102/Between the Shadows

Between the Shadows
Date of Scene:	03 July 2014
Location:	Void - Deeper Void (West)
Synopsis:	While the Rogue Shadow drifts between the stars, its crew have a civil discussion. Sort of.
Cast of Characters:	18, 428

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Juno Eclipse (428) has posed:
In the Void, the things that dwell in the shadows between stars seem to stretch thinner and thinner, until it seems as though there is nothing at all to be seen but blackness for unfathomable distances. This place is forsaken even by the bravest of smugglers, for even navicomputers seem to have some difficulty finding their way through this great void. There may be little to see, but it's a good place to go when you don't want to be bothered... or found.

It's also a good place to test a brand-new, much-improved, extremely long-range sensor array. If it finds anything in this place, it probably passes muster!

That would explain why the Rogue Shadow floats in tranquil silence, soaking up the nothingness around it -- even the light of distant stars is dim, casting much of the cockpit into blackness, except for the glare of the consoles and control panels.

Its pilot, Juno Eclipse, is hunched over the pilot's console and busily sifting through readings of the diagonistics, eyes narrowed against the glare. Or maybe her own exhaustion. She's been at this for quite a while, having dragged the ship's owner along, since he wasn't needed by the Inquisition and wouldn't be needed for some time.

Besides, she'd argued. It's your ship; shouldn't you take an interest in what I'm doing to it? You certainly did the first time I upgraded the sensor arrays.

That had been admittedly more of a humourous jab than anything else; she knows he trusts her not to screw everything up or explode something important. Mostly, it's an excuse for some private time that doesn't involve watching what she says or wondering if she's going to get backstabbed, because every Inquisitor has enemies, and paranoia is a very healthy survival skill; especially as a woman, and a /skilled/ woman, within Imperial ranks.

Or maybe she's just plain paranoid. That is an entirely possible notion. There were seven pilots before her, and she's not only the only woman, but the longest-lived. By her reckoning, if she doesn't play things with paranoid care, /somebody's/ bound to connect the dots sooner or later.

Officially, though, she's here to test the sensor arrays.

...Unofficially, she finished doing that about ten minutes ago, and she's just now sitting back to stretch and work out the horrible kinks in her spine from sitting like that. Single-minded application to a task is great, but in twenty years or so her body's officially going to hate her for all that dedication and hard work.

"Hey." She calls for the ship's owner, since he's probably gotten bored and wandered off by now. "I'm done. If you don't mind, though, I don't want to return to the Executor just yet. I'd like to run some tests on the stygium crystals while we're alone out here."

If he's not sitting right there, her voice is loud enough to carry; if he is, well, she's using a nice normal conversational tone.

"I'd like to talk to you for a few minutes, too."

Uh oh.

Galen Marek (18) has posed:
The first person to disturb Juno Eclipse in the cockpit is not, in fact, the Sith Assassin himself. A black-bearded pirate, with a damaged tricorne and grim but fairly stereotypical clothes, enters, his own cutlass jabbed into the side of his chest. He slumps down onto the copilot's seat.

"Yarr. You'll be pleased to know master is as alert as ever, currently. Unfortunately he's cleaning up right this moment," PROXY intones, nicely. "Shall I take the commands while you go for him?"

Given that Juno's choices are sharing the cockpit with PROXY or going to find Galen, it would almost be a given which she'll pick. Fortunately, 'cleaning up' doesn't seem to be that BIG a problem right now. Go out the cockpit and to the left, and there's the training room in that half of the ship. There's a few marks here and there from what must have been powerful sword hits against the walls, but not lightsabers. In the middle of the room there is a big box of swords. Galen is currently picking them up off the floor one by one-- some with the Force, others by hand. He must be using the moment to check them out while at it.

"Just a minute. Almost done in here!" he shouts, hopefully loud enough Juno hears him if she isn't already on her way.

Juno Eclipse (428) has posed:
Very slowly, Juno pulls herself upright in her chair, and her eyes slide over to regard the cutlass-impaled pirate that sits down in the copilot's seat.

And she stares for about fifteen seconds before she manages to say something. For a few seconds it looks like she can't, just sort of staring at him with an expression so bland and flat that it has to be incredulous.

Oh, she knows about PROXY's abilties and programming. By now she's probably had the opportunity to rummage around in his inner workings herself.

That doesn't make it any easier to come face to face with weird things when she least expects it.

It's several more long seconds before she can find her words. PROXY might well wonder if something's gone wrong with the pilot's programming!

"Right," she says, blandly, pushing herself out of her seat and hastily surrendering the controls. "I'm going to go talk to Starkiller. Here. If the sensors pick anything up, make note of where and when; I'm going to want to know that later. And, um, don't interrupt me. I need to talk to him."

Because without that specific caveat, PROXY has the social stylings of a drunken rancor.

Juno very calmly turns on her heel and strides out as though nothing freaky and weird just happened.

She does scoot into the training room a little hastily, though, and her fist bangs the door control with a little more force than may be strictly necessary.

That big box of swords and the blades still strewn about the floor are eyed a bit dubiously.

"That," she says slowly, "is a lot of swords."

She kneels down to pick one up. It looks more like a rapier than anything else, much lighter than the other cutlasses and various cutting implements. She lifts it to grip the hilt firmly, giving it an experimental flick, though well away from Galen.

Well, she /did/ have basic training with a vibroblade. These aren't much different.

"Not bad, I suppose, though you're the expert." Juno just eyes him a bit, somewhat dubiously. Yes, she may consider him saner company than his quirky droid, but that doesn't mean he doesn't weird her out sometimes, too. She may love him. That doesn't mean she understands a damned thing about him. "Where did you find all of these? Or do I even want to know the answer to that?"

Galen Marek (18) has posed:
PROXY nods, enthusiastic despite his grim pirate Darkbeard the Fourth or whatever appearance. "Of course. I will activate the seat warmers and ensure your seat does not grow cold."

Ever serviceable, PROXY takes over the cockpit.

In the training room, Galen grins as Juno comes in. The rapier she is holding seems to produce very small amounts of sparks in the air where it is swung. Probably a very minor magical enchantment of some nature. Hardly a threat even to her.

"Oh, you know. Shady salesmen. Random jobs for the Confederacy. Corpses." He gives it some thought, and corrects himself. "I guess technically the first two come down to corpses too. Not as elegant as a trusty lightsaber, but getting familiar with all sorts of tools is part of the job."

She'd know! You gotta experiment to fix stuff, sometimes. Try out tools and toys you didn't before. Use new parts. It's all the same, just applied differently for combat. For him, anyway.

"So how's the new array?"

Juno Eclipse (428) has posed:
Apparently fascinated by what she'd glossed over a second or two before, Juno gives the rapier another experimental pass, squinting at the miniature shower of sparks that follows it. That's actually pretty neat, in a totally useless sort of way.

Shrugging, she tosses it into the box with the others, where it lands with a discordant clang and clatter of metal. Whoops.

"I seem to remember a different answer the first time I made some tweaks to the array," she points out with a smirk. "Up until now, exactly as I expect it to. I know exactly how far its operational range is. To be honest, I just wanted some time away from the Absolver. And this is as good an excuse as any. We can have all the time we like out here, at least until the Inquisition decides it can't live without you."

Juno folds her arms, and though that edge of amusement remains, something more steely flickers across her half-grin.

"So. I notice there was a clerical error in the paperwork for the World Martial Arts Tournament. It seems I was entered as a combatant." That smile turns just a liiiittle more blade-like. "I don't suppose /you'd/ know anything about that, would you, now...?"

Galen Marek (18) has posed:
"Oh? Yeah, I saw the fight. You sure gave that little thing a smackdown. You're getting better than you'd like to admit, huh?" Galen says, completely avoiding that part of the conversation until Juno brings up the error.

"S'a big universe. Coulda been anyone making that error. Anyone you know! Anyone who's heard of you. How many people're on the Absolver alone?"

She's not buying it.
Of course she's not buying it.

"So how about that first time you put an array on the ship, huh? Yeah, I insisted because I didn't know you as well. You were the new pilot, of course I didn't want you just changing things around without me knowing. If you didn't make it past a week I'd have to figure out what it is you did, you know?"

That was not the best conversation deflection he's ever done.
Welp.

Juno Eclipse (428) has posed:
When Galen makes a point of illustrating just how many people there are that might have made that Clerical Error, she gets a bland, bland expression on her face and folds her arms, leaning hips and shoulder against the wall.

And she just stares at him.

When he tries to deflect the conversation, she just stares at him some more.

Poor Galen.

"One of these days," she says, so pleasantly and sweetly it can only bring with it the promise of gratuitous violence, "I am going to /strangle you in your sleep/. I had a nice rant on the topic prepared for you, but the reality is that it won't make it past your thick skull anyway--!"

So she just
hauls off and punches the bastard.

He's probably going to catch it, but /damn/ if it doesn't feel good to make the attempt.

Juno huffs a bit once she's finished, folding her arms again and scowling at the him.

"You know, for being one of the Sith, I don't think I've ever met somebody who was worse at duplicity than you are. You are without a doubt the worst liar I think I've ever seen. And I include myself in that statement," Juno says, conversationally, dusting her hands off.

So she just stares him down some more. "I'm going to include 'signing me up for martial arts tournaments' on the list with 'bringing me to Lord Vader's attention directly.' Don't do it again." She grins. It's not really pleasant. "Or I'm going to have to think of something exceedingly unpleasant to do to you."

Oh, yes. He can probably sense that there /is/ a healthy core of genuine 'pissed off' in there, but by this point most of it's blown over. It's the principle of the thing. And their relationship is one of amicable animosity, so she's comfortable when she has something good and irritating she can take a swing at him over.

It's not like she could ever hurt him anyway. She might be getting a little better, but a six-inch tall droid is another thing entirely from a trained Sith assassin.

Just as well they're close. If she were actually at odds with him, genuinely, and they were on opposing sides -- well, her life expectancy wouldn't be very long.

"Hmph." She seems to be slightly mollified, having been given an opportunity to vent her irritation. "But that did feel good. Serves the little tart right. It's humiliating to have been had on my own bloody ship." Pause. "Your bloody ship." Pause. "And never mind how unpleasant treatment was. That Medusa woman gives me the heebie-jeebies."

Galen Marek (18) has posed:
Galen does not catch the fist, mostly because he is a sturdy person. Not by superhero standards, just by human ones. Juno would find his skull exactly as thick and hard as she says it is, though he still flinches and takes a step back at the hit. He doesn't lose his stupid grin from it, somehow.

"There there, feel better? C'mon, you won. And yeah, well, that was a happy coincidence, not my doing. Either way, worked out! And it's guaranteed nonlethal, so you can get some hands-on experience fighting people roughly on your level with weird powers. Or just... tiny robot girls, I guess."

One or the other.
Galen shrugs.

"The witch? Yeah, could tell something was off the first time I met her. She'd been poisoning monsters with some of that nasty stuff she keeps around and trying to pass it off as someone else's doing. I picked up on some of it but then I got caught in other stuff. Oh well."

Not really his business at this point.

"Sith culture is weird. Vader didn't really teach me about most of it, and Palpatine's not really... a casual conversation sort of guy. I mean, I asked him once, he said if I was really interested I should find him old Sith junk from forever ago, then maybe he'd tell me more. Turns out, Sith Empire artifacts are insane hard to come back. Jedi did a good job destroying most of 'em."

All that to say: "So I guess as Sith go I must be that awful cousin nobody wants to talk about. I know how to swing swords and shoot lightning though, ain't that all I really need?"

Juno Eclipse (428) has posed:
"No," Juno says, glaring. "I might just do that again. You're a complete arse, you know. I really want to wipe that stupid grin off your stupid face, but it's too much trouble."

Fortunately she doesn't take another swing at him. It might be cathartic, but trying to put a dent in his thick skull might break her hand. She needs her hands intact. Flying a ship with a cast is not really fun times. Besides, she's not really grumpy, no matter what it might look like to outsiders.

"Oh, yes. I won. I had hundreds of years of advanced technology in the blaster at my hip, and I won by throwing /rocks/ at her." Juno sighs, but she doesn't seem to care too much.

Winning is winning, and it doesn't really matter to her how she got there. It's a non-lethal tournament, so it's not like she has to worry about doing any damage. Besides, he's right. It's a good opportunity to test her skills, and if she doesn't test them, she's going to get more unfortunate incidents like Zeno slipping under her guard. Those are best avoided before any real, permanent harm is done.

"I could swear she took pleasure in how much agony she had me in. And that was with the painkillers. I'm beginning to wonder if the dosage was up to snuff." She shrugs.

And she listens to his words about the Sith.

And then she just watches Galen flatly, sighs a sigh of mock long-suffering, and droops a bit as she reaches up to pat him on the shoulder.

"Yes, that's right, you don't really need anything more, do you? You have your outstanding pilot to cover your arse when impaling something isn't the solution."

"Honestly. I wonder how you even survived before I came along." Her arms fold again, but rather than try to take another swing at him, she just leans on him a little. It's safe; PROXY is occupied, and he's not full of blood or entrails or worse things at the moment. Which is usually a fifty-fifty at any given time. "I suppose. I can always take you out if you'd like to hunt, some time. Do you think he'd accept anything from other worlds? Perhaps there's a galaxy out there where they're more easily found?"

Maybe it's cheating, but technically speaking, Palpatine probably didn't specify. Also, she's not above a little opportunism. Juno shrugs, faintly. "I thought we might also search for some crystals. I know you like them. I'd also like to find a source of stygium crystals. I've been trying to test the upper threshold of what the cloaking system can handle, and I'm still not satisfied with the results, but I'm concerned to push them too hard. They're beastly difficult to replace... even when you find them, the bloody things are just so fragile when you're talking about using them as an engine conduit."

"Hmph. I've also run the final tests on that podracer. I think I'm ready to test it, but I'd like it if you were there. Maybe you could use the Force if something went awry." She scowls a bit. "Or separate my remains from the crater-glass. Either one."

She glances back at him, raising a brow. "Oh, and why didn't you enter the tournament yourself? It's just the kind of thing to pique your interest, I'd think. Lots of different opponents whom you've no idea of how to anticipate. Plenty of fresh material for PROXY to study, too. Though I suppose it may have interfered with Inquisitorial duties," she adds, sighing.

"Though the same could be said of me." She jabs a finger. "You're going to be there the next time I'm fighting, by the way. It's your fault that I'm even there." Hmph. But there's no real animosity in the words.

Galen Marek (18) has posed:
"Hey, when Force-users fight, hurling rocks is a completely viable tactic. Or, you know, small ships. Change your plan according to your available resources, and all. Guess you've been picking tricks from me without meaning to."

He shrugs, mostly because he wouldn't know about the pleasure the tiny robot got from making Juno suffer. Seems like a thing a tiny robot girl would do, he guesses? What do tiny robot girls do anyway? Just, tiny robot girl things? Tiny girl things? Tiny robot things? Hell if he knows.

Back to the topic: "Yes! Exactly. I have swords, lightning, buncha guys in armor if I need cannon fodder, don't tell them I call them that, and one of the greatest pilots in the galaxy. I can do without the culture of an empire long since dead, right?" As for survival... "Also I survived by just being very angry all the time. And, generally, shooting lightning at things, making them angry, and shortly after, dead. Worked great. Lost a few pilots, but you know how that story goes."

Other worlds, though... Galen considers.
It WOULD be cheating. He agrees with Juno's surface thoughts.
I mean what, what surface thoughts?
"Maybe. He'd probably be interested, but then he might tell me if there's another world with an active Sith Empire out there why don't I just go there to find out instead of wasting his time? ... makes sense, too."

Then he sighs, and nods. "Sure, sure, I'll help with the test. Wouldn't want to miss you eating a mouthful of sand. And for your next fight, too. I guess I owe you that."

Juno Eclipse (428) has posed:
"Hurling starfighters is a little different from hurling pebbles, though I guess the difference doesn't really matter too much to you. Ugh, I can't believe I'm pulling pages from your bloody book. That's awful." Juno's voice takes on a tone of mock disgust, though her surface thoughts betray that she's pleased to have done well enough to merit some approval out of him.

Or, you know, not be completely humiliated. It's always nice to avoid that. Also get a little bit of bloody vengeance in.

"One of the greatest pilots in the galaxy, hmm?" Juno leans against him, grinning the kind of grin that suggests she's not going to let him forget he said that for a very long time. "I suppose. I think I like you better when you're not angry all the time." Her own half-smile is a little less mocking and joking; a little more serious and genuine. She gives his shoulder a pat, this time less to mock him and more out of affection. "A smile suits you. You should do it more often."

Right, enough of that being honest crap.

"I guess so. Finding something similar would be a little too easy, wouldn't it? And a little too straightforward, too. The Sith don't seem very fond of straightforward." Which is why she really wonders how he hasn't gotten himself killed some days, in all earnesty. Seriously, the poor bastard can't even lie that good, and that's probably one of the most basic things in a Sith's bag of evil magic tricks. Juno grins, though, pushing away those more troubling thoughts. "I guess there's always that option if you feel like an adventure."

That grin drops.

"You're cleaning up the inevitable mess from the ship, though."

She smiles when he mentions eating a mouthful of sand. Very pleasantly. "Uh huh." And she doesn't do anything. That's probably kind of disturbing. It's even worse when she files it away for later to stew over.

Juno then reaches up and pats his cheek, all fond-like.

"Good. Because if you weren't there, I'd ask PROXY to find you, whatever you're doing, and drag you back into the spectator stands." Her smile widens. Uh oh. "You're damned right, you owe me that much."

Bonk. She doesn't try to /punch/ him, but she does give him a half-hearted chuck on the shoulder.

"Bastard," she adds, fondly.

Galen Marek (18) has posed:
He doesn't fight back. Or seem to mind too much.

"Ha. Well, the less we dwell on that the better. You make me happy, sure, but remember my powers come from rage and anger. Guess all those years of using them mean I succumb pretty quick." He is of course only partially correct; Vader's teachings are certainly that emotions, especially powerful ones like anger, fuel most abilities of the Dark Side. But they'd probably omit to mention love can be just as driving a force-- as long as it's a powerful emotion, it'll make a Sith tick. Just depends what you're trying to do.

"Lookin' forward to see who you beat next. Or who beats YOU down. I think either way it'll be worth a watch. And hey, you say that like you have to ASK PROXY to find me. Pretty sure he keeps tabs on me and has my exact bathroom schedule. Even though I don't keep one. Probably distilled it into a pattern I'm not even aware I follow." Sure would be a lot of effort, but PROXY is nothing if not dedicated to his programming.

"Speeeaking of cleaning up, did you huh, ever look into the emergency supply closet? You know, the one we never ever use and that you should definitely not go check out right now if you haven't checked it within the last couple of weeks?"

Juno Eclipse (428) has posed:
"I'm not saying let it interfere with your work, idiot." Juno chucks his shoulder again, just enough to reinforce the impression that she's trying to make a point. "It would be too dangerous, anyway. I'm just a pilot, and you just happen to be the Inquisitor I'm serving at this particular time. That's all anybody else needs to know."

She glances away, frowning a little. "Actually, I'm surprised nobody's managed to connect any dots yet. I'm the first pilot you've ever had that's been a woman, and I'm also coincidentally the only one to survive longer than... how long did the last one make it? Never mind, I don't want to know. I also don't want to know what grisly end he met." Shiver. "Eugh."

She shrugs, sighing and leaning against him, grumbling under her breath when he mentions the tournament.

"Your vote of confidence is absolutely heartwarming, Galen." The pilot rolls her eyes, staring at the ceiling in askance for a moment. "You're right, too. He probably doesn't need any encouragement. At all. And it wouldn't surprise me if he found patterns where we don't think there are any."

She doesn't really need to say that the droid creeps her out. She's made that abundantly clear, though she's gotten better about it over the years. It's only partly obvious now that she sleeps with a blaster in range!

There is a moment of perfect, total silence broken only by the sound of Juno's breathing.

In fact, it stretches on for what may be a slightly disconcertingly long interval.

And then she attempts to punch him -- not the friendly, aimless chuck on the shoulder of earlier; this one's a real right hook. And Juno does in fact keep herself fit and in good shape.

Also she can hit surprisingly /hard/ when she wants to, if he's not fast enough to lean sideways.

"Dammit, Galen...! /Seriously/? Are you seriously telling me this /now/? Do you /know/ how hard it so to clean your messes up after they've had time to /congeal/?!"

Galen Marek (18) has posed:
"If it helps, one of the pilots was REALLY feminine from behind. Probably got choked with his own hair. I dunno. Never bothered to find out," Galen says, with a shrug. "I think if people have guessed they're holding their tongue because the last thing you want is an inquisitor on your doorstep asking to 'chat' about your suspicions. Y'know?" Never upset an inquisitor, they have Force powers and have the right to execute you. Well, not all of them, but more than people would be comfortable knowing.

Then Juno right hooks him.
No fighting back! He deserves it.
And, well, if you've seen the things he does to HIMSELF ever since Vader stopped torturing him... this isn't too much, really. He takes it pretty well. That almost breaks his grin, even.

"Oof. I deserved that. Yeah, yeah. Look I figured you or PROXY would stumble on it the very same day I put stuff in there and get rid of it. Then I forgot about it. Until, you know, now. I'll get some cleaning droids sent over. And breathers."

They will definitely need those.

"God, you get any angrier with me today and I'm gonna have to learn to dodge lightning from you too. You're a handful."

Juno Eclipse (428) has posed:
The pilot just blinks owlishly at the description of the feminine pilot. That seems to take the wind out of her sails for a few seconds, if only because she's a little flabbergasted and doesn't seem to know what to respond to that with. Galen's like that sometimes. She'll be ready to wind up and clock him, and then he comes out with something weird like that.

Ffffff.

"I guess that's fair enough," she admits, even while Galen recovers from sudden right hook, still looking a little bit bristly. Nope, still not mollified. "Still, I worry about that sometimes. You have a lot of enemies. I suppose it would be naive to assume I don't, either. There are plenty of people in the Imperial Navy who probably resent seeing a woman in a position of... well, any real competence at all." She flashes a grin. "Especially the ones I left in my dust."

Mention of cleaning droids does seem to mollify her, just a tad. Breathers earns a bit of a glare from her. That bad of a mess, huh? She should expect no less, though. Galen is not in the habit of doing things half-cocked! Especially when it involves making messes. He's a champ at making messes.

She's gotten to be a champ at cleaning them up, mumble grumble.

"Next time you need a quick pickup, I'm going to let you cool your heels while you deal with whatever trouble you brought down on your head," Juno points out, but there's no real heat in the threat. She folds her arms and leans against him, and totally does not pout. "I've started practising with a vibroblade, too. And I haven't stopped practising with the Lightning Materia, either." She flashes another grin.

One that is totally not ill-intentioned or malicious in the least, not at all.

"I might throw lightning at you, one of these days, but I think you'd enjoy that too much." A snort, though there's no real annoyance in it. "If I get any angrier with you today, I'm going to quit beating about the bush and throw you out the nearest airlock. Oh, /I'm/ a handful? Really? /Really/?" A playful shove. "You're not so easy to get along with, either, I'll have you know. No wonder you went through seven pilots. They couldn't deal with you!"

Hmph. She folds her arms, half-smirking again. "Or maybe you just needed to be challenged with a pilot who /isn't/ terrified of you or a yes-man. One who thinks for herself, thank you very much." In many different senses; she could in fact fly the ship if the navicomputer were completely broken-down. Top honours of her academy class, indeed. "Hah. Maybe we've been allowed to continue working together because /I/ can keep /you/ on your toes."