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She mimed shooting him, then twirled the weapon around her finger, and holstered it. "Hi Jansan!" she said cheerily.
He blinked. "Priire?! I thought you went out to find adventure among the stars!"
She offered him a lopsided grin. "I did. You ought to see all the trouble I caused!"
His voice was quiet. "I did."
Priire looked away. The girl had been standing, now she collapsed into a chair. "Who knows?"
"Not many. Besides-no questions." He smiled. "Are your hands better?"
"No questions," she laughed. "They're better. I have them number to the point of no feeling."
He laughed with her. "Huh. Maybe we need some of that when you start flying again! Welcome back."
Priire couldn't do any real work on the asteroid mine because of her hands. However, she could give orders! The girl was working hard, helping them improve the tactics and generally bossing everyone around—good-naturally, of course—when the visitor came in. "You!" she exclaimed. It was the Jedi who had saved her so long ago. "You show up at the oddest times." Looking back on her few childhood days, Priire recognized the man as the one who had given her the name she bore. At least what it meant.
He smiled. "And how are you doing?"
Before answering, Priire yelled at a few of the workers. "Not there! Shuttle that load to Section 15A!" She turned back to the dark-haired Jedi. "I’m sorry about that. I’m doing as well as can be expected."
It was true. The girl seemed really in her element among the hard miners. "Good." He didn’t mention her hands, and she was thankful for that. They had taken on a new miner, and he was full of questions. Questions it was company policy not to ask. Priire wasn’t able to dissuade him from the line of questioning, but another miner did it for her. The questioner still had a mark on his arm. No one else asked anything after that.
Itchy feet. Priire ached to be among the stars again. She missed their beauty, their mystery. And she missed her friends. Maybe it was worth risking the wrath of that Jedi and Coru to go back. She was sure that they’d give her what for. She’d run off alone and endangered herself. Sithspit, she’d almost gotten killed! And still might die. The thought was humbling. She really ought to go back.
There was also something familiar about that new miner. His hard eyes seemed like they had bored into more than just rock. She felt like she should recognize him, for some reason.
Because of her preoccupying thoughts, the girl didn’t realize someone had crept up behind her. These mined out sections of this above average asteroid were usually desolate. Not now, however.
"I’ll kill you for that!" Priire screamed as she fell. She’d just placed the face. And as she did, her "loving" cousin pushed her over the edge into a deep mining pit. She should have seen it sooner! He always took a cruel pleasure in tormenting her as a child when she did better than him. Now that she had achieved cruelties worse than he could imagine, maybe he was punishing her again. She would have made a fist and shook it at him, but her hands still hurt.
It was getting darker. Being abandoned, this shaft wasn’t well lit at all. She looked down, trying to see what she was falling into. There was no end in sight. The girl hesitated to use her Sailor powers to get her out of this mess— what if that treacherous cousin was watching, perhaps with infrared goggles?
Funny choice of words. A few days ago and it was she who was the "treacherous schemer, pretty daydreamer." It was too late for second thoughts. There was no telling when she’d hit some projection and die. She needed to change into…
"SI-th!" she yelped involuntarily. Her downward trend had stopped suddenly, leaving Priire in the arms of a dark man. She had thrown her arms—careful of her wounded hands—around him. Her arms encountered the rough material of a Jedi cloak as she held on, fearful of falling. Priire was surprised she hadn’t felt his use of the Force to slow her like she knew he must have.
"Hello. I don’t think we’ve been introduced," she quipped.
There was a rustle of cloth on cloth as he brought his hand up. Opening it, he released a glowing rose, seemingly made of lightsaber energy, humming faintly. The rose floated before them, shinning enough light for them to see each other. With this light, she could see the man who held her. His dark hair was capped by an elegant top hat, matching the tuxedo he wore under the Jedi robe. A white mask covered his eyes, hiding them.
"I thought tall, dark, and handsome only happened in fairy tales," she said, speaking softly. "I’m Priire."
It was hard for him to not look at her, considering the fact that their faces were so close. He managed it anyhow. "Priire. Sailor Asteroid. The dark Sailor."
Priire’s first instinct was to hold a blaster to his head and threaten his life. However, her hands couldn’t hold one, and she hadn’t learned to listen for nothing. "Yes. And who are you?"
"Call me…" he paused. "Tuxedo Jedi," he finished with a smile.
Priire matched his soft smile. "Thanks fir catching me, Tux, but we need to get out of here before…Sith!" she cursed.
This time it was well earned. True to her suspicions, her cousin had been watching her descent. When she stopped, he came down on a grav-pad to investigate. Apparently, see his cousin in the arms of a handsome man disturbed him. His blaster bit into the walls around the two. The combination of no aim and a moving base sent his shots astray.
Priire leaned closer to the robed man and whispered into his ear. He smiled obligingly and gestured to the hovering rose. A flick with the Force sent it tumbling towards the man on the grav-pad, lazily bypassing the blaster shots aimed at it. Finally, it reached its destination and lodged itself like a deadly corsage into the cousin’s heart. He grasped at it, serving only to cut up his own hands.
Priire had little sympathy for the man as he tumbled to the fate he had decreed for her. She looked at her rescuer, the mysterious Tuxedo Jedi, and said, "Thanks again, Tux. It seems I owe you my life twice over."
His only reply was to set her on the grav-pad. "Hey, this only holds one person. How will you get back up?"
"I have my ways." The elegantly clad man paused. "I have been sent to tell you this however." He looked deep into her quiet, doe-like eyes. Priire wished she could see the eyes that were probing her, but the mask prevented it. She looked back at him, holding his stare easily. She started to say something, but he pressed a white-gloved hand to her lips, quieting her.
"Your anger makes you strong, but it could be your undoing. Your strategies will save many lives, but the ruthlessness they sometimes have will cause others to stumble. The decision you just made was the right one; it will cause troubles for you later, but it will not hurt the Senshi like it would have if you’d have not made it." His hands worked the controls so she wouldn’t have to hurt her hands. "May the Force be with you."
"And with you!" she replied as the grav-pad lifted her away. To herself she whispered laughing, "I think I’m in love!"
A small blue black starfighter moved slowly to the planet’s surface. Priire hadn’t asked for permission to land, but then she hadn’t asked for it to leave. Following the terrain, she slipped into the spaceport and into her Black Fire Dreamer. It was good to be home!
"ASTER!" Coru yelled happily. "You came back!
The redhead ran to give her friend a hug but Priire jumped back and held her hands in the air.
Coru looked abashed. "I’m sorry, I forgot about your hands. Are they better?"
Priire shook her head. "Not really. They still hurt just thinking about them."
They didn’t have to say much. Coru and Aster were best friends, many things go unsaid in that realm and are known.
"I’m glad you’re back," Ippin said softly.
"Me too."
Not much explanation was needed. Everyone knew what happened. Priire did fill them in on her time mining and the handsome guy who saved her. Her description made at least three girls get stars in their eyes.
The Kashyyyk girl was annoyed at Priire. "You mean he went through all that trouble to rescue you, give you the only way out, possibly sacrife himself for you…"
"I doubt that," Priire grinned.
"Whatever. And you didn’t even kiss him?"
Priire looked puzzled. "Kiss him?"
Mori gave her an exsasperated look. "Of course! The damsel in distress always kisses the man who saves her!"
Priire laughed. "I will next time," she promised. "Right now, I want to go check on my Dreamer!"
She was home. Priire could feel it deep inside her as she lay in her quarters thinking. This was where she ultimately belonged. It was wonderful to be back!
But her hands. She couldn’t fly, and that hurt her worse than the constant pain. The skillful hands that could outmaneuver a capital ship as quick as most people could turn a page, the dangerous hands that could aim a blaster as quick as most people could change HoloVid channels, they were unable to even return a touch.
If only bacta would help! The miracle substance would only cause the poisons to spread. Priire had seen what could happen…it was terrible. She didn’t know what the best choice was. Should she keep waiting for the hands to heal, or should she put herself out of her misery?
These thoughts, and the pulsing pain kept her awake and almost in tears.
The Jedi felt tremors through the Force. Someone was in great pain and trying to hide it, even from herself. Being sensitive, it woke him up. The pain she was feeling hurt him almost as much as it hurt her. Feeling he had to help whomever it was, he got up and put on his robe.
"Come in," Priire whispered hoarsely. She hurt all over, and didn’t care who it was.
The Jedi walked into the semi-dark room. He could have guessed it was Priire hurting. The wounds she had were deeper than she let on. Walking over to the girl, he saw the normally unemotional Senshi had been crying. It reinforced to him that despite their maturity and their looks, his Sailor charges were still only children.
Priire sat up in her bed. She bit her lip, wondering what the Jedi wanted. He usually made it a policy not to enter the girls’ rooms. She respected him for that.
He gently pushed her back in the bed. His fingers were soft as he brushed them across her forehead. "Sleep," he said, dropping her into a Jedi Healing Trance. He gathered her swollen and misshapen hands in his. The Jedi concentrated, reaching out with the Force. Her hands were filled with various toxins, poisons, infections, anti-toxins, and such, but happily it hadn’t spread to the rest of her body. He used the Force and pulled a bowl to him. Placing her hands in it, he focused on them. Picking out the impurities was easy. He forced them out of the cuts that decorated her hands like some cruel art. Chemicals mixed with blood flowed freely.
A half-hour later, the bowl was full, and her hands had returned to their normal size and color. The cuts were still there, but they would heal soon. He replaced them on the sheet covering her and smiled. Maybe this girl was worthy of his trust. She’d been more open and receptive after all the things she’d been though, and all the abuse she’d taken. Maybe.
It was morning. Which meant she had to get up. Priire stretched then pulled herself out of bed. She propped her chin on her left hand, stared into the mirror, and began untangling her braids with her other hand. Even with the weird dream, she felt so refreshed.
One of the braids dragged across the back of her hand, and she winced. Priire had forgotten about her hand, which strangely enough didn’t hurt as bad as they had before. The blonde glared at her hands. "What?" she gasped. Instead of ugly, oozing welts, they held only cuts.
Not even pausing to change, Priire ran out into the corridor. She dashed like a demon was stalking her into the mess hall. The door flew open at her advance and she scanned the room quickly. Seeing the person she wanted, the pretty blonde ran to the Jedi and threw her arms around him. "Thank you!" she cried, happy as the sun after an eclipse.
The girls crowded around to see what Priire was so overjoyed about. "Your hands!" Coru yelped. "They’re healed!"
Priire nodded. "I’m really back now. Thank you!" she said to the Jedi again.
He nodded, calm serenity in the midst of pandemonium.
The exuberant blonde let out a yell that would shake rafters. Her eyes glowed like back lit seawater. The Hawkbat was gone, and only Priire and Sailor Asteroid remained, which was the way it should be.
About the Senshi in this story:
Priire/Aster (Sailor Asteroid)
Audra (Sailor Alderaan)
Kumo-chan (Sailor Bespin)
Ippin/Coru (Sailor Yavin)
Zyta (Sailor Tatooine)
Tuxedo Jedi
Mori (Sailor Kashyyyk)
