Ask A Most Dangerous Game

[Corran Velt]

The submersible deftly moved through the depths in the experienced hands of the Pantoran pilot. Unlike space where debris floated away forever after something acted upon it, things in the ocean settled or floated. The rocky outcroppings formed a sort of canyon on the seabed with Dac City glowing distantly behind them. Seaweed, tall as a wookie, flowed back and forth in the water, as if being pushed by a breeze. “Confirmed,” the Lieutenant replied in a voice empty of all humanity.

Professional silence pressed down on the two Rangers more than the pressure of the depths did. Lieutenant Velt sat with tense shoulders, practically flexed, as the sensor suite before him pinged every few moments in a scanning search for their objective. A handful of bubbles glided up the transparisteel window. Corran finally sighed heavily, as if shrugging off a weighted vest from his back. “A few people have said, huh?” His voice was quiet and young. Much different than the rigid officer.

The blond man slowly swiveled in his chair to face forward to the bow of the shuttle, but angled slightly towards Ranger Asuchi. Tiny hints of blue glinted through the grey overcast eyes. “Rylee…” Her commanding officer began, using her name casually on a mission for the first time, “The mother of my child left me for someone else. A Jedi, I think.” He laid his arm on the console, as if bracing himself to stop from crumbling entirely.

His eyes searched the profile of the Pantoran woman. A reaction of some kind, if any. That didn’t matter. New pains couldn’t overcome the constant torment he’d been living in since the worst week of his life. At the bottom of the clean on the Outer Rim, who would hear his truth anyway?

“Then I was given orders from the Chief to apprehend and contain a Sith Lord. A high-ranking one. The leader of an entity the whole galaxy is at war with.” Corran clenched his fist tightly. Knuckles turned white. Then he loosened his grip, sorrow drowning anger swiftly. “I’ve focused on my work to get by. Hells, I got drunk the other night off duty. First time in… forever,” the blond man said with a dry rasp. He swallowed softly and shook his head. “That’s all.”

@Bex

 

[Rylee Asuchi]

When she heard the bearded ranger utter her name, her first name no less, her golden eyes darted to look at him, but in the split second it took him to finish his sentence, the Pantoran had stopped piloting the craft. The submersible slowed to a stop. The lights remained on, there was no abruptness to the way the craft stopped moving, but for the moment it was parked. Water, seaweed and bubbles rushed past the windows as the vehicle halted. Rylee turned in her chair to face the lieutenant. He continued his explanation - the turn of events that had happened to him over the last few weeks.

Though they had known each other for a little while now, Rylee had no idea about the lieutenant's home life. He was always professional, always switched on when they were together, because he was representing the rangers and doing his duty. She always supposed he had some kind of family but did not know who that was made up of. It turned out that he had a child. Corran Velt was a father. And by what he was saying, a father who was hurting because his partner had left him for somebody else. Love and romance were two things that the Pantoran herself, was very passionate about. They did not call her 'Hearts' for nothing. As for children, Rylee adored them, more than anything else in the galaxy. Even more than flying.

New information was coming thick and fast. Before she had much time to take in what he had revealed about his family, Corran explained the impossible task that the chief had set for him. Capturing a Sith Lord and containing them was a hospital pass. Even if the first part could be achieved, the second seemed almost certain to fail, especially since the Sith had recently raided a prison and helped many of their counterparts escape. Now it was becoming frighteningly clear why Lt. Velt had been so distant and cold. All of this must have been an excruciating weight to bare, even on his mighty shoulders. The pressure of all the water in the Mon Calamari seas seemed to pale in comparison to all this, and to top it all off, Rylee felt a deep sense of guilt and shame once more, for the part that she had played in the negative aspects of his life in recent weeks. Finding out about her past and the things she had done may never have hurt as much as these other events, but it was all just adding to his misery.

Rylee's mind was racing, trying to make sense of what he was telling her. No doubt the blonde ranger would ask her why she had stopped piloting the ship, but as far as she was concerned, this warranted more attention than a few eel nests and Chief Deld's men were meant to be working the disappearances case anyway. Looking her senior officer in the face, her eyes shining, clearly with some emotion behind them, she spoke. "That's all?... Corran... I had no idea about all of this, I am so sorry..." she said with painful sincerity. Unlike her normal commanding presence, her voice had softened quite a lot. "That is an awful lot for one person to bare..." There was a brief silence before the Pantoran's familiar accent broke it once more. "I feel more ashamed of my past than ever, knowing how it must have made you feel to find out, on top of all of this... a time when you needed someone to trust. I failed you and I hate myself for it... but I promised you that I would clear my name, redeem myself and I will..." she said solemnly, "But I'm going to promise you one more thing, Corran Velt... I will help you get through this, however I can. It's the very least I can do, for all that you have done for me..."

@TerranSteel

 

[Corran Velt]

So much had come washing over the emotional dam that kept back the destructive floodwaters of Corran's soul that he didn't even realize the submarine had stopped until well after he had finished speaking. Rylee had turned to face him and listened the whole time. It felt odd to let it all out there sober. Others who knew had caught the usually rigid lieutenant drunk on a late Coruscanti night and he had vented about all the pains that stabbed into his chest every night and day. This was different though. He was intentionally confiding in someone and that made his stomach do a backflip. Was this the right choice? To a coworker, no less. And one who had a checkered pass recently discovered.

Any type of reply was in the cards. The Pantoran could have professionally excused herself out of the awkwardness. Thrown such petty concerns back into the man's face. He'd place his wager on an indifferent shrug. Yet Rylee did none of these. Her usual haughty personality of a hot-shot pilot and the quick-witted jeering melted away. A soft and soothing voice, flavored with the accent of Pantora, reassured instead. Corran's jaw loosened from its vice-like clench and he blinked in surprise. When she had spoken her peace, the blond ranger reached behind and rubbed the back of his neck like a shy high school boy.

"Your past actions didn't even register compared to this other stuff, " the lieutenant began, "But I still would have been upset with you either way. Don't worry about the past. Just keep going, like you promised." A weak smirk tugged at the corner of Corran's mouth. Ranger Asuchi had sins to atone for, but her actions did not haunt him at night. Every little thing seemed to remind him of his immense failures, both personal and professional, and that was what he had to live with. His hand slipped off his neck and settled onto the arm of the chair. "And Rylee? Thanks. I'll remember that."

The human Sector Ranger let his gaze linger on the woman across from him. He hadn't intended that, but his eyes wouldn't pull away. Blue shown through the clouded grey a little more than they had earlier. Corran opened his mouth to speak but was interrupted by the sudden tumbling of the entire ship. A collision of force so strong that anyone not wearing their safety harness would have been thrown to the floor. Lieutenant Velt braced himself against the consoles. Red warning lights flickered on and warning claxons started. "Something hit us!" He spun to check the bio-sensors and found nothing. "That was no eel..." Corran said in dawning realization.

Suddenly the rearward door from the submersible's bridge hissed open an a being in a diving suit, holding two blaster pistols, raised them at both Rangers. Their helmet was so tinted as to completely obscure their face and species. "Hands up!" Ordered a scrambled voice. "Both of you, up the ladder to my ship."

@Bex

 

[Rylee Asuchi]

Another pang of shame made Rylee's stomach wrench when Corran mentioned her past actions and the inevitability of his disappointment. Though he told her not to worry, the Pantoran still did. She did not want to lose his respect and the only comfort she could find in that moment came when he thanked her for offering to help. It was a glimmer of hope that she would hold on to. When he finished talking, the lieutenant's eyes gazed at her. She saw more of him in that look than she had seen in a while. The silence stretched a little awkwardly, Rylee giving her superior officer a kind smile, but the moment was short lived.

The submersible flipped with a great force. Rylee was taken by surprise and jerked forward in her seat against the harness holding her in place. "Urk!" cried the Pantoran in discomfort. When the vessel had stopped turning, the warning lights were flashing and the alarm sounded. Velt was scrabbling around to check the bio-sensor for movement outside but had found nothing. That was when the door to the bridge began to slowly open. Rylee instinctively placed a hand on the fusion cutter she had brought with her, but seeing blasters pointed at them both from the other side made her think again. The scrambled voice ordered them to put their hands up, and so she obliged, gently unclenching her knuckles from around the cutter and disconnecting her harness before rising out of her seat.

The Pantoran held her hands up where they could be seen. "Look what you've done to our ship. We're going to have to swap details you know" goaded Rylee, smirking at the masked individual. It was a stark and abrupt return to her usual persona. The vulnerable, caring woman that had been talking with Corran just seconds before had left and been replaced by the hot shot pilot once again.

@TerranSteel

 

[Corran Velt]

With some visible annoyance, Lieutenant Velt raised his hands alongside his Pantoran companion in surrender. Getting caught off guard was becoming a tradition with her. The helmeted being was quite large and stoutly built. Even bigger than Corran - implying whoever it was was not human. Or Pantoran for that matter. Following instructions, hands held high, Corran approached the large being and was suddenly halted by a blaster to his chest. “Turn around and face the rungs.” Two swift jerks unbuckled the holstered blasters on his hips which were then slung over the hostage-takers shoulder. “Head up,” they said with a prod. With the lieutenant peacefully heading up the ladder, another blaster spun towards Rylee and gestured her to do the same. “You too.”

Blasters were kept at the Ranger’s backs the whole time. Whoever this was, it wasn’t their first time taking captives. Another set of prodding via blaster barrels introduced the Sector Rangers to a fully enclosed room at the back of a submersible. One slightly larger than the one Rylee had piloted. It’s interior design was less rugged and more smooth. Dark colors washed over the walls. “Don’t get comfortable. It’s a short trip,” threatened the modulated voice. The door slammed shut and a green light turned red, followed by a sturdy locking sound of metal interacting.

Corran’s clouded eyes stared at the door for a long while before shaking his head and taking a seat on the bench along the wall of their cell. Another sat opposite. This ship could haul a majority of passengers. “I think we found the culprit for the disappearances,” he said with no jest though it would be taken for a dry joke. Their capture was no normal run of bad luck. Something or someone had given away their location. Who would want Rangers to be captured though? Corran glanced at his Pantoran counterpart. She likely had her suspicions firmly planted. He wasn’t so sure himself.

With a grizzled sigh followed reluctant shrug, the blond lieutenant gestured to the locked cell door. “Given that we’ve been detained, I think we should wait this out. Sure beats looking for eels.” Rumor was those things stung quite a bit too. The whole ship rattled and metal clangs signaled the vessel detaching from their rented submersible. Their captor was already taking them away to someplace else. Where that was anyone’s guess.

@Bex