March 26, 2009

348. Hoth: King's Lair - Raezyr

Once he had fully recuperated from the wounds he had received while in captivity aboard the Republic Hammerhead, Unity, Raezyr and his fellow Sith apprentices began making the final preparations for their trips.

With Dianna's permission, Trychon had worked with Dek and was able to pick up some feeds from the holonet, although they were a few days old and quite fuzzy, it provided them with the information they needed.

Raezyr had been correct. He and Trychon now had the death sentence in the Coruscant and Commenor Systems, but surprisingly enough, so did Dianna. Tyrrazapon was only wanted on Coruscant, and there was no mention of Anya. Apparently the Republic had assumed that Dianna was the Sith female on Coruscant.

The incident at Commenor was being reported as a "brazen act of terrorism," and the Commenoran government was calling for a retaliation by the Republic military, as well as a crackdown on pirates and smugglers, and had made motions in the Senate to those effects, although the holonews reporter had stated the motions were unlikely to pass.

They had also been able to find out more about the planet THX1138. It had been surveyed once, and found to have no worthwhile resources. Several attempts to clear the jungle forests and farm had been made, but the ever present fog made growing cash crops difficult, and those that did grow were wiped out by the rainstorms that ravaged most of the planet. Colonization attempts had been tried several times but had failed due to the storms and 'native species.' The entries hadn't specified what those native species were exactly. There had been no mention of the Sith library, not that public sources would.

Raezyr took Achkay and Trychon with him when he inspected every portion of the Jet Razor they day before they were scheduled to leave. Raezyr wanted to make sure that everyone on board with him was as familiar as possible with the ship and the new upgrades that Delki had installed. Trychon was pretty bored, but he recognized the importance and did his best not to fall asleep, while Achkay paid dutiful attention, although Trychon kept getting the feeling that the gun-metal gray droid was nearly as bored as he was.

On their last day on Hoth, Raezyr went through his quarters at King's Lair, making sure he had left nothing behind. There was no telling what might happen or if they would ever make it back here to Hoth, and that for some reason that thought bothered him. It never had before, but then again, for the first time in his life, he was leaving something, or rather, someone, that was important to him. He was going to be late to the hangar, but he didn't care. He walked down the corridor to Dianna's quarters anyway.

He hesitated outside the door. For a moment, anyone watching might have guessed he was about to walk away, but suddenly he raised his gloved fist and rapped lightly on the door.

Dianna's voice responded from within. "Enter."

The door slid open and he removed his helmet and tucked it under his arm as he stepped across the threshold. She had been sitting at the desk in the corner and stood up. She was wearing the same red and black vest that she wore most often, along with black and red leather pants. "Raez!" she said, sounding a bit surprised. "Uh, what are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be taking off right now?"

"I am, but I wanted to say goodbye." He looked into her green eyes, and for the first time in his life, he wasn't exactly sure what to say.

"Um, but I though we all said goodbye already in the lounge." She fidgeted with her hands for a moment then rubbed her palms on the outside of her thighs.

"I uh, I just thought... never mind, I'll go. See you round, Di." Raezyr turned back toward the door and Dianna stepped quickly across the room and grabbed his arm, turning him back around, and she put her arms around his neck. Raezyr's free arm slid effortlessly around her waist.

"I'm sorry. I was hoping you'd stop by, but didn't think you would. Be safe and take care." She tilted her head up to him slightly as he bent his down. Their lips met for a moment before she pulled away, resting her hands on the breastplate of his armor.

"You're not going to punch me now, are you?"

She threw her head back and laughed. "Of course not."

"I've got to go."

"I know."

He turned and opened the door, then stepped into the hall to leave when her voice stopped him.

"Raez?"

"Yes, Di?"

"Come back."

Saying nothing he turned and walked down the hall toward the hangar bay, the only sound was his boots clicking against the durasteel floor.

-----------------

Raezyr walked across the flight deck toward Achkay and the other Sith, who were standing around in front of the three spacecraft in which they were about to depart. Trychon already had the Twilight Stalker waiting in orbit around Hoth.

"Sorry I'm late guys, I had some last minute business to take care of," Raezyr said as he got closer.

Achkay spoke up. "Exception: You have arrived precisely when Master Trychon stated you would."

Raezyr looked over at Trychon who was standing there wearing a grin from ear to ear. He chuckled a bit then turned to Anya and Tyrrazapon and made their good-byes, before facing Trychon again.

"Well? Stop smiling like an idiot and get on board. You too, Huck, I can hear your "sarcastic" servos working overtime."

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