Snippar's Intensive training

General Snippar Sol closed the scouter-communication, turning away from the projector nested within the command platform of the Vegetan Solar-Class Frigate. He'd been conversing with an Unamed female and his Daughter. Radasha appeared to be healing well, but was no where near combat ready. His Daughter was... distant. Understandably so, as the rigors of War had kept her father away for months at a time. While Snippar Sol made the attempt to return to her for Birthdays and major Holidays, it wasn't always a possibility. In the five years since Snippar Sol had left to join in the Vegetan war effort against the many for eternal conquest, Radasha, and even those who watched over her had grown accustomed to disappointment.



After the troops of both the Sol squadron and Elites guards joint surrender to a new threat in order to gain information, factions of the Vegetan and jointed fleets had splintered off, waging their own pocket resistances against the new threat in order to pin down the mass attacks against Vegeta. The Furious Dawn Snippar Sol's fleet shuttle had been absorbed into the remaining 5th Fleet stationed in wild uncharted space. That was close to three years ago. Since then, the Dawn and her crew had engaged in numerous hit and run engagements with the Unknown Fleet. The small frigate had been fortuitously retrofitted to accept KI systems, meaning her engines possessed the power to outrun the more advanced enemy fleet. Even still, the crew that had departed from Planet Vegeta had become lean and haggard over the years, and had suffered their fair share of losses.



The General did what he could to keep the morale of his men high; even going so far as to give the ship's mascot, a prophet named Duke, the honorary title of Commandant. That had stirred spirits for a few days, but as the bitter fighting dragged on, it was becoming harder to keep the effort going. Some of Snippar Sol's men had defected, opting to return home to their families; or even outright defected to the Unknown enemy. Snippar Sol made no effort to contain the defectors, understanding completely their train of thought. The urge to return to the relative safety of the Nebula, to the loving arms of his wife and childr had crossed his mind more than once; but there was a calling in the former evil Saiyan, a sense of duty to the planet Vegeta that outweighed his own needs.



"General! Multiple energy readings exiting from uncharted space!"



Snippar Sol's head snapped towards the Sensor Operator as he looked up from the console. Snippar Sol leaned over the command platform, barking back.



"How many? Blast it- .. Send word back to the planet! Power up the engines! We're running."



The bridge became a flurry of activity as Saiyan officers and crewmen scrambled to divert power to the engines. Even with the KI system refit, it still required rebel vessels to have a fairly substantial lead on their pursuers to make the jump to light speed without being caught.



Warning sirens began to blare as the hologram table materialized three Unknown frigates exiting light speed much closer than anyone could have anticipated. Azure beams of light lanced out from the frigates, some streaking past the large observation port of the bridge and harmlessly into the void ahead of them while others connected with the Dawn's shields, buffeting the ship from side to side.



Snippar Sol braced himself against the command platform as Duke came bounding over to his commander. The Saiyan had grown substantially, his shoulders now coming up to Snippar Sol's hip. The man whimpered quietly as the ship rocked. Snippar Sol patted the Saiyan's head as he turned back to the terminals.



"How long until we can make the jump?"



The navigation officer had to strain to be heard over the wailing alarms. "Forty seconds sir!"



Another volley caused the Dawn to shudder violently. "General! They just hit our communications array! Our S.O.S did not transmit!"



Snippar Sol cursed under his breath. He closed his eyes and extended his senses. He was lightyears away, and Radasha was just out of his senses. He slapped the railing of the command platform in frustration as yet another volley from his pursuers cause his frigate to shake.



"Sublight engines hit! We're dead in Space until the Ki system engines kick in! light speed charging. Jumping in three....two...one...!"



"HIT IT!" Snippar Sol's command rang throughout the bridge as the uncountable stars stretched and expanded as the Dawn made the jump to Lightspeed.



Snippar Sol exhaled heavily, leaning back on the railing of the command platform and sliding into a seated position. Duke flopped down heavily on the man's chair, licking his hand with contentment.



"Damage report?"



Lieutenant Melon, a alien woman with a silky blue complexion approached the platform, carrying a scouter.



"Sir, we have fires on decks 7 and 3. Sublight KI engines have been destroyed, and we are leaking coolant. The engineers estimate that we'll lose the light speed engines in the next thirty minutes. We tried to account for this when making our calculations for the jump; but we could end up anywhere. In between solar systems, inside an asteroid belt... the event horizon of a black hole... Anywhere, really."



The man nodded, thanking the girl and dismissing her to return to her duties. Reaching into his pocket, Snippar Sol pulled out a small image-projector, and queued up the device's only saved image: His family including Tomo, Radasha, and others. He set the device beside him as he returned to stroking his pet's floppy ears and watching the dizzying swirl of space from the view point, preparing for whatever came next. Eventually the fleet escaped light speed and returned to Vegeta just by sheer luck of will. It just so happened that the coordinates were set for Vegeta during the escape by one of the commanding officers of the fleet. Snippar Sol personally took a space pod to outer terrain of Vegeta's grounds. In doing this he would have some sort of peaceful arithmetic, and personally begin to train. Whilst meditating to gather a more vivid inner focus he had begun to think back with his time, with those who mattered. 

He was expecting a bumpy ride, but even the worst space storm could not come close to comparing to what the ship was about to go through. The second they got through the portal, alarms started blaring all across the console. He growls in annoyance as he kept his hand on the stick, trying to let the view in front of him clear before he made any dramatic adjustments to their course. He called out as another jolt struck the ship, sending him rocking back and forth in the seat, “I’ve got red lights in sight, landing gear, and shields, to say the least, Love. Are you still buckled in?” He knew they still would be, but he had to make sure. “Things are going to get…. what’s the word…”



She had armored up, it felt strange being in it again after so many years of not worrying about it. She’d gotten used to the calm and quiet of the life they had come to accept. What was even more strange was the smaller figure to her left that was also in full armor, complete with environmental suits and breathing apparatuses. Her fingers were laced with the smaller hands fingers, both of them were humming a gentle song while they sat completely strapped, locked and buckled in. She stopped humming long enough to answer, “Yes, of course.” She blinked as if she couldn’t believe he had asked it. His next words causing her to smile faintly, as she replied, “Bumpy?”



He nodded in approval as he suddenly jerked the vessel to the left to avoid a incoming asteroid “Good.” He found himself gritting his teeth as the ship jumped through a thin ring of icy rock “Crashy! Going to get a little crashy!” He looked to his right in time to see a piece of the engine go rocketing away from the shuttle. Suddenly, the fog broke in front of him. He saw it. Ground, and closing in fast. He yanked up on the stick, pulling the ship out of the forced dive as best as he could, but it was going to be close. “Hang on!”



It hit her like a brick wall. It wasn’t any sort of physical impact, it was much deeper than that. It gripped her mind and her chest and closed in on her. It was something she hadn’t felt in years and as it all rushed back in, it threatened her consciousness. A black circle was closing her vision off, everything getting darker and blurry. A jolt in the vessel shook her just enough to realize the death grip that was clamped on to her hand. Even through the armor she could feel the squeeze. She turned her head, her peripheral view blocked slightly by the helmet on her head. It was the other passenger, she was tensing. It was her grasp that held her hand. Suddenly she could feel the panic and the panic is what snapped her fully back into the present. The calm exploded out of her and she embraced everything about it. She focused enough to channel it at the smaller figure. “We might have a problem…”



The man at the stick pulled back on the stick as hard as he could, giving the beaten and battered ship everything she had left in an attempt to avoid the ground. He called back “Trying not to get us killed!” He opened his eyes a little further as a forgotten sensation slowly washed over him. He took a deep breath. They had come too far to die in something as simple as a shuttle crash. He looked around and found a valley in the ground. Maybe it would give them enough clearance to actually make a controlled landing. He maneuvered with whatever controls were still functioning and pointed the flaming nose of the shuttle towards the gap in the mountain ranges. He grit his teeth and braced himself before the ship skipped along the snow. removing him of control of the situation. He held his hand to his eyes in reflex as the ship careened towards a snow bank. Fortunately, the powdery surface allowed the vessel to punch through the snow and skip off towards the ground, but not without jolt after jolt of impacts. Finally, the ship settled into a long slide, the lack of friction in the snow allowing them to slide for at least a kilometer until sliding to a halt. “Everyone alright?”



She worked at keeping herself in control while trying to gain some sort of control over the smaller passenger. The rush of emotions as they bounced around with nothing to harness them was almost too much for her to handle, but she had to keep it together. “Hum the song. Keep humming.” She tried to, but she couldn’t help but think her own words were falling on deaf ears, which meant she was going to have to do something she did not want to do. She drew on the emotions, the power that swirled around them and redirected it. She focused on the other, forcing her into a sleep like state. It was something they could not have anticipated, or been prepared for. The male voice in her ears sounded so far away. “I don’t think so.” Her own voice came out softer than she had expected. She was feeling overwhelmed and was struggling to keep things as calm as possible.



He breathed heavily as he sat in the cockpit for a moment, amazed at the fact that he was still alive. He had to remind himself to let go of the control stick before sinking back into the chair. They were alive. The response behind him perked him up, though. He pushed himself out of the chair and frowned as he made his way back towards the rest of the passengers. He knelt down in front of them “We’re alive. What happened?” Even with the armor, he could tell that something was wrong.



She struggled with the straps and harness, trying to free herself while keeping the other in a sort of stasis. It was taxing, something she not felt a connection with in years and gaining a handle on it, was not an easy task. “Get her out!” The smaller figure was slumped, her head rolled forward, there was no movement coming from her at all. “I’ll manage this…” She finally just pulled the gloves off, so she had better control of her fingers. Bruises on her left hand were already starting to show. It took a moment for things to register as she saw her hand, a momentary distraction.



He quickly got down and removed the small figure from the restraints and hoisted her up until her small helmet was level with his own. He pulled the not-so-tiny being to his chest and held her carefully as he rocked her from side to side. He looked at the woman in the chair “What’s happening? Why are you bruising? Are you alright?” The stream of questions burst forth, as was common for his family.



She managed to free herself at about the same time he had the smallest of them free. “It’s the ki sense connection.” Her voice was shaking as she pushed herself up to stand. “I should have considered it.” She glanced at her hand again and then at the being in his arms. “She was squeezing my hand. I am fine.” She contemplated it for a moment before actually suggesting, “Do we have a sedative. I am keeping her suspended at the moment, but I don’t know how much longer I can do that.”



He nods “We knew this was going to be an issue. We’ll work through it. Promise.” He made his way towards the meager supply cabinet they had managed to take with them and finds a small needle. He never liked doing these kind of things, especially to the little one, but it was for both her safety, and the safety of everyone else. He gave the drug to the tiny lump of armor and moved to lay her down on the couch. He looked back to the other passenger “Are you sure you are alright? Do you need to lay down?”



She backed up against the wall and slid down it as she felt the fight slipping away. She was able to release the little one from the control and take stock of herself. Her focus went first to her hand, examining the bruises. “Quite the augmented grip she has. Going to have to work on that and channel her properly.” She looked up at him and smiled faintly. “I will be fine.” Her head was throbbing, but that would pass. “Where are we?”



He smirked behind his helmet and sighed "She has her mother's talents. It'll take some time, but, well, we should get her under control sooner or later." He nods in approval "Good. Tell me if anything changes." He took a deep breath and looked towards the cockpit "Not sure. Somewhere snowy, that's for sure. Scanners and communication are out, so we won't know until we fix that. Want to check outside with me?"



She had just contemplated the removal of the helmet when he mentioned snow and outside. She leans over to the side to retrieve her discarded gloves, slipping her hands back into them. “Well, we know one thing for sure. The gate opened the right direction….” She pushed herself up from the floor and walked over to the couch. She peered down at the small figure, shaking her head. “Training that she should have had all along. It’s going to take some doing.” She turned toward him, tilting her head toward the hatch. “Let’s go, flyboy.”



He nods in approval of her analysis "I was thinking something similar. We're in the right Space, so closer than we were before." He shrugs as he takes her hand to help her up "She's a quick learner. She'll get the hang of it with her mother teaching her." He couldn't help but smirk behind his helmet before walking her to the cargo door, the only exit that wasn't covered in snow. He lowered the ramp and stepped outside "Not too bad." He furrowed his brow as he looked towards a series of tall, narrow mounds of snow "That's not natural, can you clear the snow off of there?"



She couldn’t help but laugh softly. “That is providing that her mother remembers what she is supposed to be doing with any of it.” She intentionally bumps into him, with her hip. She frowned further at seeing all of the snow. She didn’t care for the cold. “You couldn’t have picked a tropical planet to crash on to?” She stepped out the rest of the way, her attention turning to what he was indicating. She raised her hand, making a sweeping gesture, using the influance of ki blasts to clear away the snow. Her frown deepened as she turned her head toward him. “Are we on…?”



He shrugs as he bumps back into her "Hey now, I didn't choose the location, I Chose the Galaxy." He steps out into the snow with her. Looking around, he frowns "Alien statues. Kanasa." He looks around "We're on Kanasa." He couldn't help but look around some more "Whatever purpose these statues once served, they're forgotten now. Makes sense, too. The Kanasan technology here would work well with our escape." He raised his hand to shield his eyes from the soft downfall of snow "You get inside and rest. I'll get to work restoring systems. Make sure our heat is working and what not. Do you need anything?"



She laughs softly, shaking her head. “You did not choose it alone. If it had not been for my research and calculations…” Her laughter is halted as she sees what she had cleared. “Yes we are. I should have been able to tell…” She takes a couple of steps backwards toward the ship, nodding slowly. “Right. Let me go check on the spitfire, make sure she is resting comfortably.” She shakes her head. “No, I am good.” She walks back up the ramp, into what would be shelter, until they could figure something out.



He nods "Well, we're in the right Galaxy, that's the important thing." He nods to her and sighs "Poor thing is going to be so confused." He tightened his gloves as he made his way to the top of the ship. Kanasa never reached the extremes of a planet like Earth, but that didn't mean it wasn't bitterly cold. He pulled out a rusty hydro detector and got to work on re-repairing some of the more basic systems. Who knew how long they were going to be staying here, after all, and they needed to survive until help arrived. The last thing he wanted was to have any sort of rescue party to come all the way out here for a trio of corpses. Also, he didn't care much for dying.



She had been carefully monitoring the smaller survivor of the crash, while listening to the clanging on repairs. While doing both of those things, she also spent some time reacquainting herself with a nearly forgotten gift. She stripped out of the armor, down to the body glove that was beneath it. She’d found a place to sit where she could draw on the force, commune with it. It occurred to her while she did that, that it would probably take a little bit of time to feel like her old self, but even in this condition, it was possible she would be able to reach out through the tendrils, the intricately woven fabric, to find familiar patterns within.



He looked up after a long time crouched over the climate control system. It would hold, for now, but he would eventually have to butcher other, less important systems for their parts in order to keep more important systems online. He looked out over the snow and raised an eyebrow at the sight. A lone tiger like creature was patrolling the area, its keen nose presumably giving it an idea that a foreign group was in its territory. While some saw a hunter, the man saw something else: Dinner. Not just dinner, but breakfast, lunch, and dinner again before the meat became less than desirable. They could probably preserve it in the snow, but they also had to consider the risk of attracting other predators as well. However, before all of that became an issue, he had to kill the beast. He pulled his blaster gun as it connected to his scouther from over his shoulder and took a deep breath. He felt off. Seven years away from real combat had changed him Snippar Sol had grown soft. He wasn't sure if it was the climate or the nerves still swatting at him, but he couldn't help but notice the sway in his aim. He was going to need practice. He squeezed the trigger during a confident moment and sent the beast to the ground. He steadied his aim and put another blast in the animal's head, just in case. There was no room for error right now. He figured he would wait for help in moving the beast, so, instead, he went back to his system checks. Plumbing was next on his list.



The stirring of the child drew her attention, snapping her out of her meditation. She moved over closer to the drowsy creature and petted her hair gently as she tucked to the blanket up to her chin. Out of the armor, she looked much smaller, even though she was nearly to her mother’s shoulder in height. “Hello little love.” The groggy eyes focused on the face that was speaking to her. She blinked and before she could even start to panic again, she was being filled with the calm that was her mother. “It will be alright. I promise. Can you hum the song for me? Just focus on the song…” Instinctively her head tilted as another familiar sensation rushed through her. Shortly after, she felt the temperature start to rise within the vessel.



Later...



While alien tiger jerky wasn't exactly high dining in the finest restaurant on Vegeta, it was definitely better than nothing. With a burning piece of the wreck of one of the wings serving as the fireplace, it almost felt like camping. Almost. The man looked over at the smallest of the ground and pat her head slightly "Chew, darling. Then swallow. Your food will still be there by the time you are done properly chewing." He looked at the other member of the party "How are you two handling your Ki sense ability over my lame scouter?"



She picked at the meat. It wasn’t that she was being ungrateful, but having her connection restored, she was having a difficult time finding her appetite. He was an expert when it came to cooking, something they had actually been able to sustain themselves on and become successful financially in their other life. A life that seemed decades away now. She glanced between the two, happy that they were both safe and that they were now back where they belonged, but at the same time, she felt dread. As if perhaps they made a mistake, if for no other reason, the safe keeping of the one of his side. “It’s exhausting. But there is understanding and it will be a journey.”



The man nods slowly as he tries to wipe sleepiness away from his eyes. “It definitely will be a journey. Would meditating in front of those statues help? Maybe they have some significance or power that will help you in your recovery. Not that this is my field of expertise, mind you.” He reached over and rustled the little one’s hair as she ate, the motion instinctive by now. He furrows his brow “I can’t imagine the mess waiting for us at home.” There were going to be a few problems in that field, and one of them was much bigger than the last time they had seen it.



She smiled faintly at him, shaking her head. “The where does not really matter when it comes to this particular planet, my Love. I believe it may be part of the reason that it was so impactful to both of us. The power here is very strong, because of the physic remains. They are a strong conduit, it is why the Kanasan artifacts even exist. They knew the importance. Freiza knew the importance as well.” She set the food to the side and drew in a deep breath. “Everything here will be alright, if I take a walk?” She was not sure about the mess at home. She knew how time had passed for them, but what if that were not the case here? What if here, they had only been gone for minutes, or hours? Or worse…. decades. What if everyone they had known and cared about was long gone? What then? All of the questions swirled in her mind. She always needed him, but for this moment, right now, she needed to be able to step away from the two that sat across from her, to clear her mind, for them.



The man nodded in approval "Ugh. That whole mess. Well, hopefully it will make the connection easier in the long run, despite the painful beginning. Though, it does raise the question on the state of the war, and who is left to fight it, or to keep the peace." He furrowed his brow at the thought. There was no doubt in his mind that, if there was a conclusion to the conflict, his comrades would have been a part of the tip of the final spear, or the last defenders of the devoured Galaxy. Either way, the chance of all of them being alive would be slim. He nods to the woman "Take your time. Don't get lost." He eyes her for a moment before turning to the little one to distract her from the fact that her mother was leaving.



She laughed softly as she started to turn her back to the two. "There is not a chance of that happening." She pulled on her helmet and adjusted the temperature of her environmental saiyan suit. She would have been able to keep herself comfortable without it but wanted to keep herself as undistracted as possible. She needed to be open for the search she was going to embark on and she needed to be in just the right spot for it. She let the scouter guide the direction.



The man watched as the woman left the ship, wanting to make sure that she would be alright. He had always trusted her to take care of herself, but he couldn’t help but feel like papa-bear. He was overly protective to some degree, but if overprotection made sure that nobody got hurt, he was willing to take on that title. He pursed his lips for a moment before turning back to the little one and smiling “Just like camping, yeah?” He cut the little one another piece of meat and made sure it was cooked enough before cutting into smaller, bite sized pieces. He blinked in surprise as he felt a scowl in his direction. Looking up at the little girl, he was surprised to see a nine year old. He saw the expression first, then the outstretched hands. He couldn’t help but chuckle softly “Alright, fine, you can cut your own, just small pieces… and don’t tell your mother.” He gave in to the child’s demand as he handed over the fork, knife, and plate.



She felt like she had been walking for hours but she knew it had not been that long. The feel of their presence was still too strong. A glance over her shoulder and she could barely make out the silhouette of the ship. The draw in the opposite direction was getting stronger and she found herself at the base of crumbling stairs. She looked up, took a deep breath and ascended. Once she reached the top she felt a clarity and lowered herself to her knees and fell into the ground.



After the meal was completed and the plates were washed in the melted, powdery snow, the man took a seat on one of the couches and relaxed. He closed his eyes for a few minutes before he felt the distinctive bouncing of someone jumping up and down on the couch next to him. He smirked as he looked at the child “You’re a little ball of energy, aren’t you?” He sighed as he looked around for something to do. He shrugged “You want to do some climbing?” much to the approval of the child. She always was a bit of a climber growing up, and it always managed to get her to slow down at least a little bit. He armored her up and made sure her climate control systems were activated and working before escorting her outside, keeping his hydrospanner handy before helping the child up the side of the ship to the top. “Careful! Careful.” He instructed as the child scampered ahead in front of him.



Everything felt like it was coming back to her. She felt as calm and comfortable as she ever had. She slipped further and further into her meditation. The tangible world fell away from her senses and she moved into the ethereal. She moved through the intricate webbing searching. Something was different though. Something darker perhaps. She was jolted back into the current gasping for breath. She clawed at the helmet, finally managing to pull it off. The frigid air stung but she had needed it. Her head whipped around, looking for something that was not there.



Snippar Sol kept one eye on the child as she jumped around the top of the ship and his other eye on his task at hand. He was working on the communications array, seeing that, at some point, he would like to be rescued. He looked out over the ancient Jedi ruins, worried about what might be happening to his wife out there.



She drew into herself, finding the calm once more. She looked around once more before securing her helmet back on to her head. She needed to get back to the ship. She needed to see, with her own eyes that they were alright, even though she could feel determination from one and joy from the other. She took steps that would lead her back to the ship. Her eyes closed as she took the steps, feeling instead of seeing, feeling something…. She opened her eyes, the ship should have been in front of her, but it was not. A glance to her left and it was there, closer than it had been, but still a distance off. She furrowed her brow and closed her eyes again, beginning the walk once more, staying on the course she had been on, even though it was taking her further from the ship.



Even with his experience, it was going to be a job and a half to get the communications array back online. It was already beaten and bruised from the last time their ship had been blown to hell, and after being recovered, it wasn’t like they had any spare parts laying around. He furrowed his brow behind his helmet and sighed. There was no chance in hell he was going to be able to send out long range calls without a larger array. However, with the right cloud coverage, he could definitely bounce a signal to a Vegetan base, and broadcast from there. Even if the bases were abandoned by now, he only needed the equipment, not the people. He double checked on the child before trying to jimmy-rig the array to broadcast at all.



When she did open her eyes, she was standing in a collapsing archway. Somewhere in the distant past, it had led somewhere, now, there was nothing. Or something? She tilted her head slightly and walked toward what had been pulling her that direction. When she arrived at it, she leaned down to pick it up. She smiled faintly as she turned it over in her hand. It was going to come in handy, probably not on this day, but sometime in the future. Something else, glinting, caught her eye. She moved closer and tugged on it. A small crate of some sort? It was sealed, but had obvious military markings on it. She shrugged, held it by the handle and started back toward the ship. She waved with one hand, at a small figure on top of a snow mound. Immediately the child started to bound toward her, calling her. When they came up against one another, she handed the crystal that had originally pulled her in the direction she had come from to the other. “I am going to teach you about that later. For now, I think that your father may have use for whatever is in this box.” Hand in hand, the two walked back to the ship.



The man raised an eyebrow as he watched his wife and daughter return to the ship. He knew the girl had run off to greet her mother, but he had not expected them to come back with gifts. He slid down the side of the ship and approached them “What do we have here?” he commented as he knelt down to inspect the box. The manifest was missing, and the faded blue unknown emblem had seen better days, but it was intact, which held promise for whatever was on the inside. “Must be some debris from the battle of Kanasa, might have been caught in a storm and sent flying away from a crashing vessel. Let’s see what we have.” He reached into his wallet and pulled out a faded ID card. With any luck, the crate would have old records on it, giving him all the access he needed to get into the box. After booting up the lock, he swiped the card and waited for a moment before the crate cracked itself open with a metallic hiss. He pulled some foam padding out of the way and hummed as he inspected the crate “This. . . this is a relay station. They use these to setup long range ground-to-ship communications. Whatever shuttle this came off of was probably moving to set up a scouting post. We don’t have the right power supply, but we can butcher this for parts and fix our communications array, and boost its signal in the process.” He chuckled at their luck “Nice find, Love.”



She stood back, watching with interest as he opened the box. “I don’t know really, I expected you to know.” She took her eyes from him to look at her daughter who was playing with the crystal in her hands with a great deal of wonder. “When we are not in the wilds, I will show you what we do with those.” The girl nodded her head and bounded off toward the ship. Her mother assuming that it was to go in some treasure box. Of which they had only been able to bring a few. Most being left behind. She shook her head as she watched her husband. “Hard to believe that thing still works.” She tilted her head when he revealed what it was. “I am not sure who we will communicate with at this point. Something is … different.”





The man nods as he smirks "Some things are built to last. At any rate, I'm not one to question good fortune." He turns and looks at her for a moment. Different? Different how? He furrows his brow for a moment "No matter, we will broadcast on friendly frequencies first, then expand our horizons. Even if hostile forces find us, I suspect it will be our only way out of here. We can worry about if we are going to hijack a ship later." He nods slowly as he studies the equipment "This. . . This is our out."



She shook her head. “No, I suppose to question it, would not be wise. It was a small crystal that drew my attention initially. That case just happened to be nearby.” She couldn’t miss the slight change in his demeanor, but she didn’t question it. Everything about where they were and their circumstance was troubling. “Hopefully it will not be hostile forces. I am out of practice and we have her to think about.” She tilted her head toward the ship. She pursed her lips. “It is our possible technological way out. There may be other ways.” She wrapped her arms around her midsection. “I am going to go see what she is doing with that crystal. Don’t stay out for too long, Love.”



The man nods in approval “I found that questioning your methods usually ends poorly. I’m glad you found what you were looking for, Love.” He purses his lips behind his helmet. “If something goes wrong, say contacting rogue soldiers, pirates, or what have you, I’ll talk. If I can talk them down, fine. If things go poorly, I need you to sneak behind and get the jump on them before we engage.” He looks back towards the ship “Maybe we. . . I don’t know, drug her to sleep again so that she doesn’t get herself hurt. Worst comes to worst, they’re not going to harm a kid. She’ll be taken care of, one way or another.” He raised an eyebrow and looked towards her “What other ways do you have in mind?” At her explanation, he nods slowly and reassures her “I’ll only be out here for as long as I need to be.”



She smiled faintly behind the helmet. “After eleven years, I would hope that would be the case.” She sighed softly as he was already building a plan. She was not looking forward to him finding something that would go wrong. “Let’s keep a positive outlook, instead.” She hated the idea of having to drug their child. The first time had been difficult enough. She raised her arms as she turned away from him, She laughed softly. “The power around me, of course.” She glanced over her shoulder. “We are back in a place that I can do that, you know.” She disappeared behind the ship so that she could enter and do as she had said she was going to.



He nods in approval of the statement “Indeed.” He takes a deep breath, unsure of what the future held. “Fine by me. Cross that bridge when you get to it.” He smirked faintly as he nods “Try to put that to good use, when you have the time. The sooner we get off of this rock, the sooner we can get home. I miss city life.” Snippar Sol watched her walk away to the ship before taking the new found supplies and hauling them up to the top of the ship, getting to work with fresh supplies and actual confidence that they could actually get somewhere.



She sat on the floor, cross legged, their daughter across from her, mirroring the pose. Between them a single blue and white orb floated. On the floor between them, a dark mauve and soft grey. Her words were soft as she spoke. “Do not try so hard. Light thoughts. Easy thoughts. A single word, in your mind. Float.” She was aware of her husband moving around on the outside. It was a comfortable place to be. Able to connect with him again, able to know where he was and his state of being. The telekinesis that swirled around her daughter was raw, chaotic. It was going to take a great deal of training to bring her to a place that was more controlled and this was the first step.



The sensation of another presence around him made him look over his shoulder more than once. Although he welcomed the ability to be closer to his wife, the feeling of her presence was something that he had forgotten years ago. Still, the makeshift company was nice, and kept him occupied as he tinkered away at the communications array. He had a cloth of parts spread out in front of him. Everything he needed to bring that much closer to being rescued. Still, it was going to take a while to get everything right.



She smiled softly as she could feel the frustration rising. She reached out to touch her hand gently, shaking her head. “It’s ok. It took me a while to learn as well. It takes time.” She lowered the orb she had floating to the floor next to the other that was between them. She leaned forward to kiss her gently on the forehead. “Soon, hopefully, we will be back home and there will be all sorts of things that we can use to learn. For now, maybe some reading?” The young girl hopped up to retrieve a book. It would be something that was familiar and would calm the chaos.



Later…





She had tried to sleep. She'd spent hours at it. It had been years since she had been restless like this and it finally occurred to her what it was. It had never been a consideration when she had been younger, but the disconnection and now being back in the familiar, it was her power. It tugged at her, called to her, she couldn't help but respond to it. She rolled to her side, looked at him sleeping and couldn't help but smile softly. She carefully extracted herself from the bed and moved to check on their daughter, who also seemed to be resting comfortably. That small thing was a relief. It meant that she would hopefully not have the same issues her mother had endured. She moved silently through the ship to her armor. Once it was on, she slipped out of the ship. She knew it would make noise, but she needed to be outside. It was not that she doubted his ability to repair the communications system, but she wanted to give them some insurance. Insurance that it would not be an enemy that retrieved them. She hoped against hope that she would find a familiar connection.



She returned to the crumbling stairs, ascended them and sank down into the meditative pose. She sank into the telekinesis prowess and started her search. She didn't know how long she had been searching, or how far she had reached, but she found it. A small thread that she grabbed on to and followed. The feeling becoming stronger, her confidence growing. She ventured a whisper through the mind set. She planted the thought, "Go to Kanasa, Radasha. You are needed."



The man took a deep breath as he studied his contraption. While it was similar to the original array, it was definitely larger than the previous form. He didn’t mean to get his hopes up too high, but this would be one step closer to getting home, if he could get it to work. He reached out and pressed the manual broadcast button he had installed to make sure the ship’s computers didn’t run interference. While he wouldn’t be able to receive messages, he could send them out. He took a deep breath “If you’re receiving this, we need your help. . .”



With the communications array set to loop his distress signal, The man slowly made his way back down to the snow to get inside. He needed to make sure everything was ready to go, just in case trouble found them. He ran his hand through his daughter's hair as she pranced by him, who seemed to enjoy her time in the ship, before getting to the helm of the ship. Here, he found what they had been working on for years now: rebuilt, upgraded Saiyan armor. With a snappy red and black paint job, and a angry looking helmet to boot, he knew he would be ready for almost anything. But there was one final piece to the puzzle that he needed to get ready. With his helmet in his hand he made his way down to the cargo bay.



She wasn't sure how long she had been away from the ship, but the sun had started to rise and when she slipped back inside, she could feel them awake and she could feel him closest. She slipped off her helmet and smiled faintly at him. "Good morning." She dropped pieces of armor off, down to the body glove and pulled a robe on over the top of it. Her shoulders were drawn up slightly, her chin dropped, an almost guilty look to her eyes as she moved a little closer to him. "What are you doing?"



The man smirks as he cracks open a sealed crate “Good morning, indeed.” He reached down and secured enough energy packs to power what he was looking for “I’m getting ready for trouble, just in case.” He looked back to her and frowned “Why do you look like you just spilt milk all over the floor?” He kept one eye on her as he moved over to a different, larger case and busted out the crowbar to get the lid off.



She shook her head a little bit. "I did not spill milk." She sighed softly. "I thought I would be back before you woke up." She tucked her hands together inside the sleeves of the robe. She was cold, so she knew it had been several hours in the elements. Her suit had been almost out of power when she had come back in. "I have sent out a message of my own. To a specific person. Hopefully it is acknowledged."



The man shrugged “I assumed you didn’t, but it was that guilty look you were giving me. Or, rather, giving the ground.” He frowns as he continues to work at the secured crate “Go get something warm to drink. Maybe lay down for a bit. Warm up.” He nods in approval of her confession “Well, hopefully, that will help us out in the future.” He cuts himself off as the lid of the crate finally snaps off, allowing him to reach inside “You know, I wasn’t entirely happy about removing the ship’s primary cannon at first…” He pulls out the modified ship-to-ship cannon, flicking the on board computer systems to life as the armor’s augmented strength gives him the power to carry both the cannon and the energy packs “But now…” he hums in approval “Now, it’s beautiful.”



His words sounded almost more like an order than a suggestion. She was certain that at some point, a conversation about her sleeping would come up. It was something they had worked on for months before and now she was back in the same position. "I will be fine. Maybe the short one will want to cuddle up and read..." She smiled faintly at him, shaking her head. "Probably would have been destroyed. But now, now you get to be a monster."



The man scoffed as he shook his head “A monster. Please. I’m offended. I get to be an angel of death, instead.” He grins in approval behind his helmet before nodding “Alright, I’ll go set up outside the cargo bay. You go entertain the little one for a while while I get the defenses ready.”



She rolled her eyes at him. “Alright, fine, go spread your wings and do death angel things.” She looked at him for a long moment. “What do you mean? Are you expecting trouble already? You say entertain, but are you really telling me I need to coerce her into the armor and deny her going outside? Because… that’s your job.” She tilted her head, expectantly waiting for an answer.



The man shrugged and looked back to the woman “There’s Kanasan ruins here. More likely than not, that means that pirates will come through and comb the area looking for artifacts. With our broadcast, this is just being safe.” He tilts his head to the side and thinks for a moment before raising his voice teasingly “I’m sorry, you’ll have to speak louder! I can’t hear you over this energy pack!” He continues as he walks in false obliviousness down to the cargo bay “Nope! Still can’t hear you! This thing is so loud!”



She folded her arms across her chest as he started to walk away. She narrowed her eyes, glaring into the back of his head, when she was suddenly struck by something. She blinked and immediately tested the thought. She projected into his mind. “Perhaps you have forgotten, but I don’t need to speak loudly.”



He chuckled softly as he inspected the makeshift cannon, admiring it with fondness as he replied “Too late. I’m already down here. Guess that means that armor duty is yours. Good luck!” He paused for a moment before adding “Oh, and I missed this, Love. Now the other voices in my head have company.” he joked as he sat down onto one of the crates and got to work inspecting and cleaning the massive ship-turned-hand cannon.



She growled softly, resisted the urge to stomp a foot and simply turned on her heel to head into the ship. “You will pay for this. I don’t know when or how, but you will…” By the time she was in the part of the ship that had become their home for the time being she had put the happy face on and smiled at her daughter as she rushed toward her. She caught her up in both of her arms and walked her backwards. “Grab a book, I am going to get some tea and we will read for a while.” She shook her head as the child bounced up and down questioning adventures. “Not today, darling. We are waiting for something amazing to happen.” Satisfied with the answer, the younger bounded off to get the requested book.



Snippar sighed with a melancholy tone and looked up from the cannon “Trust me, Love, I believe you, but for right now we have more important things to take care of. If you want to dawn saiyan armor and take up watch with the cannon, be my guest, but that means that you’re trusting me to not get the kid into trouble, and we both know how well that will turn out.” He looked around a bit more as he took in a deep breath. Away from all the hustle and bustle of the galaxy, he could see infinitely more stars than he could see on Vegeta. For the first time in ages, he could actually see constellations, and the trace of the shape of the galaxy against the pitch black night around them. Even though he was freezing his ass off and expecting the worst to come and try to kill him, he couldn’t help but admit that it was beautiful.



The huff that she let out was obvious, even though he didn’t hear it. “You already know the answer to that. The power armor and the cannon are not really my style.” Once she was all settled in and drinking her tea she was able to open herself up to their surroundings. She would know there was trouble before he would. Of that she was certain. She would be able to sense malicious intent if she kept a constant scan of their situation, while listening to her daughter read. She smiled faintly as she turned to look at her. “Soon, you will be able to expand what you read. There will be so many things for you to learn.” It was one thing she was happy for. The child had the same thirst for knowledge as she did and she had the same spirit her father had. She really was the best of both of them.



Even though it was the middle of nowhere, he quickly found himself settling back into his old ways of watch duty. A quick scan here, a distant inspection there, and suddenly he was hardly even aware of the hours that were passing by. Once in awhile, his nerves would get to him. After all, it had been years since he had even done anything close to special operations. He had been a chef for the better half of a decade, and, if it came down to it, would he really be able to do what would have once been a breeze? He lit a death stick to calm his nerves. He would drift back and forth from alert sentry to fidgety amateur, but leaned more towards the sentry side. After all, even if he didn’t have his old aim, he wasn’t going to have to aim much with the cannon. Spray and pray should do the job well enough, if there was even a job to do at all.



The sound of her daughter’s voice sounded distant. It was the tugging on her arm that truly snapped her around. She smiled softly, her head tilted. “What, my little love?” She nodded at the explanation of hunger. She wrinkled up her nose and leaned forward to rub noses with the child. “Let’s see what we can find then, shall we?” She knew what their options were going to be. It was not the energy paste that they would have had some years ago, but it was not much better. They both made faces as they went through the options. “More of the meat then? Since none of these seem interesting..” She gathered up one that she knew her husband preferred. “I am going to run this out to your father quickly, keep an eye on that and I will be right back.” She was halfway down the corridor when she called back. “Don’t touch it until I get back.”



The man looked over his shoulder as he heard someone coming down the stairs to him. He raised an eyebrow before nodding in approval of the dinner “Vanilla. Excellent. Best part about these is that they’re warmer than the planet here, so they actually are a little hot. Nothing mind blowing, but still, take what you can get, yeah?” He got to work on the paste before returning his attention to the snow “Nothing yet. No sign from anyone.”



She rolled her eyes at him. “I have some of the meat from yesterday heating up that I will bring down to you when I bring you some hot tea. I just wanted to make sure you had something while we were getting that done.” She glanced out, her eyes narrowed slightly. “You know you can’t stay up constantly. Don’t you think it better to conserve some energy?”



He shrugged as he smirks at her “Thanks. I appreciate it.” He looks out over the surrounding hills “I’ll be fine. Let you know when I’m not.” He took a deep breath and sighs “I know that landing in this valley saved our lives and all, but tactically we’re exposed. Don’t want to be doing too much from down here. It’s nerve wracking.”



She couldn’t help but sigh softly at him. “Love, for the time being, I can assure you, we are in no danger. I would have felt it by now if we were.” She leaned in front of him, pressing her forehead against his face plate. “I do not want you to overtax. You need to be rested, in case it does come to danger.”



The man nodded slowly as he looked back to his wife “Tell you what, go finish up dinner with the kid, and then I’ll take a break. Could use it. Maybe you could use your time to keep trying to contact that friend of yours, yeah?”



She purses her lips at him, her arms wrapped around herself. “Fine, I will do as you wish. Though, we generally eat dinner together, even when, you know, there are things…” She patted him on top of the helmet. “It doesn’t work exactly like that. Think of it like your emergency beacon. It’s not communication, it’s a call for help.”



He sighed “I know we do, I know. However, as it stands, we’re not in a position to have such luxuries.” The man shrugged as he looked out over the snow covered plains “Well, either way, do what you can to try to get us off this rock. We can always come back later if you find anything interesting.” He wiped some dust from his eyepieces “Go eat. I’ll be here.”



She frowned a little more as she moved away from him to return to their daughter. She had grown far too used to him not having this mindset and she found herself not caring for it returning. She put on the happy face for the young one and was caught off guard when the child told her not to be sad. She blinked and leaned down the small distance to hug the girl. ”Don’t you worry. It will be better soon." It had to be, for her own sanity.



After the two finished their dinner, she stood and moved to clean things. She glanced at the small one and smiled faintly. "Get your book and spend some time reading. Your father will be in soon." She moved through the ship to the exit. She hadn't bothered with armor. She mentioned off-handedly as she passed him, "She is waiting for you to come in." She continued past him to return to the raised area where she could attempt to reach out to Radasha once more. "Go to Kanasa. I need you."





A cold sweat enveloped her body, her limbs jerking and twisting in the sheets as she tossed and turned. Something or someone was calling her - something familiar - something close. With a gasp, Radasha jerked awake from her deep slumber, fingers grasping the bed sheets tightly and her chest heaving. Glancing to her side towards her snoring Husband, she pushed herself to the edge of the bed with a cringe and grasped her chest. The message played through her mind as though it were still speaking to her. “Kanasa?” She murmured softly, rubbing her tired face. “Kanasa…” Radasha cringed, pushing herself to stand. It had been days that her sleep had been interrupted with visions of the frozen planet. Familiar feelings not felt for years whispered to her through the Force in her dreams. The platinum haired woman pondered whether it had been her injuries causing such unrest -- but she knew better than that, the Force was calling her. Someone needed help. “W-wake up.” She shoved Xai. A grunt bellowed in response. The woman sneered, clutching at the blankets and pulling them off the man’s body. “I need you to fly me! Wake up!” This time the man stirred. Autumn colored eyes groggily stared in confusion at the woman through the darkness but there would be no questioning or arguing with her.



Clutching her dark colored robes, she wrapped it around her bandaged body. “We’re going to Kanasa.”



The man pushed himself up from the couch and pointed a finger at his child "You're in charge of making sure your mother gets enough sleep, young lady, alright?" The child have a mock salute, which the man returned with a smirk. He finished off his tea and set it down onto the table before heading down to the exposed cargo bay door. With one of his three remaining smokes still in his hand, he stepped down into the defensive position directly outside of the cargo bay door. He glanced at his wife and nodded "Your turn to sleep." He took a calming breath of his stick. He didn't notice how stressed he was until a few moments ago. It wasn't his lack of faith in his abilities that made him nervous: it was the complete helplessness he felt. The inability to protect his family are at him constantly, and the upcoming shortage of death sticks was only going to increase the tension. He was never much of a smoker before, but after expanding the pastry shop to late night hours, he found that a lot of customers would bring him quality smokes as gifts. In that time, he had become a connoisseur of sorts. There was even a crate filled with them somewhere in the back, but he wasn't stressed to the point of needing to go rummaging through their stuff just yet.



She glanced at him when she heard his voice. There was a hint of dark circles starting to show under her eyes. Something that had not adorned her features in years. There were multiple layers of stress for her. There was the reuniting of the force. There was the education that her daughter would need. There would be the return of the soldier, not that he had ever left, but that side of him had been pushed down for years. It had not been a necessity. But now, just being back, she could see him peeking out. She uncurled her legs from under the robe that she was wearing and let it fall around her legs as she stood. She had been using the force to keep her warm, not wanting to get into the mindset of armor again. Even though, she knew it was coming. There was just a hint of sadness in her voice as she stepped closer to him. “I am not tired.” Her appearance didn’t match the words, but she said them anyway. She brushed against him as she moved inside. “I love you.” As she reached the inside, their daughter stood in the center of the room, a blanket wrapped around her shoulders and a book in her hand. She was being informed of the bedtime they were about to have and all she could do was smile faintly at the child and follow orders. “Yes, little Love. Let’s go read.”



The man looked up from his makeshift heater as something jarred him from his sentry trance. Noise. Loud, high pitched. Getting louder every second. Someone was coming. It definitely wasn’t a star ship, it was a speeder. He got up from the bench and pulled his helmet over his head, flicking the stump of his smoke into the snow to conceal the heat signature before slowly walking out into the plains between the ship and the surrounding ring of hills and statues. If someone attacked, he wanted to be as far away from the ship as possible. The thought of a stray bolt in the general direction of the rest of his family terrified him. He listened carefully. There was only one speeder. Making a split second decision, he set the cannon down and switched to his rifle before dashing forward, liberated from the heavy burden of the cannon. He made his way to one of the statues and got down, the white and blue armor giving him excellent camo in the snow. He watched from a distance as the speeder pulled up behind the ridge-line overlooking the plains where the shuttle was crashed.



A scout hopped off the speeder. Not military of any kind, more rag tag. He looked through the scope of the rifle and eyed the weequay. Either a scavenger or a pirate of some kind, presumably leftovers from the battle of Kanasa, scraping up high tech gadgets leftover from the Republic and Imperial armadas that clashed above the planet. He got into a low crouch and ducked and weaved back and forth between statues and hills, taking advantage of the fact that the pirate was focused on the crash site. Once he was close enough, he listened in on one side of the conversation the pirate was having. “Looks undefended. Shady work, but I’ve never seen a shuttle like this. If there’s anyone down there, it doesn’t look like they’re paying attention. This is an easy score, boss.” The man snuck up closer, his rifle tucked over his shoulder. This was a situation more suited for a knife. The pirate continued “Right, I left markers coming out here. It’s about a three, maybe a four day trip, but this loot looks like it would be worth the trip. Alright, I’ll see you when you get here.” With that, the pirate turned around, presumably to set up a hidden camp, only to find a man in armor towering over him. “Oh what th- ACK!” the pirate lurched as a knife was driven into his shoulder, the towering mass of armor knelt down and growled “If you want to live, you’re going to tell me everything you know about the people that are coming here. . .”



The interrogation was short. It was a skill that the man had had to perfect in the years prior to the quiet life. A task force was coming, and it was only a matter of days until they were going to be under fire. He made his way back to the cannon to pick it up and haul it back to the ship. He was going to need all the help he could get.



The fight was over before she had even made it outside. She had sensed the alarm from her husband, but she had to think about something else before she could go rushing to his side. She tapped the top of the helmet after suiting the child up and moving her all the way to the front of the ship. “Do not move from this spot.” The words were as much an order as they were a plea. She rushed through the ship, gathering defenses from the ki shield. An outstretched hand put the energy sword into her grasp as she passed near the area it was stored. She pulled the hood over her head and shrouded herself. She was there in just enough time to see her husband taking the pirate down. She frowned as she dropped the force shield that hid her from sight. She narrowed her eyes and pursed her lips as questions were answered. She pulled the hood further forward to hide her features, as she commented offhandedly, going back into the ship. “You used to comment how you missed the fight. Looks like you won’t have to miss it anymore…” Her tone held a hint of venom, that she recognized the moment it slipped out. She was out of balance. She’d forgotten the struggles she went through to stay in balance. She was slipping down a dark path and needed to get that back in control. She let the thought turn over in her head for a moment before deciding that she would just worry about it later. Let the darkness seep in, it would be easier to fight whatever enemies came their way.



The man frowned as he entered the ship. Something was off. He found his way over to his wife and pursed his lips as he looked at her. Instead of saying anything, he simply wrapped his arms around her and hummed softly as they swayed from side to side. He had seen her like this before, and knew that, sometimes, words would be more of a hindrance than a help.



For a moment, she tensed. She hadn’t expected him to follow her into the ship, she hadn’t expected his arms. She tilted her head back, causing the hood to slide off. The circles under her eyes were getting darker, the normal crystal blue of her eyes, was ringed with a darker blue. “Not right now. There is a child waiting for someone to tell her she can move.” She wanted to push away from him, but at the same time she wanted to be pulled further into his embrace. “You should be watching for more trouble.” The humming, the song, the one they always used to pull calm into a situation, called to her senses, even with her struggle to resist it.



The man pursed his lips as he shrugged “We have two and a half days to prepare. Then, well, if help hasn’t come, we’ll be in for a fight. Nothing we can’t handle, though.” He doesn’t let her go, refusing her claims to need to do other things “She’ll live, love. Right now I need you in a good head space. More than anything else, I need you to just be you.”



She narrowed her eyes at him. “I am well out of practice when it comes to any sort of battle. My head space is where it needs to be.” She knew what he was doing, she could respect and appreciate it, but at the same time, she needed a certain strength that she was no longer positive she would have, if it did come to fighting. The shift in her expression gave away that he was winning, even if she was not admitting it. “I am me. Who else would you expect for me to be?” It wasn’t the representation of her specifically, not what was on the surface, but what resided below the surface that he was seeking. She released a sigh as she took one small step toward what he wanted and put her forehead to his chest, closing her eyes to simply listen and allow him to guide movement.



The man nods slowly "Then stay here when trouble comes. I'll handle any pirate scavengers any day of the week. You stay here and keep our child safe. Then, if something does go wrong, I know you'll be there to protect her if you have to." He kept his head pressed against hers as he slowly continued to sway her from side to side "You are you. Just making sure you're going to stay that way when trouble gets here." He kept his arms around her, refusing to let go.



The Vagabond Spirit rattled as it veered through Hyperspace, it’s navigational systems beeping as the ship came closer and closer to its destination. Radasha stared out through the cockpit window, the stream of lights reflecting against her pale skin. She did not speak to the man beside her, her thoughts focused on their mission, worry plaguing her mind. Was it a trap? With the Galaxy in such turmoil and her organization now a pawn in play within the new war, anything was possible. She adjusted herself, cringing as her wounds tensed. Kanasa was only a couple of hours away now. Her eyes closed and she took a deep breath, releasing it slowly. Radasha concentrated on her KI, allowing it to envelope around her in an attempt to reach out towards the calling.



She took another breath, sighing it out as she surrendered to his influence. If it was the ki that he used, she might have been able to fight that, but this was different. This was their love and it always won. She leaned her head back so she could see him. “You know that I will not be able to do that. My place is at your side, as it always has been.” She leaned up to kiss him gently, her expression having softened some. “I am going to go in.”



The man nodded as he looked out over the landscape "Thought it was worth the try. You know I worry about you in those situations." He elbowed her playfully before he took a deep breath and slowly let it out "Alright. We'll tackle this. I'll get a battle plan going inside." He leaned down to return her kiss before wrapping an arm around her and escorting her inside.



later. . .



“You should get yourself dressed if you plan on going planet side. We’ll be entering the atmosphere momentarily.” Xai placed a firm hand on Rafasha’s shoulder, giving it a shake. She had fallen asleep a while into the trip, her eyes blinking open tiredly. Clearing her throat, she nodded and arose shakily from the co-pilots seat. Yanking the winter coat from off its hanger, she slid into it and reached for her energy swords. She was not sure what to expect on the surface but knew whatever and whomever was down there, she would need to be prepared. Having taken far too many chances already, this was a risk she was not willing to take lightly.



The ship began to enter Kanasa’s atmosphere, its haul trembling and clanking as the icy air and sleet beat against it. With a jolt, the ship landed onto the snowy surface, its engines hissing and moaning.



“Are you certain you are feeling well enough to go out there?” Xai questioned her, leaning to the side of his chair to catch a glimpse of her.



“I’ll be fine.” Radasha mumbled, lifting her cloak up over her head. The bay door opened, a gust of wind sweeping into the ship. Her teeth clenched and chattered. “Let's not waste any time.”



Xai nodded and rose from his seat. “I am right behind you, Sol.”



She woke with a start, sitting up straight in bed. The child next to her didn’t even move. She could hear ki blaster fire which sent her into a minor panic. She rushed out of bed grabbing her energy sword and hooded robe as she made her way through the ship. When she reached the back she saw him engaged in a small fire fight. She shrouded herself in the force and made her way through the darkness to try and get behind the attackers.



“You kids just don’t seem to get it!” the man shouted across the battlefield as he hopped from one set of cover to another, giving the ship’s cannon time to recharge. “Just because I’m outnumbered, doesn’t mean I’m outgunned!” He stepped out of cover to level the cannon at the attacking pirates. He had to lob the bolts a bit, the energy pack not providing the velocity that the ship’s power reserves could, but they all exploded upon impact, so the result was powerful enough to be noticeable He slowly stepped over to another piece of laid out cover, his finger firmly squeezed on the trigger as he walked, until he arrived at the barricade. He pressed his back into the prepared cover and panted heavily. It had been a while since he had engaged of open combat of any sort. While it was exhilarating to be back in action, it was also exhausting.



The attackers were so focused on their initial target that their awareness was extremely limited. She killed the first one silently. The only sound he made was a slightly gurgling as the life left his body. She’d forgotten what it felt like to take a life. A fine line between horror and exhilaration. She'd gotten lucky with that one. The others seemed to be in pairs. The call from their intended victim made her smirk. So bold. So controlled. She slipped back into the shroud as she felt a familiar presence. She couldn’t afford to get distracted now. She moved through the area, an explosion from the cannon made her rethink her path for a moment. She watched, she waited and at the perfect moment she used the force to shove one into a coming round and swung on the other slicing across his midsection. Both attackers screaming just before their lives ended. Her element of surprise gone.



The man looked over as he felt his wife’s motions. It wasn’t the force, but it was close. He had forgotten what it was like to be so close to her and, even though they were in combat and they were taking lives, he couldn’t help but smirk. Together again, at last. He turned to the other side of the pirates’ line and sent off a volley of explosive rounds, trying to draw their attention away from the shadow and back towards him. “It’s not the rank or the medals you should fear!” he taunted as he ducked between cover, sending off a trio of rounds before hiding back away “It’s the name!” Realizing that he would have to switch to his rifle soon for the safety of his wife, he began to hold onto the trigger longer, wanting to put as many explosive rounds down range while he still could.



She waited, counting, contemplating her path. She reached out crushing the throat of one of the pirates. His friend looked around wildly for where the attack was coming from, but she was still concealed well enough that he could not find her. When she felt the life leave the one she moved to the other. She was almost on top of him when he realized what was coming. Her saber ignited, impaling him. She was focused. Determined. As she lowered the dying man to the ground, she whispered the name that they had been warned about. His dying expression said it all. The fear. The realization of the mistake.



He held the trigger down until the chamber was dry. It would take a team of engineers thirty minutes to replace the gas chamber on the cannon. It would take the man, alone, about a day. He set the cannon down and switched to his sniper rifle, confident that the pirates would not have the nerve to try to rush him while he switched weapons. He took a deep breath. Now, not only did he have the upper hand, he was in his element. He looked down the scope and spotted something else coming down to the surface. A shuttle of some sort, and some distance away. He wasn’t sure if it was friendly or otherwise, but it definitely wasn’t part of these pirates. The shuttle’s lights gave it away as vaguely imperial, but beyond that, he couldn’t tell. Truth be told, at the moment he didn’t care. He had closer targets to worry about. In a flash, he poked out from behind cover and sent off a volley of rounds, pinning the pirates that weren’t hit to the snow.



The all too familiar sound of the sniper rifle calmed her, enabled her greater focus. She would not have to be trying to judge where cannon rounds would be landing. His aim was true when it came to the rifle. It also meant that the pirates would start to get a better sense for where he was and know that his shots would only hit one of them at a time, unless they were stupid. The landing ship caught her attention and for a moment, she thought it was reinforcements for the pirates. Only for a moment. A familiar sense came from the direction of the ship and had she not been so focused on the fight, she would have recognized the sensation sooner. A calm washed over her. Panic subsided. They were reinforcements, but they were there to help them and not the pirates.



It did not take long for the man to get back into a groove. At first his armor had felt clunky, his rifle too unnatural. However, the longer he looked down the sights of the weapon, the more he felt his training come back to him. Breath control. Target leading. Patience. All things he had not even considered in the past years of his life came rushing back to him. Even though there were only two of them at the moment, he knew that they were more than capable of protecting their child. He spotted a figure walking out from the ship and quickly turned his sights on the shadow. He didn’t come close to pulling the trigger, but he needed to know what was coming their way.



Snow pelted against Radasha’s face as both she and her companion tracked through the frozen surface. Despite the conditions, Xai followed closely to the woman as she followed the Force to where it beckoned her. A familiar feeling tickled her senses, but in her weakness, she couldn’t place it yet. Her heart began to race anxiously. She paused, glancing over the landscape. “Something’s not right.” Radasha called out. The distant sound of blaster fire echoed through the area, faint flashes of light illuminating the low lying clouds and blowing snow. Luniara’s eyes squinted from behind her goggles. Turning to Xai, she sneered and gave a nod. Their weapons came to life in a burst of aqua and blue, the blades hissing as speckles of snow melted at its touch. Sprinting into the battlefield, the duo moved in unison and elegance across the icy tundra, they heels sliding down a snow dune, meeting a barrage of blaster fire. Twisting and turning their blades, the blasts deflected off.



She couldn’t help but smile, which had to be terrifying given the circumstance. As she drove her saber through another of the pirates, his companion realized he would be next and attempted to make his escape only to run into the crossfire, effectively killing himself. The attackers were quickly dwindling in numbers and those furthest back decided to escape with their lives and retreated toward their ship. She touched the mind of her husband through the force. "I believe we have forced a retreat and a rescue has arrived." She strode toward the two force users, her hood still drawn forward, concealing her face for the most part. When she was within a few meters, she deactivated her energy sword. She stood before the couple, her head tilted slightly. "Sol's?"



He wasn't even trying to hit the poor bastard who had run out from cover, but he wasn't going to complain about the lack of effort he had to put into the kill. They were retreating, and he didn't have the mind to pursue and eliminate today. He stood up and turned his rifle over to add another notch into the under barrel of the rifle, marking another successful engagement. Words echoed through his mind, and he narrowed his eyes before replying "I'll be right there." He set the cannon more properly down before making his way over to his wife. He slung his rifle over his shoulder and chimed "Small Galaxy."



Huffing as a pirate slumped over lifelessly at her feet, Radasha glanced up towards the figure approaching in the distance. Her posture straightened, uncertain whether they were friend or foe... until they drew closer. Glancing towards Xai, she disengaged her energy sword and turned towards the figure; awestruck. The man followed suit, his brow furrowing with concern. He stared off into the distance as the figure approached, energy sword in hand. The familiar feeling, a wave of calmness, the calls from the Force and her heart beating rapidly in her chest. Radasha took a few steps forward, staring in disbelief. Was it the Kanasans? It had been years without a single word or trace of evidence as to what had happened to the family.Pulling her goggles and cloak up over her head, Radasha’s worn eyes glanced down at the hooded figure as her voice cracked a single name. “Luri…?”



She reached up to push her hood back, smiling faintly as she looked at the two. She glanced to the side as her husband joined them. It occurred to her in that moment that it was going to be strange. People would start to call him Pike again. A name she’d not so much as muttered in, what had been seven years for them. How much time had passed here, she didn’t know, if any at all. From the look of the two in front of them however, it had to have been at least a couple of years. “The last time I checked, I was still being called that, yes.” She bowed her head slightly in form of greeting. For the first time, she was actually aware of the cold, she’d been so focused that she had not even considered the temperature. She glanced around briefly at the carnage around them. “Forgive me, I need to go check on someth...someone.” Just before turning, she launched forward to hug Radasha before sprinting off toward the crashed ship.



Pike removed his helmet and held it at his side as he looked at the couple in front of him. He had definitely aged in their absence, but his features remained relatively the same, save for some pepper in the front of his hair. As his wife threw herself around Radasha, he couldn’t help but smirk. They had done it. They were going to get off this rock. He nodded to Radasha and Xai as Luri ran back to their crashed shuttle, explaining “Ari.” He frowned as he studied Radasha for a moment “The hell happened to you? Come, let’s get you inside where we can talk without this snow and wind nonsense. We have tea waiting.” before turning and walking with them back to the shuttle, making sure to grab the cannon and place it back in a safe location inside the cargo bay. He looked back at the Sol's as they entered the back of the crashed ship “What’s left of the living room is on the right. Take a seat, I’ll get drinks.” before quickly ducking away to get the good tea going. After a few minutes of work, he returned to the couple and set down hot cups of tea before sitting down in a chair “Welcome to Kanasa.”





Everything was happening so fast. One moment Luri had been embracing her, the next they were standing within what was once a suitable sized living quarters. Radasha stared wide-eyed at their surroundings, her hands clenched into a tight ball. There was a plethora of questionings stewing in her mind begging to be answered. The Sol's sat down slowly upon the couch, their gaze catching one another.



“Thank you.” Radasha murmured lowly, reaching forward to take both cups, offering one to her Husband. She did not immediately sip and simply stared towards Pike with curiosity, taking a small sip of the hot liquid. Her eyes closed and her nose wrinkled. It did not taste familiar at all. Regardless, she swallowed and her eyes opened once more to focus on Pike. The woman cleared her throat. “This was not something I had been expecting to find. We thought you guys for dead.” She spoke in a monotone voice, her eyes squinting.



Luri slipped quietly into the main area, looking far more relaxed than she had in days. Pike would be the only one that would know that though. She smiled faintly as she moved across to sit down on the edge of a small crate. “I wasn’t certain I had managed to actually reach you.” She glanced at Pike and stated offhandedly, “Solid sleep at the moment.” Just as quickly as she had been distracted and made the comment, her attention was turned back to the Sol's. She had heard the dead comment as she was walking in, so she felt the need to state, “Being hurtled through anomalies in space can’t kill Kanasans. You should have known we would turn up at some point. Maybe not on Kanasa, but well, here we are.” With the exception of the actual power armor that Pike had been wearing, their clothing, the furniture, all of it uniquely styled, nothing like what would be seen in their galaxy. “Can’t really control where the anomaly will dump you, we just got lucky. Well, maybe not lucky. Years of research and tuning equipment, projections, simulations. Was hoping to be closer to Vegeta, but you kind of take what you can get in this situ… I am rambling. Apologies.”



Pike nodded in approval to Luri "Good. Hopefully she stays that way." He shrugged to Radasha's statement "You of little faith. Haven't I told you? I'm planning on living forever." He sipped from his tea, contemplating for a moment the fact that he hadn't had tea from this Galaxy in ages. He pursed his lips "Yeah. Seven years of luck, if the definition of luck has changed to 'spending every credit you come across on a project you put every waking hour of your life towards', then yes, lucky." He shook his head "My parents are going to kill me." He narrowed his eyes for a moment. He had never thought of his parents as old, but after almost a decade after he had last seen them, they could be considerably older, or worse. He shook the thought away "So... How's the Galaxy holding up without us around?"



“I could only have hoped you both would turn up, but being incapable of feeling you without a word...especially with the state of things, you stop hoping.” Radasha’s brow furrowed, again glancing towards Xai. “Wait. Seven years…?” She paused. “Don’t you mean 5 years?” Setting down the cup of tea, she leaned forward with her arms resting on her legs. “I can not imagine where you lot have been...but you’ll be lucky if your parents are even alive at this point. The past 5 years have been…” Radasha sneered,sitting straight. “Wherever you both had disappeared to, I fear I would have preferred you stay there than be here.” Turning to glance away, she stood up from the couch and paced slightly, her arms folding tightly across her chest. Nothing within the room looked remotely familiar. The smells, the tea, their clothing... where they had been, it was far, far from home. Xai cleared his throat, his autumn eyes falling upon the Kansan. He spoke softly. “The Galaxy is in pieces. Both the new order and the old have fallen apart.”



Luri furrowed her brow as she looked from Radasha to Snippar and then back again. “No, he definitely meant seven. We have the data to back that up. Arina is nine. She was almost 2 when things got a little, as Pike likes to say, crashy. Rebuilding technology we didn’t totally understand, with the assistance of others who only knew slightly more than we did. Well, it took time.” She looks curious. “What do you mean?”



Pike furrowed his brow as Radasha talked. Something was, clearly, a little off, but not by too much. Things could have been worse, and only a two year difference in the grand scheme of things wasn’t horrible. He leans forward slightly and sets his cup of tea down before sighing “I can’t imagine they’re dead. I’d know if they were. The rest of the family, though. . . I suppose we’ll just have to wait and see.” He turned to Xai and nodded slowly as he spoke. “I’d feel guilty if I hadn’t retired.” Then again, he probably would have been called back into service, but even then, he wasn’t sure if he would accept. Now, however, after the Republic had, as Xai had stated, fallen apart, he might be called back into action, despite being significantly older than he had been before. He ran his hand through his hair as they explained more details before pausing and questioning “And Vegeta?”



Radasha raised her upper lip, her hips swaying side to side anxiously. “She is nine?” She scoffed, brushing her fingers through her short, disheveled hair. “Wow.” Remaining silent as she took everything in, she spoke up once more. “5 years back, a series of attacks began throughout the Galaxy against both the old and the new.” Her lips pursed. “The ‘Unknwin Empire’, as they call it. Wiped out the capitals. The aliens, the saiyans? All went running once the battle was lost.” Her eyes shifted towards Snippar. “It’s surviving. After everything started to go down, we did not feel it was right to stay back and hide in a little hole. Those who did not wish to fight...stayed. Those that did...well, they didn’t. Ships were sent out to help both sides.” She sighed gruffly. “It was scattered for a long time. It is only recently that we’ve started to pick up the pieces.” The woman motioned to Xai. “We’ve only just returned to Vegeta.” Radasha’s voice sank, her face worn and tired as her posture slumped slightly. “Many lives have been lost.”



Luri nodded about their daughter. “I would reintroduce you, but she is sleeping.” She wrinkled her nose. “And a little explosive. Trying to keep her mind level until I have more time to teach her. It was a weird feeling and I think it scared her and well, we’ll figure it all out, once we are back home.” She was still turning over in her head the thought that the rest of the Kanasans may be in danger or worse. They were resilient people, she hoped resilient enough as she continued to listen to how things had been in their absence. She tapped her fingers idly against the side of her leg. She was going to want a lot more information, but it didn’t seem like the right time to make Radasha tell her everything. Once they were in civilization, she would just look everything up, research, do what she did. Locate every bit of data possible and act accordingly. “It sounds trying. I am not sure if I should apologize for not being here to assist, or straighten my back and figure out how to help restore the galaxy.” She glanced at Pike, a hint of concern in her expression.



Pike frowned as he tried to process the information. It was all happening so fast. To think that, after all these years, the downfall of both the Republic and the Empire would come from an outside source was mind boggling. In some ways, it was better than falling to the Freiza clan, but at the same time, he didn’t know how to fight this new enemy. There was definitely learning to do. “Well. . . at least the next few years won’t be boring.” he half jokes without emotion behind the words. He nods slowly to Radasha “Sounds like we got here just in time, then. How are you two doing?” He glances to Luri as she talks, pursing his lips in contemplation before nodding in approval “We’ll have to take some time to get our bearings, but yes, I think that’s a good place to start. Restoring the galaxy. After that, infinite energy and galactic peace. Then, perhaps, a sandwich.”



“Another time then.” She murmured, her attention focusing off out of the room. Radasha continued to pace around the room. She thought to ask exactly where they had been, but regardless of where and how, it did not matter anymore. They were home. She turned towards Luri, canting her head to the side. “Apology? Not needed. It would not have mattered and even so...I feel content knowing you three were safe from all of this.”



“The important thing now is getting you three back to safety and off this planet.” Xai grumbled, folding his arms across his chest. “Our ship is capable of hauling what you need, but if you would like to salvage what’s left we will need a larger transport.”



“Mmm.” Radasha agreed, staring towards the Kansa. “The sooner we get you guys home, the more we can talk. There’s no telling how many more of your friends from outside are left.”



Luri nodded. She contemplated for a moment. “Of course, if we are going to be leaving, it will probably be sooner, rather than later. A lot of the stuff in here, I am not sure it matters really.” She glanced at Pike. “Just the stuff in the cargo hold, right?” She glanced around at the things in the room they were in. “I mean, I guess, I will leave it up to you, Love.” She knew what the things were that were important to her and most of them were stored safely in the crates. It would just be a matter of shoving the few loose things back into the bag they had been in.



Snippar nods slowly as he hand his hand to his head “Right. . . Well, at least we’re home. At least, we’ve come back to what’s left of it.” His head was spinning. He had so many questions and so few ways of finding out answers to all of them. He took a deep breath “Right. Our stuff. Yeah, we just have a few crates of junk. Had to keep it light to get back here.” He sighs “I’m going to miss our diner.” before shaking the thought away. He had to look forward now. “Anyways, yeah, only a couple of crates, and we have the tech to get them moving, too. Shouldn’t take more than two trips.”



As he set the last crate down in the Sol’s ship, he couldn’t help but look back at the shuttle that had crash landed in the distance. It was an entire life they were leaving behind. He had hoped that they would have popped out somewhere where they had the option to go back, if they really wanted to. Now, however, it seemed that they would never have that chance. For better or for worse, they were here now.