hold onto his back and convince him to run with her there.

"Daa'e ai saa'ula taaleeita sa...AAAAAAIIIII!!! Na'e! Saa nau'a ka ai!!!"

She'd lost all tenuous grip on basic and shrilled right into Samus' ears as her tail flailed in panic.

[Q. Samus Dage]

Dage grit his teeth at the shrill onslaught on his ears, but managed to heft Rai'faani up in a barely manageable form of a shaak-back, feeling as her tail slapped his sides.

"Shut up, Girl," he hissed, "... you want them following us?!"

Making his way further down the seemingly endless hallway, the blonde toted his charge with grim determination. His voice held a level of Iron that even T'yeellaa had not heard before.

"And speak Basic so I can understand you."

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

The train had jumped the track and cleared the rails entirely, despite every effort by the conductor to affect its course.

"Ai'e luuwa'lawaai koto'rri sha'orri taau..."

She drew in a deep breath, pausing her panicked tirade momentarily.

[Q. Samus Dage]

The sounds of terror and that unmistakable metallic tinge to droideka blasters still filtered through the back corridors, but they were diminishing at least. It was another sound that caught his attentions, and one that made his scowl only deepen. It was a familiar clanking; one that he'd not heard since that raid on one of the Empire's fringe worlds. He couldn't even remember the name of the place, but it'd once been a Separatist held world. And that meant droids. Battledroids and droidekas. It'd been a hell of a fight locking that one down, but the Rebels had been successful despite the Imperial presence having activated the dormant war machines.

Now though, that steady clanking sound signaled the approach of those long-necked bastards, and Dage cast his eyes to the left and right as he continued to cart Rai'fa along.

There.

It was an access hatchway, for maintenance more than likely. But it was an escape, and a way to keep out of sight. Shucking Rai'fa from his back like a weightless piece of luggage, the blonde crouched down, his fingers punching at the number pad. It flashed red, giving him a message that only made his expression deepen into close to outright hatred.

Access Denied

Aquick look back at Rai'fa only showed him a whimpering pile of bright clothes and drooping ears sitting half out in the middle of the corridor, and Dage let out an angry huff of breath as he leaned over, wrapping a large hand around her arm once more and pulling her close to the side of the bulkhead.

The clanking was getting steadily louder. It wouldn't be long now until the damn things would round the last corner.

"You stay out of sight as much as possible," he grunted, going back to the number pad. Old Alliance codes, older Rebel codes. None of them worked. Each time those dread red letters flashed at him, and in his frustration Dage lashed out, his fist hitting the still-closed hatchway door.

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

The initial terror heralded by screaming blaster cannons had diffused into a dull noise of screams and battle farther away. Rai'faani had ridden the initial tsunami of adrenaline and shock, and was as pliant as putty for Dage to move against the wall.

"Ssein'ua a'ela, jI jusst wanted to ssee mjy ssjissterr. Have a ljittle fun..."

Rai'faani's rambling had petered from a wail into a dazed mumble, at last finding traction back into basic. Her birdish figure had doubled in on herself, and Rai tucked her knees close enough to her that she could rest her chin in their cleft.

"...jusst a good tjime. Sshoppjing...a gai'chee orr two. Meet herr rrou rrou gai'forrda'ro...hahaha..."

Her tail slapped the door and the bulkhead in nervous fits, and Rai covered her head with her hands.

"And now jI'm gettjing sshot at. jI'm rrealljy gettjing sshot at. jIn heelss!"

She kicked her feet uselessly.

[Q. Samus Dage]

Her temper tantrum went ignored. She could rage all she wished about the situation they were now in, but it would do no good. Just as well, his own knuckles were in pain from his own outburst. Still crouched, his head dipped down as his eyes closed. His mind raced.

Jovan Station. A hell of a place to die. He'd have figured he'd meet the maker long ago. At least if he'd died back during one of the many firefights he'd taken part in it would've been a hell of a story. No. It seemed that wasn't to be. He'd been slated to pass into whatever great beyond there was on Squirt's station...

If he'd been inclined in this moment, the blonde would've let out a groan as his head came up and his hand went back out to the key pad.

"That evil, soulless redhead... "

His fingers made quick work of what he hoped (and at the same time didn't hope) was the passcode.

Access Granted

A flash of green, and the hatchway beeped in confirmation. The staccato beat of metal feet was growing closer, and as the small hatch moved deeper into the wall before rolling to the side, Dage grabbed hold of Rai'faani. She was like some puppet, and he used the advantage of her compliance to push her ahead of him into the ductway.

"In you go," he spoke quickly and quietly.

She slid in easily enough, and wasting no more time he slid in after her just as the battle droids came around the corridor's bend.

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

"Ow!" Rai whimpered, a bony knee bumping hard against durasteel grating as she was pushed into...

"A tube?" She commented with incredulity, looking around the confining space as she drew her lanky limbs close. A metallic clang sounded as Samus closed the door behind them. Rai reached to her small purse, pulling out her comm stick.

"Rrou'ehi..." she whispered, getting nothing but static in return. "...T'yeellaa...wherre aaaarre jyou??"

Outside, muffled by the door, she could hear metal feet marching in sync. Rai's eyes traced to the sound, and met Samus' face.

"jI wanna go home."

[Q. Samus Dage]

"Well that just isn't possible right now," came the grumbled answer as the blonde attempted to shoo her farther down the maintenance tube. It wasn't particularly a small space they were in at the moment, but it wasn't large either. It took a bit of prodding, but he'd managed to get her to move a few shuffled meters deeper. And when she looked up at him again, Dage couldn't help but blink in mild shock-but-not-really-shock. There were the telltale droplets building at her tear ducts.

"What are... what are you... "

His voice was low, but the incredulous tone was unmistakable.

"Are you crying?!"

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

She'd gone across the threshold, and as Samus called Rai out, the Meorrrei girl reached a finger up to pull away the formative teardrops swelling at the bottom of her eyes.

"....no...." came her whining reply, punctuated by a sniffle.

[Q. Samus Dage]

Her denial only caused a grimace to cement itself further onto his features, and he dismissed her lie.

Instead he hunched forward, hands going out to grip her shoulders and hold her still.

"You're crying," he confirmed as she swept the offending teardrop away.

"There's no crying here, Rai'faani."

He would've given her a slight shake if he thought she'd be able to weather it. As it was, she looked about ready to blow away at the slightest breath.

"No crying. You hear me?"

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

It was like trying to stop a garden hose by clamping a thumb over it. The resistance only intensified the pressure. Rai'faani nodded at at Samus's words, even as her eyes squeezed shut and she grimaced.

"No..oo..oo crrjyyyjin-n-g...o-okaaaaajy-hee..."

She buried her face behind her knees, and covered her head with her hands as if to completely hide her pitiful display.

[Q. Samus Dage]

His features only grew deeper, the corners of his mouth setting into something almost permanent. This sort of behavior would get them nowhere fast, and Dage was pressed for time enough as it was. He had to find a comm somehow. Droidekas and battledroids? Something disastrous had happened, and he was cut off. Cut off from Kes, from T'yeellaa, and from Lok. And unless he could get in contact with at least one of them, he'd only be sending himself and Rai'fa deeper into a mire.

His eyes screwed shut momentarily before opening once more to regard the younger Meorrrei.

"Rai'faani... "

Her head didn't come up, and his grip tightened for a moment. Nothing painful, but it was an attempt to get her to come about. He scooted forward just a little bit, trying to push her along and keep them moving.

"We can't stay here. Come on, now. We have to move. If we stay in the same place, they're gonna find us."

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

Still with her head buried behind her knees, Rai'faani spoke. Her initial cresting sobs had fallen away, but her voice was still muffled and uneven.

"jI'm not ljike jyou orr T'yeellaa, jI don't know what to do when people arre trrjyjing to kjill me okajy?"

Rai peeked up from her knee fortress, her eyes looking puffy and swollen.

"Beforre todajy, the mosst sscarred jI've everr been wass when one of mjy ssjissterrss told me therre wass a sspjiderr jin mjy hajirr. And therre wassn't even a sspjiderr!"

[Q. Samus Dage]

His eyes were hard. Not angry or mean, but his gaze remained a firm thing, and Dage breathed in deeply. They had to move, but as long as Rai'faani insisted on being a crying child, they wouldn't be going anywhere.

His patience at an end, the blonde put a hand to the front of her legs and heaved, his voice growling our in a low rumble with the effort of pushing her further back.

"Stop crying and get moving."

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

"Ow!"

The sudden shove caused Rai to bump her elbow, and the pain brought enough clarity about her to allow irritation and anger to overtake her brief panic cry. She kicked back even as she was pushed along.

"hhhhhhchh!! Alrrjight! jI'm gojing, okajy!"

Her face amope, Rai blotted the residual damp from her cheeks as she began to crawl along in the tube. That went fine until the first junction, which caused the younger Meorrrei to look left, right, and straight ahead in indecision.

[Q. Samus Dage]

"Straight," he ordered.

"Go straight until I tell you to, got it?"

Long gone was the Samus Dage that Rai'faani had been introduced to. Long gone was the laid back demeanor and almost lazy behavior that he'd exuded. In its' place was now a determined and grim man who was going through the rigors of muscle memory. Crawling through maintenance tubes was close enough to ducking through hastily dug trenches, and it brought out a man who'd not been seen in a very long time. In this moment he wasn't Commander Samus Dage. He was just a planet-hopping groundpounder.

A quick glance back out of habit. Though they were moving away from the hatchway, sounds from the other side still filtered past the durasteel barrier.

"And don't you dare start crying again."

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

She'd forgotten to wear her tunnel-crawling clothes Rai thought cynically as she obeyed her sister's suddenly-draconian playcock.

"Don't worrrjy about me. jI'm fjine now." she lied with a sniff, allowing her tail to sway the full width of the tube as she bumped and scuffed her knees. Maybe she'd slap him in the face. But no, he had the good sense to mind her vengeful appendage, and instead Rai'faani was left alone with the close air and the increasing irritation of bare knees thumping along grating.

This was monotonous, and the longer the tube went, the more insecure and afraid Rai felt again.

"Wherre arre we gojing?" she asked, no longer with a lacing of attitude.