Chapter 12: Family Ties and Bonds “We’re going to be rescuing some political refugees from Kuat, Commenor, Correllian and many other Core Worlds. They have been taken during the Imperial pull out of the Core to their corridor of space. The various groups have seen to take the share they can hold. They are the people they are taking are capable of rebuilding or re-developing the worlds in question. Expect engineers, designers and so forth. These are not soldiers,” Adm. Azzameen started my first mission briefing back.
“Defender squadron will be flying cover for both Strike B-Wing squadron and Assault Transport Liberation. Defender will be down one pilot. Maj. JC Sabre will be leading the boarding operations.”
“Request permission to join the boarding squadron,” I shouted aloud.
“Lieutenant?” the young flag officer asked.
“I am Kuati. My own family may be among them. You are used to flying without me at the moment,” I explained.
“Hmmm. All right, you can join. We’ll be attacking Imperial Troop Transports. Strike Squadron will use their ion cannons to disable. Defenders, clear any resistance. If there are capital ships present, Two Flight will cover Strikes One through Six, and Three Flight will cover Strikes Seven through Twelve. One Flight will have fighters. Strikes are to make torpedo runs on any capital ships. Storm A-Wing group will be available for reinforcements if necessary. Once we have secured the area, The Silence, our Nebulon-B class frigate, will hyper in and ATR Liberation will proceed on it’s mission. Due to not knowing how many ships of prisoners the Omegans are taking, Liberation may be making more than one mission run. We’ll rotate flights for re-fueling if this happens. Once Liberation returns to The Silence, she’ll hyper out of the area. All fighters will then pull out from the area.”
I basically tuned out the rest of the briefing. It went over our current fleet deployment and who our reinforcement task force was. I had many things on my mind at this point in time. The backlog of cases I had planet side what would be further delayed as I underwent 24-hour operational security isolation aboard The Silence. Good thing was that at least both Gabi and I were on the platform. When the briefing ended I headed to my office to file some more motions and see what else that I wouldn’t be getting to that day. I coded for the door to be locked for my entry. I turned the lights off and started staring at my datapads.
“Paul, you are to be a Telbun. You’ll get to go to school for free. You’ll take care of all this for us,” my father said.
“Sweetie, we’re just so proud of you,!!!. You’ve done so well in school that you’ve earned this honor!!!” my mom said.
Me, I wasn’t too thrilled about it. Telbun is the Kuati male who sires the children in the wealthy families who own Kuat Drive Yards. The new genetic material in the aristrocisy is paid for by providing for the Telbun’s immediate family the remainder of their days. This arrangement prevents the inbreeding that was becoming apparent nearly a thousand years ago. Telbun’s sire the child, help raise it, educate it, and protect it. There are many advanatages to that. There is a blood tie, so the Telbun is more dedicated in all those tasks, however, the child only recognizes its maternal line as their family. The Telbun is also neither a part of the society it was before it began his post secondary education or a member of the elite’s family. Telbun, are well Telbun. Forbidden to own anything but the heavey oppressive robes that I dentify them on Kuat. A dream for a family to have their child try to achieve, but a nightmare for the son who can only find an equal among the families other Telbun. I was disgusted by the idea.
“Why should I do it? I’ll never get to be me ever again.” My father’s hand stung across my seventeen year old face.
“You’ll do it. You’re going to get a free education paid for at the University of Obroa-Skai,” he said.
“Yeah, to study what they want me to. To become some sort of sperm donating teacher.”
“Listen young man, I’m an engineer. I’m only that because my brother was a Telbun. He paid for me to be able to afford to go to the Kuati Institute. I can afford to send you there if you take on work as well, but Obora-Skai has a computer center rivaled only by Coruscant. You won’t ever get this chance again,” he continued on.
“I’ll go for myself,” with that, I turned to head up the stairs to my room. I keyed the door to lock.
My comlink beep went off. I snapped back to the here an now. My family may be nearby. I don’t know what I would. I ignored the beeping. Why would they be rouned up like that? That wasn’t the Empire’s mode of operation. They only took with them those who could either afford to escape, had abilities they needed who wanted to escape, or genuinely wanted to escape if they had room. Something wasn’t right here. The comlink kept on beeping, breaking my concentration.
“You coming home sometime soon?” Gabi’s voice said.
“Yeah, just thinking. Getting some things set up before I go off on some mission.”
“The one The Silence is prepping for? I’ve been arranging for parts and ship supplies for her all day. Something big is about to happen.”
“Wish I could tell you, but yeah, something very big is going to happen. Bigger than anything we’ve tried to date. It’s personal for me. I’ll tell you what I can when I get home. I got twelve hours till I depart. I want to spend all of them with you.”
“Love you. Be home soon. I’m worried when you’re like this.”
“Don’t be. Five minutes if the foot traffic is light.” I flipped off my comlink. This was not good. I had never told anyone really about where I was from. Even when I defected I was defecting from Obroa-Skai. Kuati just didn’t defect. Outside the wealthiest beings on Coruscant, Kuati were Imperial. Well, Gabi deserved to know. I can trust her. I trust her with everything. I owe her everything. That’s why our marriage works. She not only is the reason I live, she saved my life. Why we are together is beyond me. The Force is the sole answer that came to mind. I had been having many premonitions in my dreams. It was knowing that the next mission I went on was going to tear me apart not matter if it succeeded or if it failed that was weighing on my mind.I rose from my seat, keyed the door open. My staff was hurrying about the office filing reports in one station, duplicating them at others, looking up information. One of my senior legal researchers approached me.
“Sir, when you have a moment we’ll need you to sign some documents, plea agreements mostly.”
“I’m going on an operation. I’ll be gone about one week. It’ll have to wait.”
“But, Sir, these have been waiting for nearly a year since you went undercover and were stuck on Borealis recovering from you injuries.”
“Then Ensign Syvln they’ll wait another week. That’s an order.” The pride in my people’s hard work sank then. I rarely gave an order
unless it was needed. Usually I gave an order out of anger. I needed to go home. Tell her everything. Tell her about my past, the dreams and premonitions, my ability to use the Force.I quickly exited the JAG office and started my way across the lower level of the promenade. I was located at the farthest from any of the four major turbolifts to the living quartered levels. I could take a smaller lift to one of the hangars then go up to the living levels, but I needed to get a pulse for the station. Missions like these leaked. The rumors would be flying.
The promenade was surprisingly not as busy as usual for this time of night. It was this emptiness that worried me. The promenade was a place full of life usually. Spouses of those in Guardian Wing many aspects are usually hurrying about buying groceries or trading for new furniture. Children run around playing. They belong to somebody or maybe they just came with Defender One platform. I didn’t know. Children are why this war was fought. Children’s futures were on the line here. One child though, was going on a mission tomorrow as a man for his family.
There was the occasional off duty person in uniform or jumpsuit buying a gift for some one special having recently neglected them due to duty. Gabi and I were both guilty of that. In the three weeks since we’ve been back on station, we’ve gotten quite the vase and dead flower collection. Seeing each other for more than five minutes a day was a blessing. I walked by The Defender’s Own, a local drinking establishment that was open to the promenade. I could see Fal, JC, Andy, Zaron and Taugrim sitting talking. I waved at them. That usually meant I was called home. I was the only one in the squadron married. The trend in the Republic Military was to be single, although marriages were on the rise for its personnel, but something like an officer and an enlisted person was rarity. I would have to look it up, but I know minimum is special legal discompensation for it to even be considered. I hope they would understand me not stopping buy. It wasn’t unusual for me not to, but then again, I usually stepped into to say hello.
I was to the turbolift. The doors hissed open and no one was inside. I quickly entered it and closed the lift doors and keyed my destination for nearest turbolift access to Gabi and my quarters. I also commanded a non-stop trip. That would hopefully minimize my interactions with others till I was home. Home, what an interesting concept sprung into my head. I haven’t had a home since I left for Obroa-Skai. Even then, I thought of that as my home more than Kuat. Here felt comfortable, but that was only because of the people I tended to associate with here on Defender One, The Sentinel, or planet side. Am I going insane? Was there going to be any peace in my life? Something bad was going to happen on that mission. That’s all I knew.
I walked in a haze rounding the corner and somehow magically keying the entry lock code to our quarters. I had just walked in the door and her arms were around my neck, her lips on mine. I reflexively pulled her close and started to move in the door more, allowing it to close.
“Something is really wrong with you. You going to share, I ordered out. Haven’t been home much longer than to call you on the comlink,” Gabi said.
“A lot is wrong. Starting with my past and the truth catching up to me. None of it bad, just things I don’t want everyone knowing,” I said. She took my hand and led me to the couch. She undid my uniforms shirt. It had all the bars and ribbons of my accomplishments while in the Republic Services. She loosened my belt for me as well. She was in one of those non-descript jumpsuits that mechanics tend to favor. This one showed enough of her form to have me interested, but keeps me wondering. She sat me down in the corner and loosened my boots. “Gabi, you don’t have to do this.”
“Sit. Don’t even think about what I’m doing. Start talking,” she cut me off and lightly kissed me again.
“Well, let’s start at the beginning. I’m Kuati. I haven’t spoken to my family since I left to Obroa-Skai.” She just stared at me trying to take it in.
“So, you came from one of the loyalist strongholds of the Empire. Shows you do think for yourself.”
“It’s not that I’m just Kuati. I was only going to Obroa-Skai to study for my becoming a Telbun.”
“Telbun? The servant who raises children of the KDY’s elite?”
“Sires and then raises.”
“Oh, I had no idea.” Her hands took mine and squeezed. “Your mine now. No one else’s.”
“I know, but I feel like I’ve hidden this for so long it’s not easy. On top of that, I never had any intentions of returning to Kuat after Obroa anyways. My father was an engineer for KDY. I could’ve gone to the institute there with his help and me working. Going there would be free. I got into a big argument with both my mother and father. I wasn’t sure what would happen. I haven’t gone by my given name since I got to Obroa either. I paid to change it there.”
“Well, that explains why not much is there in your personal history,” Gabi said almost silently.
“Don’t blame you for looking. I am your husband with no past. I was trying figured some one here had to look. Best that it was you.” She shrugged and turned around, easing her self up against me. We reclined together. “My times at the University were typical or not so typical depending on your views. Studied hard, cut loose and partied, drank and had sex when I could. Joined the Imperial Reserves on some gut feeling.”
“That had to be some feeling.”
“It was. I just figured if I joined the reserves, the chances of me getting going back to Kuat diminished. I learned to fly a Gunboat. I graduated. Stayed on to go to law school. My Kuati sponsors didn’t seem to mind. They were going to pay for eight years of education before recalling me. I just got my law degree and Endor happened.”
“It didn’t just happen, sweetie. I was there. Lot of ships and lot of people went into that and are now atoms drifting in that system,” she reminded me.
“Well, to those in the rest of the galaxy, Endor happened. Took about three weeks for the news to reach the Core Worlds and Obroa. Yeah, there were some initial rumors, but then the crackdown came and the confirmation. It was when the crackdowns started happening on Obroa and Stormtroopers were opening fire on groups of five or more civilians together that I realized what Palpatine’s Empire stood for. On my patrol that weekend, I set course for a known Rebel Sympathizing world. From there, my history is known.”
“Paul,” she started, kissing me softly before continuing, her neck craning to reach me, “That is not so bad.”
“Well, you know these feelings of dread or premonitions I get?”
“The ones I so quickly dismiss?”
“Yeah, those. They come to me in dreams, visions, or just a feeling. While under cover, I was told I have the potential to be Jedi. They started training me in rudimentary ways. Have you ever what that cylinder I took with me from there is? I mean I basicly through out my clothes and kept that after I was released from the hospital.”
“Yeah, but that was the Dark Disciples manipulating you,” she countered.
“No, watch.” I relaxed for the first time all day. I concentrated on my data pad on the near by coffee table. I imagined it up in the air, near the ceiling of our quarters, spinning like a child’s top. I heard Gabi gasp.
“Well, now is a good time to tell you that you have a message from Luke Skywalker for you,” she said still in disbelief. “How could he know about you?”
“Probably read my report somewhere. The one thing I was always told while training that the clearer my mind was, the more focused it was on its task, the easier this would become. I can move objects, push things a distance away, and have these dreams or premonitions on the future.”
“Possible future,” Gabi was quick to add. “One possibility amongst billions.”
“You’re right. It’s probably warning me to be cautious or something. That’s all,” I conceded.
“So, why are you bringing this up now?”
“The mission. We’re going to try capturing and freeing ships from Core worlds that are retreating to other Imperial warlords. Someplace out there is a ship full of Kuati. On the chance that my family is out there, I’m going on the boarding mission.”
“Sweetie,” was all she said, turning around and kissing me. She wasn’t going to let me protest. “I love you.”
“I loved you first,” a small smile escaped my mouth. “Gabi, I never want to leave you, but I have to for this.”
“I know, but that doesn’t mean I won’t send you off with something on your mind of what you’re leaving behind. Just tell me, what’s your real name?” Her lips trembled and touched mine. Over and over, begging me to tell. My lips started to shake. I could not believe I would tell her. That name was dead to me, no longer any meaning. I had to tell her. I loved her. She loved me. Somehow, she would forgive me. "Voren Lemelisk, Bevel’s Great Nephew.” Gabi withdrew from me. I knew that name would scare her. The monster that created two Death Stars for a greedy, evil corrupt man’s Empire was part of my family.
“That monster is your great-uncle?”
“I knew I shouldn’t have told you I whispered. I never saw him much. Everyone in my family worked for Kuat Drive Yards. Those who didn’t, became Telbuns and supported financially the education of their brothers and sisters. I’m Paul Pbarny, now and forever. I married the woman I love, Gabriella Quandisto in a hurried dreadful ceremony, who one day soon I’ll pay for a new ceremony for. I want to resign my commission and start shipping food to those who need it in exchange for minerals or other valuable resources. I want Gabi, the one I call Chief to be by my side forever.” With that said and done, the tear ducts opened on both of us. Gabi was now facing me, pressing her self up against me. I pulled her closer and closer.
“I shouldn’t have asked. It wasn’t my right to know,” she whispered.
“No, you needed to know. Needed that to see you could still trust me, still love me. Forgive me for keeping this from you.”
“No need. I’m Gabriella Quandisto. I married Paul Pbarny in a terrible ceremony. I love him. Knew that I loved him pretty much the day he took me into the off duty lounge onboard The Sentinel. I love him knowing he had a past he wanted hidden. I knew when he shared that, he and I would be together forever. I want to go with him giving to those in need. I want him to be the man I loved initially, and the man who’s become more and makes me love him more.” I couldn’t let her continue. I kissed her. For the first time that night, I kissed her with the love and intensity that I should kiss her with.
“What’s for dinner Chief? I think I want to take a shower, have dinner with my wife, make love to my wife before shipping out tomorrow.”
“Oh, do you know. Well, I hope your wife doesn’t mind that I want to do those things to you too.”
