Dalsuna opened the door to the Bar and Grill. It was morning, and
the place was near empty. Mike and Indy Bullian were sitting at a table along with Tag,
they waved him over as he walked in. He sat down between Tag and Mike. The round table was
made of wood, and showed no signs of damage from the night before.
"I wonder if it's too early to start drinking," Tag asked.
Dalsuna frowned at this, but quickly recoved. Mike smiled.
"Time is relative, it's late somewhere in the world, so it's
technically never to early to drink," he laughed. His wife, Indy nudged him and he
quickly stopped.
"I think it is a little early," she went off to make some
caf. She poured four mugs of it and handed them off to the others. Tag took a sip and almost
spat it out.
"What's in this?" she made a face at the bitterness. A few
other officers came into the bar, she nodded to them and returned to the overly strong
caf. "This stuff is strong enough to melt the hull of my X-wing."
"All right," Dalsuna smiled. He took a large gulp of it.
"Strong enough to resurrect the Emperor." Tag laughed at the comment, shaking
her head.
"Not that you'd want to do that, but yes, it is quite
potent," Tag stated.
"I use this stuff to strip paint on our fighters anyway,"
Mike said. The four of them continued talking for some time. There was the sound of
someone fumbling with the door. Dalsuna turned to see Miranda come in.
"How are you today?" Tag asked.
"Somewhat better, I don't think I'll pass out though."
"That's good," Indy said, pulling another chair up to their
table for Dalsuna's sister.
"So how was the date last night, Dal?" Miranda asked sweetly.
"Date? I wasn't aware of any date," he replied quietly.
"Neither was I," Tag followed. Miranda stood, finishing her
caf.
"Well, I have patrol."
"Already?" Indy asked. Miranda nodded. "Be careful
then," Indy added. Miranda was out the door. Codyman, known as Torin came into the
room, muttering something.
"Damned High Command," he hissed.
"I'll pretend I didn't hear that," Dalsuna said. When he had
been promoted to Fleet XO, he was also given a seat in the High Command in the sector
fleet.
Tag leaned over and embraced Dalsuna, "You want me to beat
him?" Dalsuna shook his head.
"I'll just demote him," Dalsuna muttered quietly.
"You're evil," she said.
"Uhh, Tag," Dalsuna breathed.
"Hmm?" she looked at him.
"What's the deal between you and Nylan?" he asked. It was now
on the table. It had bothered him for a few days now, and wondered how to go about finding
out, but here it was, in the open. Tag took a sharp breath.
"Nylan is," she paused, "my blood-brother," Tag
looked down into her caf. Indy bit her lip "I've known him since childhood, he's only
a week older than Indy and I," this time, it was Mike's turn to frown.
"I sense something amiss here," Dalsuna said curiously,
"and I don't need the Force to notice something about this."
"We're all out of Corellian Whiskey," Cody complained from
the bar.
Tag hopped over the bar and poured herself a tumbler of Scot's Whiskey.
"There's some in the back, I think."
"Man, it's a shame we recruit so many damn Corellians, cause
they're all drinking my whiskey," Cody smiled.
"I guess I'll have to settle for that explanation then,"
Dalsuna said, standing up. His chair scraped the floor, making a noise.
"Tag, just tell him, would you? It's not like he can't tell
that there's more going on here," Indy shot at Tag.
"I'm sorry....you're right, there is a lot more to this than I'm
telling," she said, pinning up her hair. "Nylan and I," she paused,
"were lovers."
"Were?" Dalsuna asked, "but didn't you just say you were
brother and sister?"
"Blood brother," Cody corrected. Tag shook her head.
"There's a difference," he added.
"Blood family, is not genetic," Mike said, stirring his caf.
Indy nodded at his simple explanation.
"I see," Dalsuna said, some confusion clearing.
"Tag, Nylan, Mike, and I are part of the Chintar'fin'na'cah,"
Indy explained. "The Corellian blood-family 'Last Students of the Master'." Tag
swallowed.
"Nylan was my Master's son," she said. "We left home
together when we were twelve and joined the Rebellion," Tag motioned to Torin,
"He knew us back then."
Indy grinned, and Dalsuna nodded, more of the picture became clear for
him to see. "Then what's your connection with this Chaos character? He seems rather
protective towards you, he even threatened me a few days back."
"Chris? He's my cousin through maternal lineage. My mother
was an Antilles." Tag responded.
Indy smiled at the memory of Mera's cookies and grinned. Tag sighed as
she thought of her parents. Mike shivered, sensing Indy's memory, thinking of his
grandmother. She took his hand.
"A lot of people wondered whether or not it was nespotism that I
ended up as the third officer in the squadron Wedge Antilles was first officer in,"
Tag said. Mike frowned, looking down.
Tag tossed back most of her drink, "I was Rogue's third officer,
then second for about three years. Then intelligence began to dominate my life, and
Nylan's. He left on some crazy mission while I stayed to lead the Echo Raiders. After a
year and a half, I gave up on him."
Indy poured Tag another drink, knowing that she was going to need it.
Tag smiles faintly at her friend.
"So if you don't mind me asking... what happened to Nylan?"
Dalsuna inquired. Tag shuddered.
"Well, he came home," she sighed, "Nylan's been back for
a few months now..... And I don't know what I'm going to do about it."
"So uh... you two aren't... uh... still... uh together, are
you?" he asked cautiously. Tag shook her head.
"I don't know," Tag tossed back her drink again. Mike was
talking to Etrall, making Force lightning dance between his fingers, in attempt to scare
the ewok. Tag stopped him with a glare.
"Mike, she's in a mood," Indy interrupted. Tag shot a glare
at Indy while Mike continued to laugh. Indy met Tag's stare with a cold one of her own.
Tag sighed and poured another drink. She took off her old Rogue Squadron jacket and took a
sip of her drink.
Dalsuna sighed, looking down at his now cold caf. "I tell ya... I
get all the luck with the women," he breathed. Tag frowned at Dalsuna.
"What do you mean?" she inquired.
"Either I pick out the ones that live so far away from me, or they
pick me, or the ones that live near me are just... well.. it's like a furball," he
was having trouble finding words.
Tag frowned again, Etrall stepped up, "What about me?"
Tag looked at Dalsuna, "I'm lost."
"You're not going to see through it all and don't know how you can
get through, let alone survive through it," Dalsuna continued, ignoring the Ewok.
Miranda stepped back in, returning from her patrol.
"Well... that was a very uneventful patrol," she sighed,
flopping back into a chair at their table.
Miranda leaned close to her brother and started whispering to him,
looking up at Tag every so often. Tag frowned, sipping at her drink.Dalsuna looked into
the depths of his drink, making a reply here and there. Miranda nodded and turned back to
Tag.
"He's got problems... that's the most basic way I can put it
really," she whispered to Tag, "He's had the worst luck with women in the past
few years."
Tag grinned, "It happens."
"That's one of the reasons why I do my best to set him up,"
Miranda replied. "By bad luck, he means that the ones that like him live too far away
for him to do anything, or they have some complication that prevents him even seeing them.
There was that woman from Bespin... but they were always on the opposite sides of the
galaxy."
Tag laughed, "I'm not sure that he'll do as well with me."
"Why not?" Miranda cocked an eyebrow.
"Jedi Masters tend to be removed and mysterious as well as hard to
find," she winked.
"This is as far as I've seen him go in the past two years. He's so
preoccupied with his work he puts his social life as far away from him as he can, ask Cody
how he did with Alanna last week."
Codyman smiled, which left Tag wondering if she even wanted to know
"I don't think you do," Indy said, reading Tag's expression.
"He couldn't even get out a coherent sentence," Miranda
continued.
Tag glanced at Torin and started laughing.
"Hey, he had that cute "out of the loop we call life"
thing going for him, which some chicks dig....but then he ignored her completely,"
Cody responded. Dalsuna sighed, stirring his caf again. Tag looked at her empty glass,
thinking of getting more, but returned with another mug of caf.
"And now that he's found out about Nylan, I can say he's pretty
discouraged about this whole thing now."
"Some chicks like that shy stuff....but then if you totally ignore
her you tend to lose momentum," Cody continued, looking distant. Miranda eyed Cody.
"I can tell you sure aren't shy, I'm still suprised you didn't
come up to me and drop your pants."
"Hey! I have some class, but you've got the lowest marks and
you're failing miserably."
"You noticed he said only SOME," Etrall said.
It was mid evening, Dalsuna had just returned from a three-hour patrol
of the Minos Cluster. He sighed and opened the door to the Bar and Grill, he stepped in
and noticed Tag in her Jedi robes in her quiet corner. She tugged up her hood before he
could see her. Curious, he approached her.
"Torin, I don't want to talk about it," she said to Cody.
Cody brushed past Dalsuna and on his way, he whispered, "What's up
with Tag?" Dalsuna looked at the two in concern and sat down in front of Tag.
"Something wrong?" Dalsuna asked as he approached. She shook
her head, remaining silent. He regarded her for a moment and took a breath. "Even
Jedi lie, and I can tell something is not normal."
He could tell she smiled, from what he saw of her hooded face. "I
can lie better than you think," she said.
"So what's wrong?" he inquired again, persistent.
She sighed, running her finger along the rim of her glass. She put her
hand to her face and accidentally knocked the cowl off, revealing a long gash from temple
to chin. Dalsuna took a sharp breath in surprise.
"What happened?" Dalsuna asked in concern. She quickly put
the hood back on and returned to sitting over her drink.
"Nothing," she rushed.
"I don't need Cody to tell me something is definitely wrong,"
he said defiantly. She continued sipping her drink and looking around, occasionally waving
to another person across the bar.
"You can't ignore me forever Tag," Dalsuna said, growing more
concerned.
"She's doing a great job ignoring me right now," Cody said,
coming back to the table in the corner. Tag frowned at them both.
Tag spoke very quietly, "I was in a dogfight--atmospheric. I
was in an A-Wing--not by choice, mind you."
"Those aren't very fun," Dalsuna said. "Done those
before... I'm not about to do it again... even in an X-wing."
Miranda spotted Dalsuna and Tag and walked over. Tag abruptly stopped
speaking. Miranda frowned as she got a closer look at Tag. "Are you all right?"
another person had approached behing Miranda, Lieutenant Fogg, a medic. Dalsuna eyed both
of them and waved them away. Tag took a sip of her drink before speaking again.
"I had to punch out," she swallowed hard. Dalsuna eyed Tag
with a worried look. "I ended up in the middle of an anti-Republic
demonstration....lead by a Sith. I called for ground reinforcements. They didn't get there
until way after things got violent." Dalsuna put his hands on Tag's and gripped them
firmly.
"At least you made it out okay," he said gently.
She winced, "Not really," she pulled back her cloak to reveal
a brace on her left arm a heavily braced right knee.
"I'd not be standing if I wasn't drawing on the Force."
"Maybe you should be getting some rest," he suggested.
"Actually... you SHOULD be getting some rest."
Tag shook her head slowly, "No, I'll be all right."
"You're lying again," he said lightly. She glanced at her
wrist chrono.
"I actually have to go in for surgery in a few minutes.....it
won't take long, though." Dalsuna nodded somberly.
"Maybe I should take you there now," he suggested. Tag
laughed lightly, rising slowly. Dalsuna stood and helped Tag to her feet.
"No need fussing about yourself when I can help," he said.
Miranda hurried over to give a hand with Tag.
"God, stop babying me, I'm a big girl," she said.
Dalsuna looked at Tag and helped her slowly to the door.
Miranda scowled at Dalsuna and looks at Tag with bright eyes. "You
babied me yesterday... the Losodas aways return the favor."
Tag shook her head. "Stop being such a loner and let someone lend
a hand would you?" Dalsuna chided.
"I'll be back later, probably on crutches.....or in a replusor
chair."
"Better than on a stretcher." He watched as the medics took
her away.