Reinstated

[Byl Laprovik]

(ooc: continued from here)

Dac

Thunder peeled and lightning flashed outside of his rudimentary housing on the Mon Calamarian homeworld. Occasionally a blast of wind would send rain pelting against his window in a faster than usual tempo. It served for an appropriate mood setting.

The first assignment for Commander Byl Laprovik of Alliance Intelligence was...to review his personal dossier.

Entry 15.42:

Infantry service attached to 142nd Battalion, assigned to fleet elements at Way Station Echo, Hoth System. Overrun by enemy action. Engaged in guerrilla rear-guard resistance until enemy dust-off. Emergency extraction. Sole survivor.

Entry 17.22:

Assignment to Special Operations Army Detatchment. Service with distinction at Bakura.

Entry 20.33:

Assignment to Alliance Intelligence, Insurgency Field Specialist. [REDACTED]

Entry 20.44:

Assignment to [REDACTED]

Entry 21.53:

[REDACTED]

Entry 22.19:

[REDACTED]

Byl threw the datapad on his bed. This was an exercise in frustration. How off the grid was he that even Alliance Intelligence couldn't account for where he was and what he was doing? He'd hoped that this sudden change of fortunes would unlock a cache of knowledge of his past activities. To some degree, it had. He'd served with the Rebellion for some time, it seemed. Hoth was, by any accounts, a meatgrinder. He'd been left behind? And after who-knows-what, recovered as a sole survivor?

He started thinking about the scars on his body. What had he seen? What had he done?

[James Prent]

James rolled over, tucking the blankets around her chest as she propped herself up on her elbow and looked over at Byl. She yawned. "You should come back t' bed."

She smoothed the sheets next to her, gave it a pat, and picked up the datapad she found there. "What's th' use of sneakin' me in here if you're gonna stay up all night reading?"

[Byl Laprovik]

"I'm done."

Byl tried to tuck away his disappointment, and returned to better things. Crawling back into bed, he slid next to her, running a hand through his hair.

"Apparently I'm not the only one who has amnesia. At least I can count on you to remember me, right?"

[James Prent]

"Mmmm," she nodded, snuggling against his chest and tapping the 'pad to turn the page. "You're unforgettable."

She waggled the datapad. "Surely there's a non-censored version of this somewhere, right?"

[Byl Laprovik]

"Apparently only in my head, although I appear to be an unreliable witness."

There was always the possibility of the human replica droid knowing something, since they had apparently worked closely before. How reliable that possiblity was? That was another question, and one he hadn't the interest to pursue tonight. He snatched the pad from James, tossing it on the floor to allow him to close distance with her.

"Maybe I'm secretly a Jedi Master. A weapon so devastating I can't even be trusted to know about it myself."

It felt good to crack wise. To be facetious. To let his guard down. This was the first night in hundreds that he felt like he could sleep the whole eight hours without waking up to check the exits or make sure his gun was under his pillow. A part of him still worried that was when he was most at risk. He was doing his utmost to smother that part of him with a pillow this evening.

[James Prent]

She laughed. "I think we'd know if you had any sort of Force ability." She pulled his face down for a kiss, but was pensive when they separated. Her own Force potential was the reason for the scars she bore on her legs. Now that she was back with the Alliance, would they insist on packing her off to wherever the Jedi were making camp?

James caught him looking at her, and blushed lightly. "Sorry, jus' thinkin' about stuff. Other stuff." She gave him a little push. "Unimportant things."

She grinned and shoved her thoughts aside, grabbing the covers and throwing them up over their heads.

[Byl Laprovik]

He was familiar with that pause, and that uncertainty. It was a way of life for them for so long, and they both were far from immune. Was this the right decision? There was always the danger, even beyond the literal danger. That danger that they'd answer a question with two more, and set off a chain reaction that would consume them.

And just as soon as that doubt flashed, they moved past it, dwelling in the moment. In the now, where they could enjoy something more simple.

"Think I've put in enough tenure with my 72 hours back that I can request a desk job on a planet with a gorgeous view?"

He smiled, cheek to cheek in the dark of their little canopy.

"Unless you're a fan of rolling thunderstorms of course."

[James Prent]

"Thunderstorms on Nar Shaddaa just meant mud from above." She grimaced, wrinkling her nose. "Mud if you were lucky."

James snuggled against him, tucking her face against his chest. "I can't believe you're hiding in plain sight now. Sorry -!" She sighed, "I know, we're not talking about it tonight. It just feels so... weird."

[Byl Laprovik]

"Yeah."

Weird was the right term. Weird and wonderful. It was hard to stifle the part of his brain that screamed this was too good to be true, though.

"I'm just tired of running. Tired of sleeping in thirty minute bursts, waking up, and checking the exits. Maybe we've done a good thing. Hope we have."

The nagging part is that he wasn't any closer to catharsis than when they made the decision to go to Bothauwi.

"You're the only constant in my life, James. You have no idea how much that means to me."

[James Prent]

She smiled against his skin, and then her thoughts drifted to darker places. "Were they really saying that Loklorien s'Ilancy could be a - a Sith?"

He murmured assent, his face pressing against the top of her head.

James shuddered. "I... I know her. Pretty well, actually." She hugged Byl tighter unconsciously. She'd heard the conversation taking place while they were being smuggled off of Bothawui, but had been afraid to speak up. She couldn't believe the accusations... but on the other hand...

[Byl Laprovik]

He opened his eyes just a bit, interrupted from bliss.

"You know...s'Ilancy?"

It stood to reason. She was a Jedi too. He was curious.

"What's she like?"

There was this giant missing piece of the puzzle in his mind and he was scrambling to find out how to tease it out. He very much doubted there was anything earth shattering that she knew about the Jedi/Sith, but he'd certainly settle for some perspective.

[James Prent]

"Well..." James' voice trailed off, and she suddenly felt like she was suffocating in the warmth under the sheets. She wriggled into a sitting position, pulling the covers down and breathing the cool night air. "I shipped out with my... half-brother Sanis, an' he was good friends with her. Knew her before me 'n all that, and she traveled with us for a long time. Her an' her little girl." James' lips curved up in a smile at the memory of Tak and Daani and all the trouble the two girls got into.

Her smiled faded slowly. "She helped me when I found out I was Force sensitive. A little. I mean, I ended up with the Alliance after I...manifested. I told you 'bout that already." He nodded silently, allowing her to continue.

"But I never told anyone why I didn't go back to that life. Why I stayed in Cloud City. We met up there later, by accident. I thought they didn't want me around anymore, but they said they did and then I saw her. I mean, I'd seen her before but we were eatin' dinner an' suddenly she was like a dark, twisted thing. Lok was sayin' she'd train me, teach me the Force, but all I could see was this darkness.

"It didn't make sense then, but it sure scared me. I decided to stay in Cloud City. I'd put down roots, whatever. I lied." James rubbed her face wither hands. "I haven't heard from her or Sanis since. Probably a good thing. But she was my best friend, y'know? It wasn't easy."

[Byl Laprovik]

Something in what she said put Byl at a distinct unease. That people so close could change, and become so apart.

"And this woman is linked to whatever's knocked loose in my head."

He found his determination again.

"What do you think? Is she? Could she be?"

[James Prent]

James shrugged, feeling decidedly glum. "Lok? Never. Whatever it was th' Force showed me?" She sighed. If it was the Force. Which it had t' be.

"Yeah, I think it could have." She refused to think of Lok as that thing. "She is a powerful Jedi. And from what I've heard, the Dark side can make you stronger."

[Byl Laprovik]

Byl didn't say anything. He looked a bit distant.

"And if she was to offer me a glimpse into what I was missing..."

He looked at James with worry in his eyes. Worry how far his need to know was going to take him.

"I'm so goddamn tired of asking questions. It's always one more. One more."

He squeezed her hand.

"I need you to do something important."

[James Prent]

She squeezed back. "Anything."

[Byl Laprovik]

"I need you to make sure that when it's time for me to find out what it takes to get my mind back..."

He ran his hands through her hair, eyes fixed on hers.

"...that I don't pay too high a cost for it."

[James Prent]

A quip rose to her lips, her go-to response when things were starting to feel too serious. But then, this really was much too serious. James swallowed the joke, and nodded. "Of course. I'll do my best.

"You are a stubborn son of a bitch, though." Ah, there it was. Inappropriate humor was a terrible crutch. Still, she wasn't about to tell him she wasn't sure she wanted him getting his memories back, period. Not that she didn't think she could handle who he had been...

...but that she was afraid he wouldn't stay. Was that the cost too high? Losing her?

[Byl Laprovik]

That did the trick. He escaped his reverie, and back into her embrace. Again a smile returned.

"Stubborn? I'm fine with stubborn. I know what I like. And I want to keep that."

He rolled with her, so that he straddled over her, and let the storm roll on beyond them. This was their night. All of it. No looking for trouble around the corner until morning.

[James Prent]

Morning dawned early. James greeted it on the minuscule balcony off of Byl's studio apartment, overlooking the oceans of Dac with a steaming cup of caf in her hands. The enormous sky was full of clouds, but the sun was low enough that it was shining underneath them and right into her eyes.

She'd been away from Nar Shaddaa for long enough that expansive vistas no longer gave her that sick feeling in her stomach, but she still wasn't entirely comfortable with the idea of so much water surrounding her. And what - sea monsters? James stared at the sparkling ocean, the sunrise reflected in it with a hundred different colors, and tried not to imagine some deep sea horror breaking the surface and somehow reaching over the city until it got to this balcony and then gobbled her up.

She shook her head slightly, and sipped her caf, leaning on the railing. Sea Monster, you can't have me, 'cause Byl needs me. He. Needs. Me. A bittersweet smile twisted on her face, and she looked back over her shoulder to where she could see him stretched out on the bed, one arm thrown up over his head in his sleep. What could she do? Waitress James from the all night diner, saving Byl the trained super soldier slash spy slash operative.

Oh yeah, that was totally going to happen. She sipped her caf, and tried not to think about the coming day.