Then and Now

Santana was sitting alone at the bar in the Slippery Slopes cantina. She was not dressed in neither beskar or her imperial uniform. This time, she sat clad in casual wear, a simple black tank top and black sports bra with black cargo pants that hugged her curves at first and then flared slightly at the leg as cargo pants usually do. Her long raven hair was hanging loosely down her back and crowning her face for once. Santana never wore heavy amounts of  makeup, her lips however were the softest shade of pink berry, since she did splurge buying a light berry lip gloss. The only piece of jewelry she had on was the single earring clamp on her upper ear. A sweet smelling pink drink sat in a brandy glass in front of her, it was the fourth one she'd had in the hour. She lifted the drink slowly to her lips just as a few patrons near the entrance had began to rumble.

It hardly phased Santana as she brought the glass up to her lips and took a slow deep swig of the Rylothian brandy. With half of its contents drained, she set the glass back onto the bar, feeling the sting of the liquor as it burned down her throat. Santana hadn't drank for over a year since the night she saved Lt. Roa. She shook her head to quickly disburse the thoughts of the past because she had came out to celebrate her sisters good news. Who would have thought that her little sister would have grown up so fast, already on her way to making a family and even furthering her career.

Santana smiled a little as she traced a finger over the rim of the brandy glass. She had saw herself one day having a family and perhaps passing her Vega journal down, but the thought was nothing but a fantasy now and she had stopped writing in her Vega journal completely several months prior. The last of the brandy was quickly gulped down and the bartender was already preparing to pour her another when she held her hand up to stop him. It wasn't that she was being moderate for once, but since she had been stripped of her rank as a captain, it was hard getting people to hire her for important jobs now, even with her accomplishments.

She couldn't afford to waste the credits on a drinking binge but despite her embarrassing expulsion from the Kaas Rank, Kirian had still asked her to help out Sair whenever she could. It was obvious to Santana that Kirian was avoiding audience with Sair due to her pregnancy so she took on the job to help her. The situation had been explained to Santana and she was well aware of Sair's on-goings within the Revanite community. It made no difference to Santana since she knew she might end up working some jobs that might even put her in the same category as a Revanite even if she was not one.

The job was pretty easy-going since all she had to do was hang-out and watch out for the old man in his usual locations of socializing. He didn't even need to know what she was up to and she got to wear her own clothes while relaxing in cantinas for a generous sum of credits. Santana felt bad accepting the credits from her sister whom she also knew was tight on money but she knew she wouldn't get a job anytime soon thanks to Ghazan's hasty decisions. Santana began to think about Agent Martin, the man who was involved with her sister. She wondered why Ghazan wasn't more like him but the comparison made no sense as she was also nothing like Kirian. "Must be me" she said softly. Her whispering to herself was what made it suddenly clear that the cantina had been mostly cleared out. The fight had been broken up and those involved had been bounced out. Thoughts of the past began entering her mind as she sat alone swirling her bar stool quietly. The memory of the day like any other when she had arrived on Nar Shadda for a supply pick up. It was when she found Xaisis half dead after an encounter with Taelios.

-FLASHBACK-

Xavien held Xaisis's shoulders down flat on the medbed as she screamed and spasmed uncontrollably. He looked on worried as he had to keep the woman's shoulders from moving and she was strongly fighting back in pain. She was going into hard convulsions and Miko needed her to remain still enough to inject the solution directly into the injured chiss woman's bloodstream. Blood curdling screams could be heard through out the Mantis as Santana, Xavien, and Miko were trying to give medical attention to Xaisis. Former Kaas Rank captain, Lord Taelios had been romantically turned down by another Imperial Agent and Agent Xaisis had the unfortunate luck of being present. Lt. Roa had arrived on Nar Shaddaa seeking Lord Taelios's audience to introduce herself. Xaisis was surprised to find out that none of her credentials from the Chiss academy interested him and that he was in a bad mood before she had arrived and now she was the target for his rage.

Taelios had commanded Xaisis to dance for him and entertain him with a Republic female to sate his mood after being humiliated by a human female he had been pining over. Xaisis, being a educated Chiss with honors, refused to dance even while knowing she would be going against a Sith. General Kae'des had told her that he had more experience with the Sith and that they would respect her more if she had stood her ground. It only pushed Taelios over the edge. Xaisis was electrocuted, some of her ribs were broken as he kicked her when she was down after she refused to fight back. He continued to try to egg her into a fight and fractured her arm, a concussion quickly followed. When she tried to escape, her kneecap bone was disentegrated via light saber. Xaisis was half dead when Santana found her, apparently dropped off by Taelios in front of a random medical droid before he went off to terrorize someone else for not falling head over heels for him and his antics.

Santana brought Xaisis back to the Mantis for treatment, she knew she had to report Taelios to Ghazan but that it would probably bring more problems for both the Chiss since they were just Imperials. With Miko's medical skills, it took 40 minutes but they were able to finally stabilize Xaisis vitals and treat all of her wounds but she would need to stay on the Mantis for at least a week since since no bacta tanks were available.

Xaisis turned her bright red eyes towards Santana, she had finally calmed down with the boatload of sedatives coursing through her system. "I.... want to ... go home.." Xaisis said slowly. She was bandaged up like a mummy nearly, several IVs had to be hooked up to give a constant stream of Kolto and pain killers. Santana looked down at the girl and sighed softly. "You know, abandoning the rank is punishable by death.. they would send Sith after you to get your head if you left."

She felt bad saying such words to someone so injured but she knew it was the truth and she had to warn her. Xaisis eyes were watering a little but she refused to cry in front of her Captain just as she had tried not to cry in front of the crowd when Taelios humiliated her. "We will all die then..and Taelios.. will kill me..and the next time he gets bored, it might be you" Xaisis said through a shaken breath, her indigo skin lighter than usual from the drugs coursing through her. "No, I will speak with Gen.." Santana was quickly cut off as Xaisis grabbed her hand. "If you love him, you won't get him involved either...we'll all die soon enough." Santana was shocked by Xaisis's accusation about her being in love with Ghazan, but she knew it must have been obvious to a lot of people.

"Captain Vega, I tell you this because you very well may have saved my life tonight. You may be in love with General Kae'des but... I'm sorry, I do not believe he is in love with you.." she said as softly as she could, not really wanting to hurt Santana's feelings but needing for her to understand. Santana blinked a few times, her face was turning red from both anger and embarrassment. "You come on my ship and talk shit after I drag you across Nar Shaddaa on my back to get you here? " Santana stood up angrily, clenching her fists as she looked down at the Chiss laying on her medbay bed. Xaisis blinked a few times, she was not quite used to interacting with humans on a personal level. "I did not mean to offend you, I only meant to tell you the truth." she said softly, looking up at Santana hoping she wouldn't decide to go for her other knee.

She nervously moved her uninjured leg around which Santana took note of. "Explain what you are saying to me then, it sounds like you want to steal him.." Santana said, looking down at the woman as she could feel her blood beginning to boil. "Me? With the General?" Xaisis actually snickered a little as she seemed to relax a bit more, mostly due to the drugs.

"I'm not interested in General Kae'des and he is not interested in me, I am simply stating the cultural difference...you see, we Chiss stay to our own, we observe...we determine if anything other races have to offer is of value, if it is, then.. we will use it to our advantage. Our people are self sufficient but every now and then, we might sample around". Xaisis blinked for a moment as she had rambled on, she looked towards Santana who remained silent as Xaisis explained Chiss views of other races. She could see it on Santana's face that she had no clue and with that, she trailed off quietly. The color drained from Santana's caramel complexion slightly, her eyes were turned to the ground as if she had been thinking over a few things Ghazan had said to her. It all made sense now, every little thing. "I'm sorry, Captain Vega, I did not mean to break your heart, I just felt I should tell you because you saved my life, I did not want to see you turn into a Taelios." Xaisis said softly before turning her head to the side, she was beginning to drift to sleep.

"Don't worry... you're not the one breaking my heart. I understand now." Santana didn't want to discuss her relationship with Ghazan with Xaisis any longer. She was embarrassed enough now that she knew how Ghazan really felt, and she also knew Xaisis probably looked down on her as well as just "some Human". I'll take care of it so neither Taelios or Ghazan finds out." Santana stood over the Chiss girl for a few moments longer until she had dozed off thanks to the medications. A frown finally struck Santana's lips as she realized she had been a fool the entire time. Her virginity, her promise to protect him, everything she gave him meant nothing and just like Mejjis had said, she was just the General's pet human. It was no wonder that he never shared information with her even though she was one of his captains, and it made sense now that he had went away on a secret mission for months without even saying goodbye. He had gone to Csilla, and no doubt other races are probably barred from there, and if they weren't he'd probably be too ashamed to bring her in front of his people.

She felt infinitely stupid as she turned and walked from the medbay her light gray eyes watering up. She was hurt and angry but she refused to let the tears wet her cheeks as she roughly wiped her eyes. Santana could not help but wonder why this was happening to her as she made her way to her bedroom to get her datapad. She needed to work to keep her mind off of Ghazan. She would need to pull a few strings in order for her plan to help Xaisis to work. Santana knew Xaisis would be in danger if she left, so she decided that if Xaisis died from her injuries from Taelios, no one would give a shit because no one gave a shit to help her in the first place. Now the only thing to do would be to make preparations for faking Xaisis death documents and sending her back home to Csilla.

-FLASHBACK END-

In the end, most of it seemed to had worked itself out. Xaisis vanished without a trace thanks to Santana's help, she is back on Csilla recovering. Taelios ended up leaving the rank and becoming The Moirae's problem shortly after all the other Rank members scattered and went their seperate ways. Santana couldn't ignore the feeling in her gut depiste the new knowledge she held about Chiss. She needed to speak with Ghazan face to face and get everything on the table. Ghazan accepted the invitation to the Mantis where Santana had prepared a meal for him yet he refused to eat. She had ordered "their" special Rylothia Brandy, directly from Ryloth, but he was in no mood to drink it. A simple cup of tea is all they had as they sat quietly on her ship making idle conversation which was awkward in and of itself. He was usually open with Santana somewhat at least, in the privacy of either of their space ships but on this instance, he was just as cold and nonchalant as if they were in the public eyes, pretending nothing was going on between them.

 Santana could feel him slowly pulling away and she wanted to do something but she didn't want to smother him so she ignored her urges to sit next to him, attempting to cuddle up. She sat stiffly across from him, sipping the tea as she tried hard to think of things to talk about that wouldn't put anymore pressure on the situation. Everything she brought up was easily shot down by quick three word answers until there was nothing but silence between the two of them. Santana reached to the side of her seat and pulled a gift up. She had purchased a specially made stealth generator for him, knowing that his was out of date. For once, Ghazan actually seemed surprised by Santana and it made her happy for a moment, watching his facial expression be something other than "blah". The moment was short lived after the excitement of the gift was over, the two sat in more awkward silence. Ghazan was ready to go as he stood up and set his empty teacup down. He was already heading for the door mentioning how they should "Do this again sometime" as if he had enjoyed himself.

She wanted him to stay badly but she knew he couldn't and wouldn't even if she asked so she followed him down the stairs to the bulkhead door. She mustered enough strength to push a smile on her lips as she was telling him goodbye. The ship was still empty except for the two of them so she stepped close to him, raising her arms to embrace him one more time while closing her eyes to kiss him goodbye when he took her by the shoulders and held her away at arms length. It was then that she knew it was true. She remembered they argued at that moment after she asked him why. She had confessed at that moment but it would be a moment she would regret because at that time she thought she had scared him away with her feelings. If only she had known it was her genetics instead. He never really gave her a explanation, he just said "Not now" and left her standing on her ship watching his back as he left.

It wasn't long after that last encounter that he would go on another secret mission without so much as a word, disappearing for most of the year, leaving Santana to run the Rank as a mostly one-man operation. She silently cursed to herself as she thought about the past again, she felt like a complete idiot every time Ghazans name even popped into her mind. "Stripped of duty for my own protection, huh?" Santana knew if she hadn't had the talk with Xaisis, she would have fooled herself into believing that Ghazan had actually stripped her of rank because he loved her and didn't want to see her hurt, but the truth had already been let out. At least with a demotion she would still be able to support her starship but with a rank stripping it was like being blacklisted. He'd told her she was welcome to come by his ship any time but in her mind she knew, he only wanted  to sleep with her. If anything at all, he was just protecting his fuck toy and Santana didn't want to be just a pet human given a treat here and there for good behavior.

Santana raised her eyes off of the bar as she heard familiar voices around the Slippery Slopes.  It was a few of the usual Slopes crowd, Lord Karmic was in her skimpiest outfit teasing Lord Ampere and any other lonely males in the vicinity. The dirty bastard, Mejjis was laughing it up and drinking the bar dry trying to get some Twi'lek dancer drunk so maybe he'll get laid. A couple of Besuliik's Mando's and Miralauka sitting with Sair, who was chugging some sort of cheap wine, probably Corellian. "That's either Eirwynn or the old pervert is really into kinky things.."Santana said to herself as she watched Sair trying to be sneaky when talking to the blindfolded lady. She had been instructed to help bodyguard Sair and his lady friend. "Everyone has someone...." Santana thought to herself as she began to sulk more.

"This job sucks, Kiri." she said aloud before spotting something strange. Santana's eyes had caught a glimpse of what appeared to be a moving body hidden with a stealth generator. Someone had moved too close to her but were moving quickly enough that she only caught  a glimpse of the outline of a female. The outline reminded her of the gift she had gotten for Ghazan. At the time, she had wanted to get something for him that would make him happy so she wanted to get the best tech out there. She couldn't help but try it out on Supoon first, whom ran around the entire Mantis playing hide and seek with Santana much to her dismay. She eventually got it back by tracking him around the ship in such close quarters it was easy to spot the outline. It was obvious that the person was watching Sair and his lady friend, because Santana could see the outline of the persons head and the direction they were looking in. She would wait to see what this person was up to, they wouldn't be so careful sneaking around only to pop stealth and try something so Santana would have to wait and watch. It wasn't as if she had anything better to do anyway.

Nyada had become desperate. She had been having trouble tracking Kirian and Everic lately as they had apparently been going out in public less and less for some reason. She still had a mission to obtain information about the possibility of traitors within the empire and without any leads, Master Mirivor would punish her for sure. Her body hurt at the simple thought of Mirivor as she hugged herself tightly as if trying to pull her nerves together, staring hard at Sair and Eirwynn as they chatted. Nyada stealthed across the slippery slopes towards the bar, once she spotted a good hiding place near her target she moved through the side door and made her way upstairs to the balcony above where she could rest and try to eavesdrop on Sair's conversations. Nyada had cased Slippery Slopes cantina on numerous occasions trying to catch Sair accidentally spilling any information but he was always careful with his words. She had also found out that the rooms upstairs were frequently used for spicing up.

Nyada moved quickly and once she reached the door, she had to pick the lock on the V.I.P room and snuck silently across to the balcony. It was easy with the two naked spiceheads spaced out on their backs in the bed. They didn't notice either door open or close as Nyada took her spot on the balcony and eavesdropped.

Santana didn't know exactly where the stealther was now, she had only saw them for a split moment before they were again invisible, but she knew Sair had to be the target. It was the breeze from above that caught her attention. A door from above had shifted the air in her immediate area but when she glanced up, no one was there. "Who just opens and closes a door for no reason?" Santana thought to herself. She knew the stealther was likely on the balcony, probably snooping but she couldn't be sure. With that vantage point, a headshot could easily be accomplished. "They'd have to be crazy to assassinate someone in a neutral area.." Santana went through several scenarios in her mind quickly before determining that whoever it was, was just observing for now since nothing had been done after several minutes. "Sair isn't going to make too much trouble for himself with all these people still around, including me since he hasn't the foggiest that I know everything. I won't have to worry too much about him biting himself in the ass for now. But I'll have to take care of the spy upstairs pretty soon.."

Santana knew she had three advantages over the spy and she would use them. The first is that she knows they are there and they don't know that she knows. The second is that with her sitting there, as well as the other patrons, they won't make it out of Slippery Slopes if they try something, and the third was just Santana's overconfidence. She waited until it had gotten late and several patrons left, leaving only Lord Karmic and Lord Ampere chatting idly at the middle bar. Santana then paid the credits for her drinks and stood up leaving quietly. After her departure, Lord Karmic and Lord Ampere made their way over to Sair and Eirwynn to chat for awhile. Nyada was beginning to get impatient as usual. Her stealth generator was busted and could only keep her hidden for so long which is why she always had to leave before the last of the patrons would go and thus missing any concrete evidence of Sair being a traitor. Nyada was beginning to breath harder as she watched the other two Sith join Sair and the Jedi.

"Why don't you both go off and fuck somewhere.." she thought to herself as she watched Ampere and Karmic casually chatting as they approached Sair and Eirwynn. Nyada was clenching her teeth together at the thought that Karmic was going to blab the night away just like before, wasting what little time she had to catch Sair fucking up. She only had about 30 minutes left before the generator would give out and so far, Sair had been his usual fake self, insulting the Miraluka for having no eyes, and the both of them making random sex references that can neither be tied to or disputed to them actually being lovers. Nyada could feel Mirivors breath at the back of her neck, his voice in her ear whispering about what would happen if she continued to fail. "This fucking old bastard.. I know he's fucking that bitch Jedi, the fuck is he waiting for? Why don't they just leave and go do it and get it over with so I can get my man back and be done with this bullsh..." Nyada's thoughts were cut short as she felt a blade at her neck.

She dared not move as the blade was so sharp she could feel it nearly cutting into her neck almost like a paper cut at the slightest nudge. "You'll be coming with me.." Santana had returned to her ship to borrow a stealth generator created by Supoon modeled after the one she bought for Ghazan. She then returned to Slippery Slopes with it and a pair of special goggles on. She peered down with her heat-seeking goggles at Nyada. "I have alot of questions to ask you but first..." she quickly stabbed a stim into the reddish image of Nyada's neck with the aide of the goggles. Nyada gasped and struggled for a moment before passing out from the sedation stim. The spiceheads never even noticed Santana carrying Nyada out on her shoulder since she turned her stealth generator back on and carried Nyada's body out of the cantina before the busted generator gave out.

With Nyada in a containment field on the Mantis, Santana sat in a chair folding origami while waiting for her to wake up so she could begin questioning her.