Chapter 2: Forges of Ithyari

[Ayingel 24]

"Do you often just let your droid wander around alone? Can't it...er, he, get in trouble that way?"

At the academy, we just kept them in the bay to do their maintenance work...

[Drake 53]

Tak nodded to Jya and Arlan. "What about you two? You must be worn out from all that cleaning!"

Arlan smirked, "Well, actually, she's..."

Jya gave him a playful punch and cut him off. "We've, uh, taken a few naps throughout the day so we should be alright until tonight."

Takeshi stood up with his tray. Making eye contact with Layla, he gave her a wink.

[Mara 29]

"Normally he stays with me wherever I go, but today I left him alone because I went for a run. He couldn't really follow me then."

[Rogue 4]

Layla smiled widely at Tak, messing up Sena's hair before she gathered her tray and disposed of it. Sure they were cleaning...

Edited August 23, 2007 by Rogue

[Ayingel 24]

"Ah, well, I guess that makes sense." Szen scratched the back of her neck. "Are there that many extra astromechs around the base that me borrowing one isn't a problem?"

[Drake 53]

After saying goodbye, Tak went out into the corridor. There he waited for Layla to come out.

[Rogue 4]

Layla held a short private conversation with Sena in the cafeteria.

Sena smiled at her. "I keep forgetting to give this to you." She said, handing her a holodisk. Layla took it, looking to her inquisitively. "It's some new pictures of Ayanna. We took them on Zeltros....I got to spend a few days with the family before returning to Coruscant to come here."

The Zeltron gave her a hug. "Thanks Sena, that means a lot to me!"

Palming the holodisk she headed out into the hall, Sena walked past her, heading to their quarters to get some rest. Layla walked out into the hallway looking absently at the disk in her hand. I wonder how much she's grown in the past few weeks...

[Drake 53]

Tak was leaning up against the wall when Layla walked past him. She seemed distracted by the holodisk in her hand. He smirked and walked up right behind her.

"You look like you're off in a galaxy far, far away. What's on your mind, Legs?"

[Rogue 4]

Layla stopped, smirking at him. "You're going to keep calling me that huh?"

[Drake 53]

He nodded. "The name is only befitting for the best pair on the base," Tak said with a grin. "Whenever I get a peek at them, it's a treat."

[Rogue 4]

"I'm flattered." She laughed lightly, raising the holodisk for him to see. "Sena brought it for me, a little something to remind me of home."

[Drake 53]

"Family? Not a boyfriend, I hope. I might have to consider getting jealous if that were the case." He laughed.

[Rogue 4]

"Naw, nothing like that." Layla scratched at the back of her neck, trying to figure out how to drop this one. "Believe it or not I haven't been involved in many relationships over the past few years."

If this doesn't scare him away, nothing will.

"I ah...I never told anyone here because well...I didn't want them to look at me different, but well....these are holos of my daughter."

Edited August 23, 2007 by Rogue

[Drake 53]

Takeshi raised an eyebrow. "Daughter..." he said as he absently scratched behind his ear. "Huh..." There was an awkward pause before he looked at her and grinned. "That's awesome! You should have told me sooner! How old is she?"

[Rogue 4]

She saw his eyes glaze over as he absently tried to comprehend that, and she thought that was it. He was freaked out. That's why Layla was surprised when he grinned. "I really thought for a moment there you were going to freak out on me..." Layla took a deep breath and relaxed, smiling brightly. "She just turned three last month."

[Drake 53]

"Really? Then I'm too late to buy her a lifeday present! I hope she won't mind a belated one. Maybe I can pick up something on our next mission..." He carried on like that until they reached his room. "Oh, looks like we're here already. I appreciate you telling me about your daughter, by the way. And I'm most certainly not freaked out. Maybe a little surprised but I forgive you for not confiding earlier in me, your nearest and dearest friend." He gave her a wink.

Edited August 23, 2007 by Drake

[Rogue 4]

"Yeah, I'm sorry about that...I trust you with everything else, I don't know why I wouldn't tell you that..." Layla chuckled lightly at him, wrapping her arms up around his neck as they stopped at his door. She grinned. "And she's three...She hasn't quite grasped the concept that she needs a reason to get a present--- not that you need to get her one, babe. Of course, that could just come from me spoiling her."

"At any rate..." She kissed him lightly before winking at him. "Sweet dreams, babe. I'll see you in a couple hours."

She released him, smirking to herself as she headed down the hall to her own room.

[Drake 53]

Tak stood in the doorway to the room that he and Jaim shared, letting the kiss linger on his lips for a moment before turning in and flopping onto his bed to nap.

"Alarm," he mumbled half-through the pillow. The alarm droid next to him beeped in recognition. "Set wakeup for 2145." When the droid beeped twice in confirmation, Tak rolled over and tried to sleep.

It was hard to let himself go. His mind was still reeling from the revelation that Layla had a daughter. Hells, he was still in shock from the kiss in the hot tub earlier. Of course, he was happy that Layla confided in him. It showed that there was potential for something more than flirting and a physical relationship.

He remembered back to the conversation in the cafeteria when Szen had insulted his ego. It should have bothered him more but he really didn't care. Szen didn't know him. In truth, he only flirted with Layla because he had gotten to know her. He had become her friend and understood that she would reciprocate in kind to the flirting. It was in her personality to do so and that's why he did it. For anyone different, he would have been far more...respectable. Unfortunately, he seemed to have gotten off on the wrong foot with the new pilot.

Eventually, he pushed the thoughts from his mind and drifted to sleep.

***

He woke hours later when the alarm droid went off. Tak groaned and hauled himself up, hitting the droid until it turned off. Since he was still in his clothes, he left the room. The corridors were empty save for the occasional droid or mechanic fiddling with some random piece of equipment. He was fully awake by the time he made it to the hangar and found most of the others already waiting.

As soon as it hit 2200, the Revenants entered the hangar. They found that a few of their astromechs had already gotten the paints and spray painting equipment ready for them. So they all quickly got to work locating and painting the Flying Mynock's X-Wings a rather brilliant shade of pink. Layla made a number of comments on the colour, saying that it was 'adorable' or 'cute'.

It only took them one hour to finish with everything. After a quick cleanup and a couple snapshots of the prank, they were gone again and back into their beds.

***

Five hours passed by and the Revenants found themselves sitting bleary-eyed in the auditorium, waiting for Captain Tunon to get the next mission up and running....

[Andy 60]

Aston rubbed his eyes and sipped his caff, yawning as he waited for the briefing to begin.

[Ayingel 24]

Szen checked her data pad again, just to see if there were any notices about her new astromech. Kaden and Artie had helped her pick out a droid to borrow, but she still wasn't quite confident it would be safe. She sighed and put the datapad away and glanced around the table.

I hope we're ready for this.

[Mara 29]

"Well, there weren't a whole lot that I have found, but it's always handy to have a few extras, you know, in case something happens to one," Kaden told Szen as they walked into the lounge. He found Artie there, cleaning out one of the mechanics for the Mynocks in a game of sabaac. He didn't bother even thinking when Artie had time to learn to play. Kaden pulled him away from the game, promising the man that he would get all his money back, eventually.

He had Artie lead him and Szen to a holding room where there were a few extra astromechs. Artie pointed out a couple of the more suitable ones, after some goading from Kaden to make him realize that he shouldn't get revenge on their new pilot because Kaden took his credits away.

She had picked the older but more reliable of the two, a red and blue one designated R2-C4. Artie called him "Whiny," but assured Szen that this nickname was only his temperament in playing games and nothing to do with his regular personality. Whiny was excited to be back in action again and fairly ran to get himself a full checkup so he could get clearance.

Kaden had chuckled as the droid zoomed away. "I'm sure you could find a more suitable name for him." They parted ways and headed for their separate rooms, Kaden scolding Artie all the way.

.....

Artie and Kaden had arrived first in the hanger, promptly at 2145 because Artie had woken him up, excited for the prank. He was glad he was alone in his room again. Artie's wake up call wasn't exactly soothing.

The droid quickly got a sprayed attached to one of his mechanical arms and began spraying the undersides of the fighters. Kaden helped out the others when they arrived.

Artie was having so much fun, whistling and tootling to himself as he painted. He even "accidentally" sprayed Layla when she got a little too close. He made a comment that Kaden had to translate as something like "Haha, I can't tell which is clothes and which is skin." Everyone laughed but Kaden had glared at Artie.

The job was quickly finished and they all had filed out to get some more sleep.

.....

Kaden was glad the cafeteria was opened early as he wandered in at 0330 hours to grab a good breakfast. He wasn't sure if they would have time to eat after the briefing and before they left. But just in case, he stashed a few ration bars in his bag after he had eaten. He never knew how long a trip would last or when the next meal would come while on a mission. It was best to be prepared. He stuffed in a few extra for his squadron mates before leaving the cafeteria.

Walking into the briefing room, he took a seat. This time he didn't sit alone and moved towards Szen to talk to her about R2-C4.

"I checked on your droid this morning before coming here. He'll be ready and waiting for you. Artie made sure all the preparations went smoothly." That was one thing about droids; they didn't really need to sleep. So after the prank while everyone slept, Artie had found his friend Whiny to make sure everything went okay. The little droid knew he was in some deep poodoo with Kaden and wanted everything to go alright. If Whiny malfunctioned on the mission, he would be blamed.

"He assures me R2 is in prime condition and eager to get flying." He smiled. "Just like Artie."

Edited August 24, 2007 by Mara

[Ender 8]

Jaim stumbled into the briefing room, a travel cup brimming with caf in one hand. He found the nearest seat, next to Tak, and collapsed into it with a mighty thump.

[Drake 53]

Tak looked over at Jaim. Was it Jaim? He rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. Yeah, it was Jaim. "Morning, sunshine," he said, half-heartedly. "This mission better be pretty damn important to wake us up for oh-four."

[Ayingel 24]

Szen smiled at Kaden. She wasn't quite expecting to find someone who would confide in her right away.

"Thanks. For the droid, and for making sure he'll be ready. I'm really trusting you and your droid on this one."

Which is surprising for me.

"I still haven't heard about my new droid though. When he comes, do you think you could have Artie check him over for me?"

[Mara 29]

"Sure. Artie assures me he's perfect for the job." He scratched the back of his neck. "Well, yeah, I think he can do that. Once we have a chance."

((Edit: Damn tiredness and not reading posts right, lol...))

Edited August 24, 2007 by Mara