{{ urbania's void - chapter 23
...chaos control (day twenty-seven / +27)
Zekk watched Jaina from across the table, his green eyes boring into the top of her head. She was staring at the tabletop, looking down at it with her hair hanging in crooked strands over her face. Her finger traced patterns in the surface as she, Gadell Vessau and Zekk Arkenna lounged tensely around the dining area. The others were in the living area discussing how they each got there and what they had all been up to, in the time they were apart. Their voices were loud enough that they drowned out the scheming whispers of the three at the table.
"We need to find Tesar, Tahiri and whoever else they have with them before we charge into that damn tower to try to save Jacen and Tenel Ka." Zekk leaned forward, splaying his arms out on the spotless surface.
"I think they have Tekli with them." Gadell spoke of the chadra-fan, whom he had met only a few times.
Both pairs of eyes casually locked on him, prodding him to continue.
"Remember when I got captured by those Quadripdici as Khee and you, as Tessick, came to get me... there were the three Quads who saved us. One was barabel. Did you look at the other two?"
Zekk shook his head.
"One was a human, and one was a chadra-fan."
Raking his right hand back through his mess of black hair, Zekk narrowed his eyes, trying to think back to that particular incident. Gadell began speaking again.
"And remember the datapad he had left, with the Anakin Mindmap --- it said meet them in twenty-five days. When did you guys get that?"
Zekk's eyes trailed up to the ceiling as he tried to calculate the amount of time...
"We should still have seven days until we have to meet them at the Vina---"
Jaina finally interjected, "We can't wait that long."
"I know," Zekk replied, reaching over and placing a firm hand on her shaky shoulder. He squeezed and nodded slowly, reassuring her with his mind that everything would turn out fine. "I didn't say we would."
Rubbing his left eye, Gadell blinked a few times. "Maybe we can go back to the alleyway, maybe they're still stationed down there. And we could skirt around the topic a little and find out if it's really them."
"Then what're we waiting for?" Jaina stood up and her hands quickly moved to her hair, where she began to tie it up in a bun. "Take me to this alleyway." She threw on her lekku headpiece, straightening it out and pinning it on correctly.
Gadell and Zekk both stood up after her, grabbing their Mindmaps off of their respective places on the counter. All three of them put theirs in at roughly the same time and that was when Lowie growled a question from the other side of the room.
"We're going to find Tesar." Solana said, "We'll be back soon."
Lowie rumbled another inquiry.
"Yes Lowie, if we're not back in an hour you can come look for us." She let a small lopsided grin show.
"We'll be down in the alleyways near the Vina Lidrina." Tessick shook the last of the color into his hair as the Mindmap settled into Zekk.
"Stay safe." Alema looked worriedly after them and as they left, the group dove back into their conversation.
Repulsor-boards. Khee had taken Kaidin's from his bag and Tessick took his own, throwing Solana on the back, behind him. Minutes after they had left the apartment, they jumped aboard their repulsor-boards and were off, speeding through the alleyways towards and around the Vina Lidrina. Khee took the front, his blonde hair creating a tattered halo around his head as the wind whipped through it.
Tessick stuck behind him, to his left, dipping under walkways and swerving around poles that jutted up from the surface of the spacestation.
"You know how to steer this thing, right Tessick?!" Solana yelled over the wind.
"You're damn right I do, honey!" Tessick grinned at his own use of one of Kaidin's lines as he sped up, pulling beside Khee. He looked over to the blonde man, who seemed to be concentrating intently on where he was going. He was hunched forward slightly, his left foot on the front of the board, while his right foot balanced himself on the back. He had his arms out to either side, bending his elbows and swaying whenever he had to move around an object that was in his way. His viridian eyes were locked ahead of him, scanning the technologically advanced horizon, plotting the easiest course to the Vina Lidrina. His outfit matched the color of his eyes; a deep green that reminded Tessick of the jungles on Yavin 4. His top was loose fitting, like a tunic, the bottom reaching to his mid-thighs. It was tied around the waist and the sleeves were enormous. There was a long piece of cloth tied around each of his arms, all the way down to his wrists, so the sleeves wouldn't billow out like wings. His pants were the same color, yet they were tight unlike his top and the bottom cuffs were tucked into his plain black boots.
The man inside of Khee was set on finding his sister.
Solana had her fingers tightly clasped around Tessick's belt, which was made of a thick leather material. Her green skin contrasted sharply with his black clothing. He was still in his mesh shirt from when they first saw him at the Exa Sendra --- same pants too. The shirt was made of a thin black mesh and on the shoulders and elbows of the shirt, was a patch of leather, each fitting perfectly over their respective spot. His baggy pants were tucked into his boots, black like his shirt with patches of leather over his knees. The only color on him, besides his crimson mane, was a single red feather that was tied into his mass of hair and a streak of red over his right eye. Tessick wore the feather and the paint when he was going out at night. And he had gone out... and then time passed and he hadn't changed clothes. Zekk hadn't had the chance to change. He had been in an alarmingly calm state of panic, his mind trying to work around way too many things at once.
The man inside of Tessick was looking for two of his best friends.
Tessick felt Solana Xel tighten her grasp on his belt and he hunched forward a tad, matching positions with Khee. "Watch those lekku, Solana! Or they're gonna be chopped clear off!"
Solana yelped as they descended under a walkway at a quickening speed. One of her hands pulled at her lekku, while the other went white-knuckled around Tessick's belt. She was still wearing her outfit from the Exa Sendra. A rich purple shade, similar to Bakuran wine, which surprisingly didn't clash with the pale green of her skin. A one-piece bodysuit made up the bulk of the outfit, the rest being the layers and strands of silk that started at her waist and fell to different places on her legs. It was basically a skirt made up of violet streamers, of various weights and lengths. They fluttered nonstop in the wind. The bodysuit was sleeveless and the neckline reached to her collarbone, with clasps from there to the top of the purposely serrated skirt. A high collar topped it off, brushing the back of Solana's head everytime she turned it.
The woman inside of Solana had her brother's rescue in mind.
Tessick had given Solana his long jacket before they left and she was wearing it at the moment, except it was unbuttoned, as were the top few clasps of her bodysuit. Inside of Tessick, Zekk milled around in his own thoughts. He knew that the body pressed against his back was Jaina. If this situation was taking place a decade earlier, and they were a decade younger... it would've driven Zekk crazy.
He didn't really know how he felt about her at this point in his life. He had many more things to worry about. He was aiming on bettering his Force skills. He wanted to become a Jedi Master. At this point, he looked at Jaina as one of his best friends and he sensed that the feeling was mutual. He didn't mind. He loved the way they joked around now, and starting any kind of relationship would probably ruin that insane bond that they shared as friends.
Zekk didn't want to lose that.
They kept on moving.
Glaring up to the two boards speeding by, a barabel motioned to his two companions to follow him. Gren Tenya emerged from a shadowy corner; his purple and black uniform with it's certain yellow parts, looking out of place against his scaly body.
Eiji Dromed stepped up to his left side, a T-21 repeating blaster in her strong hands. Her red hair was tied back into two ties and poked out of either side of her head. On her face, a sly smirk.
Zenta Celos, the chadra-fan, came up on the right, dual A280-K blasters in her paws. Her large black eyes caught sight of the repulsor-boards and that's when Gren began his chase, Zenta following and Eiji bringing up the rear.
A few alleys over, Tessick came to a halt above the ground and jumped off of the board, which hovered mere inches above the durasteel. He held out his hand to Solana, who grabbed it, pulling herself off of the board. "I hate those things." She looked back to the repulsor-board, her eyes narrowing with a mock hatred.
Khee chuckled and rested his hand on the cloth tied around his tunic, his blaster was tucked there. Tessick had brought along many blasters for his trip to the Urbania and Khee was borrowing one for the time being.
"So where do we start?" Solana asked, blinking the dizziness out from her head.
A shriek suddenly sounded from her as an arm wrapped around her neck and pulled her backwards, towards the shadows. The slight heels on her boots clicked loudly in the empty alley as another set of arms wrapped around her.
"Hey!" Khee dashed around the still floating repulsor-boards as Tessick cursed wildly, running towards where Solana was being pulled away.
Where someone was attempting to pull her away.
"You get your kriffing hands offa me you slimy---!" Solana struggled against the arms and pulled forward, ripping her two assailants from the shadows.
Khee froze in his tracks.
The two assailants did the same.
"Whatcha lookin' at, sithspit?" The shorter one spat.
"Exna..." Khee murmured. "Exna and Jeauno..."
The two men glared at Khee quizzically and that's when Khee took his Mindmap off. Gadell Vessau stared into the worn eyes of his old companions. They stared back at him in awe.
Tense moments passed and Gadell finally exploded. "What are you doing?! Didn't I say I never wanted to see your---"
"Stop." A hissing voice called from above. "Let go of her."
Five faces looked upwards. Tessick Ladreen. Solana Xel. Gadell Vessau. Exna. Jeauno.
"No fighting. Everyone take off your Mindmapz." The barabel spoke softly.
Gadell glanced to the others. Solana and Tessick became Jaina and Zekk. Exna and Jeauno... they were Mindmaps. Jaina cried out one name, Zekk laughed the other.
"Jag?!"
"Kyp..."
Gadell placed his hands over his face and shook his head.
Jaina turned to look at the three who had jumped down from their perch on the walkway above. They took off Mindmaps too.
Tesar Sebatyne. Tahiri Veila. Tekli.
A smile spread across her face.
"We found them the other day, wandering the alleys." Tekli motioned to Jag and Kyp who were silent. "They were both sent here to check up on us, since we hadn't contacted headquarters in awhile."
Gadell took the silence after that to lock his eyes on Jagged Fel and Kyp Durron. "So that means Exna and Jeauno are dead?" He casually pointed to them and waved his hand around a little. "Since you have Mindmaps of them... and all..."
Kyp nodded solemnly, stepping over to the Hapan Admiral. "We're sorry. If we knew you were here, we would've asked for two of the others that they were making."
The Admiral shook his head. "No no, it's fine. It's just kind of a surprise..."
"If you don't mind me asking, Admiral, what are you doing here anyways?" Jag spoke up.
"Tenel Ka and I..." Gadell shook his head and sighed, remembering what had happened to Tenel Ka and Jacen, "It's a long story."
"Come on everyone," Zekk positioned his Mindmap back up to his eye, ready to put it on. "Everyone get your Mindmaps on and we'll tell you the whole thing on the way back to the apartment."
Jaina grabbed Zekk's repulsor-board and slid her Mindmap into her eye with the opposite hand. She felt a shaky sigh escape her body as she brought up the rear of the huge group. She tried to sense her brother through the Force...
And all she felt was his faint presence, drifting quietly into a void of darkness...
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