Post by Nyrai on Sept 22, 2019 17:55:13 GMT
"...So, we have at least twelve to eighteen hours to kill."
"Huh, I was expecting the repairs would take longer than that."
The miniaturized blue figure of Jolia Var shimmered on the holocommunicator laying in Nyrai's palm.
"So was I. Not entirely sure how the smuggler does it, and I have the strange feeling we're better off not knowing."
"I'd have to agree with you on that."
Jolia waved a hand dismissively.
"Anyway, I've ordered the rest of Chetel to find somewhere to rest up, and you two should do the same."
Zaehl, who was standing beside Nyrai, nodded at her squad leader.
"Oh, and Nyrai, see if you can't get your hand fixed while we're here? I'll contact you when the repairs are finished."
With that, the holoprojector shut off, leaving Nyrai and Zaehl to dictate their next course of action.
"I'm sure we can find something akin to a surgeon laying around." Zaehl said, a hopeful note in her voice.
Since the scene at the bar, Nyrai had been keeping an eye on her Jedi companion. From experience, she knew just how profound an impact emotional turmoil could have on people. This was only amplified on someone who had been taught to suppress their feelings since their childhood.
"You didn't happen to see a map of the place laying around, did you?"
Judging by feedback from a psychic tendril, Nyrai knew Zaehl was still "unsteady", so to speak. This resulted in a near reversal of roles, which she found mildly disconcerting. For the time being, Nyrai had to act as an emotional bulwark for the both of them.
Zaehl shook her head, "Sorry, I haven't seen one."
Nyrai found this shift in the togruta's mindset fascinating to watch. In the past two hours, she had felt fury, fear, and sadness from Zaehl, and had the privilege of observing how it affected her.
"Well, let's get moving, hopefully this won't take long."
As the two picked a direction and started walking, Nyrai reviewed the situation in her head. She didn't think Zaehl was going to break under the emotional strain, at least, not yet. She had seen a few tears earlier, but that had been short lived. What concerned her now was how uncharacteristically quiet the Jedi had been since then.
Also serving as a point of interest was how she had responded to physical contact. Naturally, there was a degree of unfamiliarity, but seemingly no reluctance. Granted, their embrace had lasted for only a few moments, but it told Nyrai a substantial amount about both of them.
Something caught Nyrai's eye as she strode along, "Hey, a weapons dealer. Might stop there later."
She had learned long ago that emotions cannot be repressed forever, and it was because of her understanding and acceptance of this that made her so powerful in the dark side. While Zaehl was likely too pure of heart to fall to darkness, she was learning the truth about herself, and her feelings. At least, Nyrai hoped she was.
After roughly fifteen minutes of nigh aimless wandering, Zaehl tapped her on the shoulder. "That might be something there."
Following her gaze, Nyrai saw a small, innocuous looking set of doors. Standing in front of these doors was what looked like a vaguely Imperial issued medical droid, albeit with extensive modifications. Seeing no other alternatives in the area, she walked up to it.
"Uh, hello. Are you a medical droid here?"
"I serve as a medical assistant to Doctor-" there was a sudden burst of static, likely done to preserve the Doctor's anonymity. "-please, report your ailments."
Nyrai simply held up her left arm, the hand still held in place by regrown tendons and force shielding. While she had been blocking any pain from the wound, it was a grisly sight. The droid looked at the mangled appendage for a few moments.
"Please remain here, my master will see you shortly."
A few minutes later, a single man walked out of the doors. He was heavily augmented with cybernetics; his right arm was completely replaced with a metal limb from the elbow down, and there were various needles and small tools sprouting from it.
"I don't know who you are, and I don't care. I won't ask questions, and neither will you. Got it?"
Nyrai nodded.
"Good. For a wound that bad, I'll be charging ten K. Five up front, five on completion."
Again, Nyrai nodded. While under ordinary circumstances that would be a steep price, brandishing one of the credit chits, she was thankful that money was little issue at the moment. He took the chit and inserted it into a slot in his droid, and a few seconds later, it popped back out. Nyrai retrieved the credits, and saw that there was only five thousand credits missing.
"It's a hell of a lot easier to attract business as a surgeon when you're actually level with your clients." The cyborg motioned Nyrai inside. Zaehl followed, but the droid stepped in her path.
"Let her through, I trust her." Nyrai ordered of the droid.
"I don't." The cyborg countered.
"She won't cause any issues, you have my word." Nyrai found herself layering her words with the persuasive properties of the force.
"Alright, let her in." The man said after a moments hesitation. Surely enough, the droid stepped out of Zaehl's way. She fell into step right behind Nyrai.
They entered a room with only a metal chair adorned with wide armrests and a rolling table with metal tools glinting in the soft light.
"You won't be needing that." Said the man, pointing to Nyrai's vibrosword. Without a word, she handed it to Zaehl, who grasped it tightly enough to cause her knuckles to pale. She saw worry in the togruta's eyes, and ran a finger down the right side of her face to quell it. From the psychic tendril, Nyrai saw that the gesture did work at least a little bit.
Turning towards the chair, Nyrai sat down, placing her arms on the armrests. In short order, she felt a needle pierce her left shoulder. It only took a few minutes for the whole arm to go completely numb, and then the surgery began.
By Nyrai's estimate, the whole ordeal couldn't have taken more than an hour. As she stood from the chair, she looked at her hand. Despite her best efforts to preserve her hand, the skin had begun to decay. This had created a unique situation in which an ordinary skin graft wouldn't adhere properly to the hand. The skin from her wrist to her hand was now a dark grey; a result of the multiple layers of graphene that now encased her hand and wrist.
Nyrai flexed each finger, then the whole hand, and finally her wrist. Everything felt fine; there was no pain, and the motions were smooth. However, the grey skin was still numb, and she didn't know when sensation would return.
"That compound acts just like normal skin. Once the drugs wear off, you'll never notice the difference."
Nodding, Nyrai handed him the credit chit again, which he put into the droid just as before. There was a small beep, and the cybernetic doctor placed the chit into the palm of her hand.
"Ten K total, just as promised."
Smiling, Nyrai shook his hand. "I appreciate this." With that, she turned on her heel and walked out of the medical center, with Zaehl close behind.
The Jedi handed Nyrai her vibrosword, which she slung over her shoulder.
"I imagine there is some kind of apartment complex around here." Nyrai remembered from looking out the viewport of the freighter as it had approached the station that Port Nowhere looked to be slightly smaller than Vaiken Spacedock.
Zaehl and Nyrai wandered around for around a half hour more, occasionally stopping at one shop or another. They kept an eye out for any of the crystals sold by Jontar, but found no trace of them. Nyrai did purchase a wonderful looking rapier, the blade of which was enveloped in a strong magnetic force field, and it also could vibrate at a high frequency.
Eventually, the two found themselves in a small, hotel-esque area, patrolled by security droids. There was a grizzled looking man at a desk, going through a datapad. Nyrai tapped on the desk to get his attention.
"Hmm? Can I help you?"
"Yes, is this something like an apartment establishment?"
"Yeah, it is. I rent rooms if someone needs a place to sleep for a few hours, or if a quiet meeting has to happen uninterrupted, you get the idea."
"How much for twenty-four hours?"
"About five hundred credits."
Nyrai handed him the chit, which he scanned, then handed it back to her along with a key card.
"Follow me." The man tilted his head in the direction of an elevator, and the two women followed. They ended up on the third floor, and were shortly led to their room. It was sparsely furnished, containing a single bed, a metal table, and two chairs. The man left without a word more.
Nyrai sat in one of the chairs, yawning. The last few days had been rough, from being wounded to serious physical exertion, an impressive amount of strain had been placed on her body and mind. Only now did she realize how fatigued she really was.
"Come on, you need sleep."
"We both do, Zaehl."
"One of us should stay awake to keep watch."
"For what? Nobody here cares about two random people. Besides, all of the security droids running around can deal with anything this station can throw at us."
After a moment, Zaehl nodded, and sat down on the edge of the bed. Nyrai could easily see the signs of weariness on her body, from her posture to her half closed eyes, not to mention she could sense it. Nyrai had the odd feeling she was in a similar state herself.
"Come on." Nyrai said, standing. She placed her swords next to the bed, within easy reach, along with the holocommunicator. She then sat next to Zaehl, placing her right arm around her waist. The togruta said nothing, simply laid back and rolled over to her right side. Nyrai did the same, letting her forehead come to rest on the back of Zaehl's neck.
The Jedi was asleep very quickly, leaving Nyrai alone with her thoughts. Her right arm was caught between Zaehl and the bed, though she didn't feel like moving it. It was oddly jarring, in a strange way, to go from pulse-quickening life-or-death situations to something so, peaceful, in a relatively short amount of time. Breathing easily for the first time in likely a long while, Nyrai let her eyes fall shut, and surrendered herself to the cool darkness of the unwaking world.
"Huh, I was expecting the repairs would take longer than that."
The miniaturized blue figure of Jolia Var shimmered on the holocommunicator laying in Nyrai's palm.
"So was I. Not entirely sure how the smuggler does it, and I have the strange feeling we're better off not knowing."
"I'd have to agree with you on that."
Jolia waved a hand dismissively.
"Anyway, I've ordered the rest of Chetel to find somewhere to rest up, and you two should do the same."
Zaehl, who was standing beside Nyrai, nodded at her squad leader.
"Oh, and Nyrai, see if you can't get your hand fixed while we're here? I'll contact you when the repairs are finished."
With that, the holoprojector shut off, leaving Nyrai and Zaehl to dictate their next course of action.
"I'm sure we can find something akin to a surgeon laying around." Zaehl said, a hopeful note in her voice.
Since the scene at the bar, Nyrai had been keeping an eye on her Jedi companion. From experience, she knew just how profound an impact emotional turmoil could have on people. This was only amplified on someone who had been taught to suppress their feelings since their childhood.
"You didn't happen to see a map of the place laying around, did you?"
Judging by feedback from a psychic tendril, Nyrai knew Zaehl was still "unsteady", so to speak. This resulted in a near reversal of roles, which she found mildly disconcerting. For the time being, Nyrai had to act as an emotional bulwark for the both of them.
Zaehl shook her head, "Sorry, I haven't seen one."
Nyrai found this shift in the togruta's mindset fascinating to watch. In the past two hours, she had felt fury, fear, and sadness from Zaehl, and had the privilege of observing how it affected her.
"Well, let's get moving, hopefully this won't take long."
As the two picked a direction and started walking, Nyrai reviewed the situation in her head. She didn't think Zaehl was going to break under the emotional strain, at least, not yet. She had seen a few tears earlier, but that had been short lived. What concerned her now was how uncharacteristically quiet the Jedi had been since then.
Also serving as a point of interest was how she had responded to physical contact. Naturally, there was a degree of unfamiliarity, but seemingly no reluctance. Granted, their embrace had lasted for only a few moments, but it told Nyrai a substantial amount about both of them.
Something caught Nyrai's eye as she strode along, "Hey, a weapons dealer. Might stop there later."
She had learned long ago that emotions cannot be repressed forever, and it was because of her understanding and acceptance of this that made her so powerful in the dark side. While Zaehl was likely too pure of heart to fall to darkness, she was learning the truth about herself, and her feelings. At least, Nyrai hoped she was.
After roughly fifteen minutes of nigh aimless wandering, Zaehl tapped her on the shoulder. "That might be something there."
Following her gaze, Nyrai saw a small, innocuous looking set of doors. Standing in front of these doors was what looked like a vaguely Imperial issued medical droid, albeit with extensive modifications. Seeing no other alternatives in the area, she walked up to it.
"Uh, hello. Are you a medical droid here?"
"I serve as a medical assistant to Doctor-" there was a sudden burst of static, likely done to preserve the Doctor's anonymity. "-please, report your ailments."
Nyrai simply held up her left arm, the hand still held in place by regrown tendons and force shielding. While she had been blocking any pain from the wound, it was a grisly sight. The droid looked at the mangled appendage for a few moments.
"Please remain here, my master will see you shortly."
A few minutes later, a single man walked out of the doors. He was heavily augmented with cybernetics; his right arm was completely replaced with a metal limb from the elbow down, and there were various needles and small tools sprouting from it.
"I don't know who you are, and I don't care. I won't ask questions, and neither will you. Got it?"
Nyrai nodded.
"Good. For a wound that bad, I'll be charging ten K. Five up front, five on completion."
Again, Nyrai nodded. While under ordinary circumstances that would be a steep price, brandishing one of the credit chits, she was thankful that money was little issue at the moment. He took the chit and inserted it into a slot in his droid, and a few seconds later, it popped back out. Nyrai retrieved the credits, and saw that there was only five thousand credits missing.
"It's a hell of a lot easier to attract business as a surgeon when you're actually level with your clients." The cyborg motioned Nyrai inside. Zaehl followed, but the droid stepped in her path.
"Let her through, I trust her." Nyrai ordered of the droid.
"I don't." The cyborg countered.
"She won't cause any issues, you have my word." Nyrai found herself layering her words with the persuasive properties of the force.
"Alright, let her in." The man said after a moments hesitation. Surely enough, the droid stepped out of Zaehl's way. She fell into step right behind Nyrai.
They entered a room with only a metal chair adorned with wide armrests and a rolling table with metal tools glinting in the soft light.
"You won't be needing that." Said the man, pointing to Nyrai's vibrosword. Without a word, she handed it to Zaehl, who grasped it tightly enough to cause her knuckles to pale. She saw worry in the togruta's eyes, and ran a finger down the right side of her face to quell it. From the psychic tendril, Nyrai saw that the gesture did work at least a little bit.
Turning towards the chair, Nyrai sat down, placing her arms on the armrests. In short order, she felt a needle pierce her left shoulder. It only took a few minutes for the whole arm to go completely numb, and then the surgery began.
By Nyrai's estimate, the whole ordeal couldn't have taken more than an hour. As she stood from the chair, she looked at her hand. Despite her best efforts to preserve her hand, the skin had begun to decay. This had created a unique situation in which an ordinary skin graft wouldn't adhere properly to the hand. The skin from her wrist to her hand was now a dark grey; a result of the multiple layers of graphene that now encased her hand and wrist.
Nyrai flexed each finger, then the whole hand, and finally her wrist. Everything felt fine; there was no pain, and the motions were smooth. However, the grey skin was still numb, and she didn't know when sensation would return.
"That compound acts just like normal skin. Once the drugs wear off, you'll never notice the difference."
Nodding, Nyrai handed him the credit chit again, which he put into the droid just as before. There was a small beep, and the cybernetic doctor placed the chit into the palm of her hand.
"Ten K total, just as promised."
Smiling, Nyrai shook his hand. "I appreciate this." With that, she turned on her heel and walked out of the medical center, with Zaehl close behind.
The Jedi handed Nyrai her vibrosword, which she slung over her shoulder.
"I imagine there is some kind of apartment complex around here." Nyrai remembered from looking out the viewport of the freighter as it had approached the station that Port Nowhere looked to be slightly smaller than Vaiken Spacedock.
Zaehl and Nyrai wandered around for around a half hour more, occasionally stopping at one shop or another. They kept an eye out for any of the crystals sold by Jontar, but found no trace of them. Nyrai did purchase a wonderful looking rapier, the blade of which was enveloped in a strong magnetic force field, and it also could vibrate at a high frequency.
Eventually, the two found themselves in a small, hotel-esque area, patrolled by security droids. There was a grizzled looking man at a desk, going through a datapad. Nyrai tapped on the desk to get his attention.
"Hmm? Can I help you?"
"Yes, is this something like an apartment establishment?"
"Yeah, it is. I rent rooms if someone needs a place to sleep for a few hours, or if a quiet meeting has to happen uninterrupted, you get the idea."
"How much for twenty-four hours?"
"About five hundred credits."
Nyrai handed him the chit, which he scanned, then handed it back to her along with a key card.
"Follow me." The man tilted his head in the direction of an elevator, and the two women followed. They ended up on the third floor, and were shortly led to their room. It was sparsely furnished, containing a single bed, a metal table, and two chairs. The man left without a word more.
Nyrai sat in one of the chairs, yawning. The last few days had been rough, from being wounded to serious physical exertion, an impressive amount of strain had been placed on her body and mind. Only now did she realize how fatigued she really was.
"Come on, you need sleep."
"We both do, Zaehl."
"One of us should stay awake to keep watch."
"For what? Nobody here cares about two random people. Besides, all of the security droids running around can deal with anything this station can throw at us."
After a moment, Zaehl nodded, and sat down on the edge of the bed. Nyrai could easily see the signs of weariness on her body, from her posture to her half closed eyes, not to mention she could sense it. Nyrai had the odd feeling she was in a similar state herself.
"Come on." Nyrai said, standing. She placed her swords next to the bed, within easy reach, along with the holocommunicator. She then sat next to Zaehl, placing her right arm around her waist. The togruta said nothing, simply laid back and rolled over to her right side. Nyrai did the same, letting her forehead come to rest on the back of Zaehl's neck.
The Jedi was asleep very quickly, leaving Nyrai alone with her thoughts. Her right arm was caught between Zaehl and the bed, though she didn't feel like moving it. It was oddly jarring, in a strange way, to go from pulse-quickening life-or-death situations to something so, peaceful, in a relatively short amount of time. Breathing easily for the first time in likely a long while, Nyrai let her eyes fall shut, and surrendered herself to the cool darkness of the unwaking world.