Proud Phoenix Keep On Burning (D10, MN)

[Cefey Raneth]

Fey wasn't quite ready to hit the bunk yet, and walked into the common room in search for something to snack on... and more beer.

I know Kai usually keeps a stash of chips here somewhere, she thought as she turned on the lights to the lounge area and kitchen.

[Jelna Vawn]

Jelna was sitting there at the table, staring intently at a labeled box of her belongings. Still, she was not lost in it, and she looked up at Cefey with weary eyes. "Evenin'," she said, still capable of keeping up her cover identity.

[Cefey Raneth]

Having had one too many intruders onboard while on Noventa, the twi'lek gave a small yelp as she saw an unexpected Jelna.

"Oh... you nearly gave me a scare there, Babe." She visibly relaxed, as noticed by the way her lekku went from very stiff and straight to a more natural state. "... Everything alright?"

[Jelna Vawn]

"Oh, sorry 'bout that." Jelna gave a soft smile. "But if ya were goin' to the common room, then is it so surprisin' that another crew member would be there too?"

Her eyes turned back to the box and lingered there. "I just have a lot on my mind, Cefey."

[Cefey Raneth]

"Not usually at this time of night, unless someone else had the same idea as I had of raiding Kai's secret stash of potato-chips," she gave an easy smile in return, but some worry crept into it as she looked at Jelna. And the box.

"... Anything you want to talk about?" Fey offered in a soft tone as she approached her captain, placing a comforting hand on the blonde woman's shoulders.

[Jelna Vawn]

"He couldn't have put it anywhere too hard to find." She shot Cefey a wry grin. "He's better at other things."

Jelna let out a sigh. "I think the crew is done runnin'. I'll be talk to everyone about it tomorrow. But what I mean is that we ought to do our part to fix things." She looked up at Cefey with a frown. "I don't know if Zerra would agree."

[Cefey Raneth]

"Eh, you're right." She chuckled. Kai wasn't the best at hiding things. Except for maybe putting things high up enough to make it difficult for the girls to reach.

"Hmm...." Fey sighed, and took a seat nearby. For a moment she was silent, as she tried to formulate her own thoughts into a more coherent answer. "Running does get tiresome eventually. We didn't think the Empire and those still clinging to that would show up out here, but they did. Bringing some ships, an admiral, and an inquisitor. And that dude with the bad haircut trying to make the planet implode or whatever it was." She offered a half-hearted smile.

"What did you have in mind when you say 'do our part to fix things'?"

[Jelna Vawn]

"Well, those varmints ran away but they're gonna try again some day. I guess what I'm thinkin' is, 'Why let them try?'" Jelna closed her eyes and tried to stop her trembling. "Course, that's the sort of mindset I had back then. I put so many people in the ground all in the name of peace and order and prosperity."

A few tears trailed down her cheeks. "I keep thinkin' this time it's different but what if it ain't?"

[Cefey Raneth]

Seeing the tears... well, Fey was always the more soft-hearted of the group, and she scooted off her seat to embrace Jelna in a hug.

She couldn't really understand what her friend had gone through in those years with the Empire, but the twi'lek often told herself that there had probably been some brainwashing involved.

"I think the difference is... that those people don't have peace, order, or prosperity in mind. They just want to dominate, they don't care about anyone else." Her hand brushed over the smooth blonde hair. "They don't want any of those things you mentioned, as they came here to pillage and loot what they could, only to carry on a fight that they know they can't win - so it's only to satisify their own egos and take down as many as they can with them."

[Jelna Vawn]

"That's not the point, Cefey. I'm talkin' 'bout me." Jelna slid her knife out of its sheath and placed it on the table. "I got rid of the rest of my knives. I couldn't say I know how to wield one well in a fight, but I do know where to use it."

She traced her finger delicately across the blade, feeling the sharpness. "Every cut I made was in the name of order and prosperity. I felt pride in it, in watching them beg, because I was so certain I was in the right."

[Cefey Raneth]

It was a part of Jelna's life she didn't like to think about, but she couldn't shy away from it now.

"But you've left that behind. You left that life behind... and Zerra believed in you to be better than what you were then," she offered, doing her best to be supportive. To think of what Sweetie would've said in this situation. "... What do you feel would be right now? What Zerra would believe would be right?"

[Jelna Vawn]

"I don't know what she'd say. For the first time in awhile, I feel like I don't know her." Jelna opened her eyes and pulled the box closer. "I took out all of the recordings of her from my cybernetics a couple days ago to help me focus. Inside here is one of the copies I made.

"I want to watch them again to get a sense what she's do. She told me that we should get out, never kill. Someoneagain. But she also said that we couldn't let somethin' so awful happen again."

Jelna looked up at Cefey. "And the thin' is, even if I made a psych profile on her, it wouldn't be accurate for today. All that happened would have changed her too." She looked back to the box. "I'll never know for certain what she'd want."

[Cefey Raneth]

Recordings of Zerra... Fey had to remind herself that it was probably something a bit normal. Like... people had pictures of their loved ones and such, right? Surely Jelna hadn't kept her recorder going *all* the time. Right?!

"You knew her better than me," the twi'lek's blue hands cupped over Jelna's cheeks as she rubbed away some of the tears with her thumbs. "But Zerra believed in you to do the right thing. And I believe in you to do the right thing. So does Kai, and Lena too even if she won't admit it."

"And, you know, I think we did something right yesterday? I mean, it wasn't a resounding success, but... it felt like we did some good, right?"

[Jelna Vawn]

"In the ISB, we would have considered those to be operational failures," the blonde declared in her old Imperial accent. She tapped her fingers on her box and went back to her cover. "I thin we ought to track the varmints down, at least. Don't have to put them in the dirt ourselves, much as I'd like to."

[Cefey Raneth]

"Hmmm... you mean the Dark Lord of Edge with the bad haircut, or that Inquisitor that hurt you and Kai...? Or both?" Fey's eyebrows furrowed as she voiced her questions. The Inquisitor at least, was a danger. Especially if the Empire started up their old ways of hunting down Force Sensitives.

And that meant Jelna was the most at risk, as the Inquisitor knew who she was.

[Jelna Vawn]

"The Inquisitor is a loose end that I'd like to tie up," Jelna remarked. She perked a brow. "Would it be too much to say she's too dangerous to be left alive?"

[Cefey Raneth]

Her lips pressed together as she took a deep breath. Killing wasn't something that came easily to her, but...

... She couldn't deny that this woman was dangerous.

"If left to her own devices, she will hurt more people. Rally more people like the admiral maybe, or if the Empire gains a foothold, come after people like you and me." Fey shook her head. Both of those crazies were dangerous in their own ways, but they'd have to start somewhere. "... I'm not like you or Kai, but... I don't want her to hurt either of you. Or others. I don't want her to have the chance to do that again."

[Jelna Vawn]

"Guess we got that settled then. I don't suppose ya have an idea how to deal with them lightsabers? Do we need to get some ourselves to start swinging around?"

[Cefey Raneth]

"I have no idea where we would get lightsabers," she laughed at the idea. "Quinn gave me her practice saber the other day, but it's not exactly a lethal weapon."

She shrugged. "Doubt that inquisitor is immune to grenades though. Pack a bunch of them together in a trap or something... I think we'll have to use cunning against someone like that."

[Jelna Vawn]

"I feel like I've gotten rusty with the pistol. Figure maybe tryin' somethin' new could be good." Jelna brought the box closer to her and placed it on her lap. "I think Zerra would laugh if I was swingin' one of those things around."