Chapter 46
Dark clouds swirl around the XB-70 as it rises from the planet’s surface. Inside, Y’ssane and the commandos seated in the main cabin are jostled around as turbulence from the storm rocks the ship. The datapad Y’ssane was holding falls to the ground and she reflexively leans forward to pick it up, but her harness holds her back for the moment. In the cockpit, HK is unperturbed by the weather as he puts the vessel into a steep climb to break through the clouds then the atmosphere. The vessel calms as it enters the vacuum of space and after a few quick inputs, HK calculates the hyperspace route back to Zonama. A red light in the cabin turns on and those present straighten in preparation for the jump to Hyperspace. The droid pilot presses forward on the Hyperdrive throttle and the stars begin to stretch until the stealth vessel vanishes into Hyperspace. The red light remains lit for just over a minute before it extinguishes, signaling passengers may move about freely. Y’ssane releases her harness and leans forward to retrieve the datapad. Just before her hand reaches the pad, a metallic hand picks it up instead and the familiar robotic voice surprises the young woman. “Lieutenant-Commander Barnes, you should keep a better hold on your items, it is not becoming of one that has shown greater efficiency than most meatbags.”
Joash approaches from behind and interjects sternly, “Your way of showing appreciation is beyond bizarre, droid.” Flatly, HK responds, “I would not expect a meatbag as dense as you to understand, Special Commander.” Offended, Joash responds, “I’ll have you know, droid, that I selected the Lieutenant-Commander to join this mission.” The droid remains silent for many moments, the light in his eyes flickering as he scans several files. Once complete, he remarks “While her files indicate her marksmanship is superb, it does not shed light on how that came to be. I admit I am perplexed.” Simultaneously, both Joash and the droid turn to look at Y’ssane who sits down timidly. She exhales deeply before taking another breath to speak.
Within a large atrium with white stone floors sits a young girl, nearly ten years old, swinging her legs back and forth on a bench as she looks around quizzically. Her hair is cut short, almost like a bob, but it is staunchly curly and her skin is pale. The Republic’s military headquarters sits in a populated area of Coruscant with many tall buildings rising from the planet's surface. Inside, military personnel move about their duties with purpose, paying little attention to the lone child in the room. The large glass entrance door closes, causing the child to turn to her left and what she sees causes her to tilt her head in interest. A petite young woman no more than nineteen years of age stepped into the atrium garbed in silver robes with bright white and silver hair pulled back in a tight high ponytail. After a moment, she begins to walk to the receptionist with purposeful steps. As she approaches the desk, the older woman attending it looks up, “Ah, General Dulcinae, it is a pleasure to see you again. The Admiralty board should be finishing up soon. Please have a seat and I will let you know when they are ready.” A younger Anhiel inclines her head in thanks.
Sensing the dark brown eyes on her, she turns to her right to cast her piercing blue eyes on the young girl watching her with intrigue. She offers a slight smile to the child before walking over to sit next to her. Gently, the Jedi Knight asks, “What is your name, young one?” The child’s eyes linger on the woman’s hair as she responds timidly, “Y’s….Y’ssane Barnes…ma’am.” Once more, Anhiel smiles, recognizing the last name “It is a pleasure to meet you Miss Barnes. My name is Anhiel Dulcinae.” The Jedi pauses, then moves to continue speaking but Y’ssane blurts out a question, “Why is your hair that color? You are not old.” The Jedi chuckles, “I see now that curiosity is why you were staring at me. Shortly after I was born, I developed a rare genetic mutation which changed my hair to this color, permanently.” Anhiel lifts her ponytail some, letting the strands slide through her hand. Again the child blurts out, “You are very pretty. I wish my hair was like that.” With her left hand, the Jedi lifts a curling lock of the child’s hair, “Beauty manifests in many ways, young one. But rest assured, you are also very pretty and I have no doubt you will grow into a beautiful young woman. But I sense your true beauty is not merely physical and will reveal itself in time.” Mesmerized but also attempting to understand all of what the woman said, Y’ssane just stares as the receptionist calls out, “General. They are ready for you.” Anhiel ruffles the girl's hair playful before she stands and addresses her one last time. “Take care, Miss Barnes. Until we meet again.” The knowing expression the Jedi gives confuses the child so much that she is unable to respond as the mysterious woman strides away. Without noticing, young Y’ssane twirls one of the longer locks of curly hair as she watches the Jedi walk away towards the lift.
After the lift door slides open, a man steps out and immediately comes to attention and salutes when he sees Anhiel. He is in his mid thirties, wearing a perfectly pressed Republic uniform with its black pants and mainly black top; save for the orangish-red coloring on the shoulders narrowing some as it descends down the center of the uniform. The matching cover is nestled under his left arm and several medals adorn his left chest. Firmly, he calls out, “General! I was on my way to escort you.” From the bench, Y’ssane watches the exchange intently as the young Jedi’s appearance seemed to shift. Where she was lively and open with the child, her features were now hardened somewhat and the finding perplexed the young girl. Once more her head tilted as she attempted to understand what she saw. As she pondered, Anhiel’s voice carried through the stone atrium, “I appreciate the thought, Captain Barnes. However, I would hope the Admiralty would find more important tasks for a decorated war hero than escorting personnel that are more than familiar with the building. More importantly…” The General’s voice trails off and Y’ssane jumps as blue eyes glance in her direction, followed by the stern eyes of her father. After a moment, Anhiel finishes her statement while still looking towards the young girl, “I do not wish to deprive young Y’ssane of precious time with her father.” Surprised that the General knew his daughter, the Captain apologizes quickly, “Ma’am, I apologize profusely if she bothered you. She continues to struggle with learning to keep her curiosity in check.”
Y’ssane jumped slightly as she watched her father straighten even more as an expression she had never seen him make formed on his features. She thought to herself, “Is he…scared?” while her eyes shifted to the right slightly towards Anhiel. The white-haired woman was staring directly into Captain’s eyes with a look that froze Y’ssane in place but the voice that echoed in her ears chilled the child to her core. “That curiosity is her greatest strength. I would expect a decorated war hero to be able to see that, let alone her father.” The Captain swallows loudly and opens his mouth to respond but is cut off by Anhiel’s commanding voice, “You are dismissed, Captain. I can find my own way.” With a flick of her wrist, she sends an invisible wave to push the lift button which opens the door before she steps past the man, leaving him bewildered. As the lift door closes, he gains some control and turns quickly, saluting just before the General disappears from view. Half a minute passes before the Captain hardens his features and begins walking quickly towards the door. He does not even offer a glance or word to Y’ssane as he opens the door and she jumps up quickly to run after him to their vehicle.
Time Skip - one year
With a large smile, Y’ssane jumps into the vehicle as her father places a pair of long crates in the cargo compartment. Her curly hair now falls to her shoulders and is pulled back in somewhat of a ponytail, though the curls give the tail a wild look. Her excitement holds for the twenty minute flight where she hops out quickly and moves to the cargo compartment to try to help carry items. The Captain gives her a stern look and she stands still while he pulls the two long crates out. After a moment, he looks at her and sighs, “Grab the thermal couplings, Y’ssane.” With a grin, she grabs the smaller box of couplings and follows her father into the range.
Nearly an hour later, Y’ssane sits quietly; alternating between watching her father and reading over a schematic and some associated articles. He sits, shouldering a long black rifle that showed signs of age with a scope that rested on a bipod on the bench before him. After exhaling slowly, he squeezes the trigger once more and a red bolt lances out from the barrel and hits the human shaped target in the right shoulder two hundred meters away. He growls in frustration and begins to fiddle with the weapon, unsure as to why he was not able to correct the accuracy of his Grandfather’s weapon. The weapon fires once more and the result is similar as the bolt hits wide of centermass, this time catching the left hip. With a growl, the man stands up and walks away mumbling to himself. Wishing to help, Y’ssane stands up gently and looks to see where her father went. Not seeing him, she approaches the weapon and climbs up on the stool and sets the data pad down, looking at the weapon schematic once more. Her mouth narrows as she reads until she digs in the small maintenance box that sat on the bench and pulled out a small hydrospanner. Ten minutes of tinkering later, she closed the hatch that exposed the firing chamber and looked around again, unaware of how long had passed. Not seeing her father, she sits up on her knees on the stool and shoulders the very large weapon. It was a bit unwieldy due to its size in relation to her’s, however, she was able to steady it, holding the reticle on the center of the target’s chest. As her father had done, she exhaled slowly and a moment later, she squeezed the trigger. Another bolt of light flashes down the range and before it makes contact, a loud voice causes Y’ssane to jump “What are you doing, Y’ssane!” She spins around and fidgets with her hands as she attempts to form a response.
Her father looks down at her angrily and moves to speak again when his eye catches a glimpse of the monitor that showed the target. A burn hole sits no more than a centimeter off to the right of the center mark on the target’s chest. Surprised he looks back to his daughter and in a calmer, disbelieving tone he says. “Y’ssane…Take another shot.” Confused, she looks up, her face flushed from her accelerated heart rate. Her father gestures towards the gun, “Take another shot.” She nods, still somewhat confused as to why she was not being yelled at but gets into position. As before, she mimicked her father’s form but it took her much longer to squeeze the trigger as her arms were shaking in anxiety. The result was a shot a centimeter to the left and two centimeters high but still a guaranteed killshot. Still with some disbelief, her father asks, “How did you do that?” Y’ssane picks up the data pad that still had the weapon’s schematic up and showed him, “Great Grandpa’s gun is old. It uses a bunch of focusing lenses to make a bolt strong enough for long range. This article said it was common for the lens casings to shift some when the gun gets old. So I opened up the chamber and found one that had moved then put it back…” She looked up timidly and the surprise on her Father’s face confused her.
Time Skip - three years
Excitedly, Y’ssane bursts out of the back door of the large house on Coruscant, hopping off the deck onto the small patch of manicured green grass. Still wearing her academy uniform, the now fifteen year old student kneels down and sets a model Valor class cruiser, a wrapped object and a toolkit on the ground. Completely focused, she works methodically, unwrapping a small cylindrical metal component which she affixes to the model in an opening at the base. She grins widely as she lifts the completed model onto a stone pedestal that sat nearby. With a couple inputs on the side of the model, the small added tube begins to hum and she hops back. Blue flame begins to shoot out from the model and after a moment it takes off from the pedestal. Wide brown eyes watch it fly through the air with excitement until the model starship banks and crashes through the kitchen window that overlooks the backyard. Shattered glass clatters everywhere and the young woman’s expression goes from that of glee to horror. A tightness forms in her chest that continues to grow until she feels as though she can’t breathe. Without thinking, she runs inside and flies up the spiral staircase towards her room where she locks the door from the interior panel with shaking hands. Alone in the house, she paces for over an hour while breathing anxiously. Her heart rate begins to slow and she picks up a light colored book that sat on a small table in front of a large, multi shelf bookcase filled with other books. She begins reading while still pacing, eventually sitting on her bedside and calming down over the next hour. The closing of the front door snaps her focus from reading and she hops up and looks around unsure of what to do.
Y’ssane’s story finishes, leaving Joash and HK looking on quietly while she did her best to not look at the other commandos who were nearby, listening intently while checking their gear. Joash is the first to speak, “Thank you for sharing, young one. But I sense that is only part of the story.” The older Jedi takes a breath to continue but is cut off by HK, “Special Commander, urgent message from base.” Joash turns and nods, “Well? Spit it out.” The droid straightens and the voice of Rend emanates from internal speakers, “We have received your confirmation that the mission was a success. Return directly and prepare for immediate debrief. I have delayed as best as I can but the High Admiral will be returning to her normal duties. She senses something is coming and wishes to seize any advantage we may have before it slips away. Finally, I understand things were more than heated on this mission. Captain Tragonus has requested all personnel report for full evaluations immediately after debrief.” Rend’s message pauses as Joash rolls his eyes and although pre-recorded, Rend continues as though he was aboard the vessel with them. “Yes, that includes you, Special-Commander. I look forward to your return.” The message ends and Joash mumbles, “Infernal woman…” before looking at Y’ssane, “I suppose that means we won’t have much time once we arrive. See what you can do with what data we have as I would rather not tell Master Dulcinae we aren’t sure what we have because we twiddled our thumbs the whole trip back. Besides, i'm sure HK would be happy to assist as well.”
Joash’s attempt at sarcasm goes unnoticed by the droid with a sincere response, “It would be a pleasure to help a useful meatbag for once. This vessel is equipped with a science station and several data handling tools as it was manufactured for stealth missions.” Y’ssane, who had been sitting quietly exhales deeply and glances at HK apprehensively as Joash rolls his eyes once more and walks away. After a moment, the engineer stands and follows HK to a compartment just off of the armory where several large monitors, a workstation and other equipment adorn the room. She sits at the main screen and pulls out the chit with the acquired data then inserts it into the open slot at the front of the console. Intricate and mysterious characters begin to rapidly scroll across the four large screens on the wall. Minutes turn to an hour as Y’ssane watches the symbols scroll by, tuning out the seemingly never ending recitation of the droid’s and Y’ssane’s recent battles. Something flashes by the corner of the engineer’s eyes and she stands up quickly, waving a shushing hand at the droid who stops and gazes blankly. The beep of keystrokes mingles with a command, “HK, connect to the console and run bilateral AI programs, one set for code breaking, the other for translation.” The droid complies with the command, connecting via hardlink and assigning all available processes to the programs. Y’ssane sits back in the chair and begins to watch the screen once more as the minutes again begin to tick by, then an hour, and another, and many more until Joash enters the room to find the young woman slumped forward, leaning on the console, fast asleep; her loyal droid standing straight with the programs still running.
The stealth fighter comes to a soft landing on the landing pad on Zenoma. The ramp opens expelling vapors as it lowers to the ground. Outside, a group of medical officers wait patiently for the away team to disembark the vessel. At the head of the group, Thea stands covering her anxiety with a hard frown. Her eyes linger on the dark circles under Y’ssane’s eyes as she exits the craft, flanked by HK. Thea directs each member that steps to her to a specific person based on their needs until the old relic steps from the shadow of the ship's interior. Flush with emotion she steps to Joash and demands, “Special-Commander, I need to see you immediately in the infirmary.” Confused by her looks and tone he replies , “Woman, you know I have to debrief the General before I do anything.” Still holding back several emotions, Thea grabs a fist full of his tunic and pulls the older man within a few millimeters of their lips touching and whispers, “Make it quick…” she releases the Jedi but he remains slightly bent still processing what just happened when she turns and marches towards the medical area. Joash straightens himself and looks at the woman before replying softly, “Yes Ma’am.”