Forum Thread

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Anthony frowned, looking down at the datapad in his hands. He had stayed up the entire night, trying to figure out any connections between the ruined factory and the Pykes. After roughly a 6 hour search, the chiss had managed to pull up an older sales report for the factory, though he could only he left to wonder if it was recent enough to help him. The door to the room slid open, causing the chiss to look away from the information.

"Commodore Anthony."

The Imperial officer allowed himself to smile as he heard the familiar wild space accent.

"Lieutenant Commander Vanto." Anthony quickly got to his feet, he couldn't help but appreciate the timing. "It is good to see you here."

Eli entered the room at Anthony's gesture, sitting down across from the chiss. "So... Kellux?" The blue officer sighed, running his hands up his face.

"Dead end. No records left behind. The only clue I hold is of a rebel contained here in this prison."

"Seems awfully convenient." He could hear the familiar doubt in Eli's tone.

"Yes, it does. Trying to obtain information from him has been difficult, if he refuses to cooperate I may have to result to less than desirable methods. The prisoner seems to rely on art to keep a level head, I assume that removing their ability to create would assist in breaking them."

Eli was silent, shaking his head. After a few moments he spoke. "I can try and locate any inconsistencies with older records, not sure how far that can get you."

"I would appreciate it." The chiss spoke, standing up.

Anthony finally found himself back in the shaliz'na's cell, feeling much more calm. He had to admit, talking with Eli had helped. The chiss found himself staring at a section of the wall. He had been certain there was some of the prisoner's art there, but it was erased. He frowned, looking around at the cell. They all seemed to be erased.

Turning to face Saran, the chiss looked down at the prisoner. "Perhaps you will be more open to answering our questions today." The Imperial officer spoke, keeping his voice even. The chiss had noticed that the prisoner would not discuss anything too closely related to the rebellion. Anthony hoped he could get the winged-sentient to discuss more about how his rebel group had come to find the Imperials supposed hidden transactions.

---

→━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ [ #08 ]━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━← saran's wings unfolded from his form, having been clutched tightly in a cocoon like fashion, the action surprisingly alike to the way his arms curled around himself. the imperial cells were absolutely freezing cold, the bench sapping every ounce of warmth from him. he slept on his side, one wing resting naturally on his back and the other curling over his form like a giant blanket. it helped, somewhat, the down on the wing helping to keep the warmth in and the cold out. saran's gold vivid optics blinked awake when he stirred to consciousness. it had been a long night for him, since the events of the factory bombing as well as the interrogation that had transpired yesterday raging within his thoughts. there had been quite a bit of tossing and turning - at some point, saran had gotten up to erase the carvings that he had drawn in his first weeks in the prison. he really didn't need a reminder from these beasts that he was stuck underground, away from the sky in which he belonged. he should be surrounded by wind and clouds, not stuck on the ground like a petty earthworm.

he thought back to the briefing. quite frankly, something wasn't adding up, but he couldn't figure out what it was. they'd first gotten their intel from an imperial defector - a former factory worker or imperial pilot that had apparently decided that the principles of the empire weren't for him and gone rogue. the information was aplenty for sure. they'd gotten information on each regular meeting, as well as the timetables of these shifts. the whole purpose of their factory infiltration was to find out what exactly the pykes wanted from the empire. it was pretty much common knowledge in the resistance by this point that the pykes had a strong spice factory- and a spice monopoly. saran didn't know at the time what spice was, but he was able to figure out that it was something that he should be staying away from. it was basically similar to alcohol, but much, much worse. yes, the shaliz'na were overly addicted to alcohol, that much was true, but alcohol didn't hurt you in small amounts. saran had heard that the smallest amount of spice on the other hand did a lot of damage. and force knows what the pykes would do with it.

trying to distract himself, saran sat up, shaking out his wings before preening both of them. the cold air inside the cell gave him goosebumps as he delicately preened each part of the wing. his claws were gentle and dexterous, adjusting the feathers into the usual positions. however, his preening was cut short when he heard footsteps in the distance approaching his cell. saran visibly groaned, raking his hand through his messy ebony locks. they'd grown out a bit since his imprisonment, and he made a mental note to cut them the moment he escaped. that is, if he ever did.

he self-consciously tucked his both wings behind him, allowing the bench to take its weight while he examined his claws. he was still absorbed in this when the door slid open to admit the grand admiral. saran's insides churned slightly with discomfort when the chiss spoke: perhaps you will be more open to answering our questions today. his tone was eerily even, like a placid lake in the wintertime. he might as well be interrogating saran for the first time. looking up and trying to keep his mind as calm as possible, saran gave the chiss his attention.

"that depends on what questions you ask."
▶ ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 594 words

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Anthony lightly tilted his head, the response seemed less snarky than he was expecting. Though he supposed something had to have happened as the art had seemingly disappeared overnight. Perhaps the rebel was already breaking. That would be disappointing, he had held high hopes on the shaliz'na.

Behind his back, the chiss rubbed a thumb against his index finger. There had been a question nagging the back of his mind since he had been called out of the cell the last night. "You assumed the Empire has been working with the pykes, why? What evidence did you have?"

He doubted he would ever get an answer to the question. The Imperials seemed to conveniently pull him out right after he had asked that question, leading him to believe they were hiding something. It wouldn't have been too far of a stretch to reach that conclusion. Instead he asked another question.

"Are there any other refineries or factories the rebellion has plans to attack?"

A simple, non suspicious question, making it appear as if he was trying to prevent another strike. Anthony had different motives however. If he could get another location he could hopefully retrieve more evidence of the Empire's hidden transactions. He could have a bigger lead.

---

→━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ [ #09 ]━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━← saran didn't feel inclined to answer the question right away, although all of his cells were burning at him to say "i'm not telling you anything related to the rebellion." he frowned slightly, putting his face into his hands as he thought it over. the way he asked it almost seemed coy. rushing in without any thought would come back to bite him in the butt. he was not about to hand out rebellion intel like party favors, but he did want to put an end to these hidden dealings. the shaliz'na nibbled on his lip, pondering over his response, wondering if it was too revealing. the chiss was a most interesting persona, even if saran did not feel good about having him around. he found his words at last and decided to bring it forward.

"i'm afraid that i cannot recount any related to this particular incident, if that is what you're going for." saran replied firmly. the shaliz'na watched the slightest movement carefully, trying to figure out what the chiss wanted. rebellion intel or a bigger lead on the factory? the rebellion wouldn't be doing such a harsh display of power so soon after this one. the shaliz'na thought bitterly that he had been so out-of-the-loop lately. it had been two months since he'd first landed in prison, and he hadn't heard a word about anyone coming to rescue him. the shaliz'na refused to believe it was his destiny to rot away in a cell until his mind broke, but it was starting to seem like it.
→━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━[ 258 ]━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━← notes for koiboi:
xxxxx- i want to apologize, this is so very short
xxxxx- just realized; we're at 20 posts already!

---

Anthony's expression remained static as the rebel responded. Nothing related to the particular incident. Did that mean there were other attacks planned for different reasons from the first? Or was it just simply a no? That wasn't a response he was hoping for, it left him with no leads on where he could possible search next. His hands grasped tighter together behind his back. It was like he was stuck one step behind. It was a feeling he was not familiar with.

Somebody was hiding details from him, he was sure of it. Yet without any proof or evidence it simply seemed like a paranoid thought. He bit back a scowl, reminding himself he was still in a cell with an enemy. "No attacks were planned in relation to the factory, or no attacks were planned except the one on the factory?"

The chiss felt like he was scrambling for even the slightest clue. Whoever was going behind his back seemed to be covering their tracks well. Anthony could only hope that Eli would be able to find something.

---

→━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ [ #10 ]━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━← the shaliz'na narrowed his eyes to slits as if he could sense the chiss's paranoia. he had been convinced up until this point that this was a person who liked to have things under control. and if that hadn't been obvious before, it was becoming so now. why was this turning into an investigation? why the sudden obsession? he was in no place to be asking questions, but it was starting to grow into a burning urge. he hadn't known this person to be so obessive over anything that he would literally ask questions about it for two days (or more) straight, but then again, he'd only known the chiss for those said two days. he shouldn't be making assumptions about anything.

the tension in the cell was becoming too uncomfortable for his tastes, and he drummed his talon-like fingernails on the bench as he thought about the way to answer. his keen eyes didn't miss the scowl, and that only made saran more uneasy. why did the chiss want this information this badly? political reasons, perhaps? he thought, the bitter thought chasing him around. or moral grounds. maybe if he got a bit more insight as to why the chiss was so hyper-focused. he had come into this expecting to be asked questions about the rebellion. not...one singular mission.

"i meant the latter." saran said, his brow still furrowed. was it wise to ask the question? less and less of this was making sense to him, and the chiss - and if he was to make any headway here, he needed to know why this was becoming so much of an issue. steeling himself for any possible consequences, he took a deep breath, exhaled and finally spoke. "not meaning to sound disrespectful - but why does this matter so much to you that we've been on this topic for two days straight? and how come you -" he flailed for words for a minute, mouth dry, voice unsteady for the first time since meeting the chiss, and heart pounding, "you d-didn't know about these...dealings before?"

the words were out. the shaliz'na braced his talons on the bench, wings extending warily as if he expected the chiss to leap at him. which, of course, he did.
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xxxxx- a very straightforward way to ask a long overdue question i believe.
xxxxx- saran is so very very nervous. star wars gods, please be kind to my boy.

---

Anthony listened to the shaliz'na's response, his eyes narrowing. Nothing else connected, as far as the rebel knew. Or it was a lie. The chiss narrowed his eyes, growing increasingly frustrated with it all. The attacks m, his transfer, and now this mystery eluding him at every turn. He slowly let out a sigh, not saying a word. How long they sat in silence Anthony wasn't sure, but it was broken by the shaliz'na prisoner.

"-why does this matter so much-"

"you d-didn't know about these...dealings before?"

Anthony stiffened at those words. He didn't know. He didn't have a clue. The chiss had never expected to know everything, it was improbable, impossible perhaps. He could never know everything, but he tried to know most things, and discovering something hidden right in front of him... but the rebels did see it. The rebels saw what he could not, and here one stood before him. His mouth opened, and he hesitated, shutting it once more. If he failed to execute this correctly his actions could be seen as treasonous.

"I have seen my fair share of... questionable Imperial officers. It is within my desires that the Empire is strengthened by those focused solely on the good of the Emlire rather than their own personal gain. You as a rebel should find that would somewhat align with your goals if I am correct."

The chiss officer had to tread carefully. Should he say the wrong things he could find himself in an undesired situation, either with the Enpire or the rebel. Or both. He watched the shaliz'na closely, judging their reaction. If they responded in a negative way he would have to try and correct his mistakes.

---

→━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━[ #11 ]━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━← the moment that the chiss opened their mouth, fenrys found himself bracing for a reprimand. but that wasn't what he was getting. instead, he noticed the chiss hesitate - which again, was not something that he'd ever see that often, before he heard the response. he blinked twice, not knowing what to say. his first instinct was to say that this was an attempt at manipulation. but this was, for once, refreshingly honest. the chiss had a point, because sadly, this empire was full of people who wished to use their rank to their advantage. the rebels saw that everyday. that was why the rebellion had been formed at all. that was why he joined, after the empire put his species, the shaliz'na among others, into slavery. the empire has been corrupt since day one. some people were just afraid to say it out loud.

but what could he say? he'd been left for dead, and he'd been absent for two whole months. how he had spanned that time without breaking and spouting out every piece of rebellion intel in his memory had been a simple ... memory of hope. rebellions are built on hope. the hope for a better tomorrow, no matter how bad today was. it felt so distant now, those principles. he'd been abandoned here with nary a goodbye, and he was aware that his time here was numbered, and rapidly decreasing. either he would crack or he would be executed when the empire simply had enough of him.

"i have seen my fair share of... questionable Imperial officers. it is within my desires that the empire is strengthened by those focused solely on the good of the empire rather than their own personal gain. you as a rebel should find that would somewhat align with your goals if I am correct."

fenrys now felt even more uncomfortable than when he was awaiting the response. what he said could very well determine what happened next, good or bad, to the chiss and himself. and surprisingly, the winged sentient was in no hurry to damn the chiss to hell. maybe it was his old ideologies. subconsciously, he checked the cell for anyone else listening in on this interrogation, (funny how even he didn't trust the chiss enough to leave him alone) before he considered how he was going to respond. he had never seen - or heard - such a vulnerable response from anyone, least of all an imperial. the words weren't treasonous but they did smack of a weaker faith in the empire than most. you'd assume most would be blindly in thrall, but no. there were some that were intelligent enough to think about what they did. this was one of them.

fenrys's voice felt surprisingly hoarse when he answered, "you're right, partially. the reason the rebellion formed at all is because the empire was corrupt since day one-" his words were treasonous, but unlike the chiss, it wouldn't be anything out of the ordinary. he was a rebel after all. "we come from systems who see the empire as, a well, a bane. something that has stifled our liberties and taken away who we are in the name of security," fenrys's voice strengthened as he faced the chiss, "so, i think the only thing that separates our beliefs is that you want an empire that is justified, but us in the rebellion - and in numerous other systems and planets - do not want it at all. it's hurt all of us too much for us to ignore it anymore." he sighed, his passionate rant over. "this factory is a perfect example. if you're looking to stop corruption, you're a lot too late."

now he'd really done it, digging his own grave here. either he'd found a glimmer of redemption in the chiss, or he was really really about to die. moon-fleshed wings tucking close to his sides, fenrys watched the chiss, awaiting the consequences.
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xxxxx- this is very thin ice. i don't think i've seen anthony ever be this open with anyone. nor thrawn.
xxxxx- not the response saran was expecting.

---

Anthony listened carefully to the rebels words. They seemed to almost hesitate before speaking, likely watching themselves as well. However the next few sentences seemed to disprove the idea. He supposed he couldn't have expected a rebel to watch themselves for treasonous words. The chiss hummed as the rebel suggested Anthony wanted and Empire, though he made jo note to correct the shaliz'na. The chiss officer did not care for the Empire and could see it did more harm than good to some citizens, but the Empire had strength. If the Empire were to fall, Anthony would find himself at a loss.

"if you're looking to stop corruption, you're a lot too late."

Anthony stiffened, his gaze growing cold. Too late. As if it was solely up to him to stop the corruption withing the Empire, and Empire that had already been established by the time he even first stepped foot on Coruscant. He tried to calm down as he spoke.

"The same could be said about you and your rebellion." He took a step foward, running a hand down the erased art. "Your strike came too late, you failed to put a stop to the problem and found yourself forced to take more drastic action." He paused.

"I, however, believe it is almost never too late. Counter actions can still be made and the mistake can still be rectified."

---

→━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━[ P12 ]━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━← fenrys's own feathers ruffled disgruntledly at the chiss's remarks, eyes flashing, though he made no attempt to interrupt. he'd definitely seen behind the veneer of imperials' scorn to the rebellion, since anthony appeared to be a more discerning individual than most. that was what made conversations interesting instead of merely throwing propaganda-spurred insults back and forth. he couldn't tell if the chiss thought the same about him, since they seemed to be using their emotions like cards. they were in dangerous territory, because if anyone had been listening, the chiss could very well be under fire. not that it seemed to be a concern. he felt secretly surprised that the chiss didn't stop him, but decided to not mention it. he really would not rather get into an argument about this, since it would just be wasting time and energy he'd rather spend on keeping his mental state stable. it was becoming increasingly apparent that he would be should expect an increasingly longer stay here. this chiss better not be the only new person he was meeting here, lest he very very much go crazy. nevertheless, he didn't plan to let it go.

the shaliz'na quirked an eyebrow, his gaze very carefully scrutinizing the chiss without actually saying anything. silently, he took the words that the other male said and let it run off him like wind off of his feathers. curious that the chiss was so ... entranced by his art, fenrys flicked a quick glance to where he had originally drawn his carvings. the shaliz'na, not just him, placed a very high premium on their art, from paintings to dance to ceramics, even music and literature. there was always something one could specialize in, if one field didn't happen to stick. (it was quite unfortunate that he was really only good at painting and charcoal.) the winged sentient allowed his wings to relax slightly, although he still kept one sharp eye on the chiss.

fenrys made no response, his aura somehow suspicious even though he tried to keep it steady and indifferent. he simply cocked his head, expectant yet not demanding, waiting patiently for an elucidation.
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Anthony paused for a moment, giving the shaliz'na time to respond, he was however met with silence. Giving a slow, minute exhale he decided to add some clarification.

"You wish to see the Empire destroyed. As an officer of the Imperial Navy I cannot allow that, I can, however, strive to ensure that the Empire maintains its integrity. I cannot assume that you would be pleased with the outcome I have in mind, but I would appreciate if you at least considered by offer."

The chiss hesitated, once more rubbing his thumb along his index finger. This was risky territory. It almost made him want to rescind his words, to just return to the interrogation he was supposed to be performing. He could not allow them to back him into a corner, however.

"I can get you out of this cell, at least for a period of time. All I would need you to do is assist me in weeding out the corruption in the Empire." His voice was quiet, just barely above a whisper. He trusted the shaliz'na would not give away any of what he said to other Imperials, if they even saw other officers.

---

[ P13 ]
escape?

fenrys tried to hide his open surprise at the term, even as a undiluted wave of excitement tickled each feather on his wings. as if they could taste the currents of the wind once more. he was sure it had been two months since he'd been here, but since he'd never bothered to ask. it wasn't like the guards were going to keep track of the days while he was down here. it felt like so long since he'd seen the brilliant sky, or even flown. it felt like a lifetime.

the chiss knew how to manipulate someone, that's for sure because he -as well as anyone down here - knew that the first priority was to either flee or leave a mark or two on the empire. his claws dug into his knees with nearly enough force to pierce the fabric and draw blood with the effort of keeping his face blank. it wasn't working entirely. fenrys could feel the tension that was rapidly building up in the air, almost thick enough for him to cut through it with his talons; the chiss before him in particular looked so very uncomfortable. there was no denying that he wanted this, and he would probably move on in disappointment if the prisoner said no. or, he'd simply beat it out of the winged avian.

"you wish to see the empire destroyed. as an officer of the imperial navy i cannot allow that, i can, however, strive to ensure that the empire maintains its integrity. i cannot assume that you would be pleased with the outcome i have in mind, but i would appreciate if you at least considered my offer. i can get you out of this cell, at least for a period of time. all i would need you to do is assist me in weeding out the corruption in the empire."

no, that wasn't quite it. he wanted to see the empire's people brought to justice, to see their grip weaken on the galaxy. but such things could only be achieved in the long run. whatever the empire did after they had been exposed to their error of their ways was not of fenrys's concern. nevertheless, fenrys had reason to believe that the root of the evil that had pervaded the empire was something more...elusive. something darker that danced in the shadows, what exactly though he couldn't put his finger on it. it wasn't even the people.

but then his mind slipped back to the factory, what those hooligans that were called the pykes had done - and would do - with the metal they obtained from these hidden transactions, and the wavering uncertainty slipped. no one in their right mind would allow it to continue, be it rebel or imperial. not unless they had something to gain. fenrys met the chiss's eyes with astonishing nerve, his stern eyes unreadable yet conveying something similar to compliance of sorts. or acceptance.

fenrys's voice was hard when he responded to the chiss, though he made sure to keep his voice down. "i am willing to cooperate with you on your ... quest, of sorts. i will also keep this conversation a secret, since we really should not be talking about this. however, i have two conditions of my own. one - don't expect me to reveal rebellion intel or rebellion locations. two - don't make me take up arms against other members of the rebellion. there may be exceptions to this; and i'm really hoping not, but if i have to betray my cause to do this, the deal is off." the shaliz'na still had his suspicions with the chiss, despite how open the male had been with him these past two days. he would not have dared to hope for such a meaningful conversation with anyone since he'd first come here. even in the rebellion, his friends were few, since he'd mostly kept to himself. the only time he was really social was during meals. once out of the cell, he'd really have a chance at returning back to where he was supposed to be, but at this point, two months away and presumed dead, would they even recognize him?

and once they found out what he had agreed to, would they even take him back?

[ 710 ]

---

Anthony nodded as the shaliz'na finished listing their terms. They were as he expected. The next step for him now would be to actually maneuver the prisoner out of their cell for the time needed. It wasn't a process entirely unheard of and it was occasionally used for rebels that were more cooperative, however the chiss would have to come up with a reasonable explanation.

"I will agree to your terms," Anthony responded, "and now I will alert you to what will need to be done to allow this course of action. In order to ensure you simply don't run off, you will be restrained at all times. There is not much I can do for that. However if you are still willing to go through with this I can begin the necessary work to get you out."

The chiss stared at the winged prisoner, awaiting their response. With any luck the shaliz'na would accept the added condition and they would he well on their way. Briefly he wondered how he would need to go about introducing the prisoner to Lieutenant Commander Vanto. He wasn't entirely sure how they would react, but he held hope it would go well, and he felt confident enough in Eli that the Inperial officer could handle it.

---

[ P14 ]
the winged avian visibly tensed, his normally amicable yet stoic expression souring into a frown when the chiss mentioned being 'restrained at all times.' besides the fact that he was - and would still be - a prisoner here, something that displeased him enough - but to be wearing additional chains like a domesticated pet? that was just adding insult to injury. the alternative, however, was not much better. he was already quite aware of how much the empire's officers hated aliens. he had his fair share of injuries and healing scars as a testament to this, and he had no doubt it would get worse. at least, if he was out of the cell, he stood the best chance at keeping what he knew to himself. in here, he would most definitely crack, even as he tried to resist and say otherwise. fenrys hid his surprise beneath his dismay at the news, though he did incline his head in gratitude. tah, look at him. thanking an imperial. maybe he was already going nuts.

"i'll be willing to tolerate it. sure as hell will suck." provided it isn't something utterly ridiculous. fenrys stood up fully now, arching his back and shoulders as he stretched his wings in the cramped confines of the cell. with slight chagrin, he realized he may not be able to fly anytime soon, contrary to what he originally thought, but he might be able to stretch them more outside. compromise, at best. not nice news was likely going to be the understatement of the century considering the xenophobic mindset of the empire.

[ 255 ]
sorry this is really short and late. the only reason i can reply is because exam of math was moved :>

---

Anthony took the prisoner's light complaint as a simple yes. The chiss officer nodded, looking down at the datapad he had pulled up to display the required forms of a prisoner transfer. The Imperial began filling out the required information quickly.

"Perhaps I should inform you. Another Imperial officer will be joining us in the investigation." He gave in an offhand comment, eyes still glued to the datapad. Anthony finally wrapped it up, submitting the data to the main prison logs. "You can expect to be transferred to my shuttle sometime later this day or the next depending on circumstances." He spoke, his tone even.

---

Ack, short. Sorry :<

---

[ P15 ]

fenrys frowned slightly at the news, his gut twisting. he wasn't about to back out of the deal, no. even though he definitely was going to disagree with many things the chiss said, and there was likely no guarantee that the chiss would honor his word, but fenrys had given his word. that meant something, because while the shaliz'na was arduously difficult and a scoundrel, he wasn't a liar. only when things really went south, and the rebellion turned out to be in jeopardy would he pick up a blaster and fight his way out. it would be better for him if he watched and waited instead of acting rashly out of impulse.

the shaliz'na let the silence drag on, the clicking of the datapad fill the silence. feeing perhaps a little ill at ease, he extended out his left and right wing to their full length, the first time he had been able to do so in weeks. it was a startling sight, since his wingspan was just around twelve feet from wing tip to wing tip. which was perhaps the point. fenrys usually avoided spreading his wings, and only did so when he felt he was with someone he trusted, but considering how close he was holding them to his body, it could be easily deduced that this was not an act of trust but of warning. the gesture said "watch your distance." he may not trust the chiss, but it was becoming increasingly awkward to hold his wings so close to his body. they were limbs after all, and he didn't want pins and needles.

[ 249 ]
sorry this is really short and late.

---

Anthony lightly startled, seeing the rather large wings spread out. His red eyes were torn from the datapad, lightly straining as he kept his head facing down towards his seemingly forgotten task. The chiss had assumed that the shaliz'na would need wings of a large size to look proper, but it had certainly exceeded his expectations. They certainly appeared daunting, but Anthony stood his ground, quickly finishing up the final details of the forms and shutting off the datapad. Looking up at the shaliz'na more fully, the chiss found himself almost seeing someone else entirely. He could almost see Eli sitting across from him, uncertain and cautious. Anthony felt a small smile try and pull up the ends of his mouth, but kept them firmly straight.

The Imperial officer hesitated at the door for a moment, before uttering a quick goodbye and leaving the prisoner in the cell once more. He briskly made his way back to his quarters, keeping a quick pace. Eli was still seated in the same location, eyebrows scrunched in a concentrated expression. The Liuteneant Commander failed to notice Anthony's entrance until he spoke. "I believe we have a foot in the door, so to speak." The chiss kept his voice quiet. He did not wish to be overheard. "The mysteries of the strike will soon be unraveled, and we will find the missing piece. We leave as soon as possible. I trust you will be able to watch over our prisoner?"

Eli gave him a familiar smile, and Anthony could feel his worries settle. The officer certainly would cause no problems, that much he could trust.

---

Ggg may fix it up a bit but for now this is it

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[ P16 ]

the shaliz'na felt heat rush to his cheeks at the stunned glance from the chiss in front of him, the sight of his wings apparently such a shock that it tore his attention away from the datapad in his hands. this wasn't the first time that he had gotten surprised looks about his apparently giant-ass wingspan. back home, he found the sight of the giant wings to be pretty normal. he was 5'8 after all. but outside of the galaxy, you'd think he'd grown a second head from the looks he was getting. and that was nothing compared to the shock he saw on other's people's faces when he actually spread his wings. unsure of whether he should blush or preen (not literally), he fluffed them out, allowing for the pale mosaic silver and dark-brown-banded feathers to catch the light. granted, they weren't looking as good as they should have, much to his dismay. the once clean and neat feathers were tattered and torn, desecrated by filth and dirt. he internally scowled as they looked them over, absently nudging a few of the feathers so that they faced the right way. the winged sentient didn't miss the fleeting smile the chiss gave him, as it was quickly suppressed, though it did make him narrow his eyes. he'd gave to go pretty damn blind before he missed those little things. he didn't make much of it, though from what he could tell, it felt like familiarity. like ... seeing an old friend. he huffed at the notion.

he didn't know why he should care so much. beauty wasn't worth much during the war, not in the way that brains or brawn might. even so, he rarely had time to preen himself properly at the rebellion, so his wings wound up looking all messy and rumpled anyways. it was habit for fenrys to take time away from himself in order to see to the needs of others, and now look where it had landed him. here, in a prison cell, at the mercy of the imperials! fenrys had revealed nothing thus far, but it was beginning to wear on him the absence of his rebel friends. perhaps he'd been wrong in assuming that just because he was willing to care about his friends, always willing to come through for them, that they would be willing to go to galaxy's end for him. no, the shaliz'na chastised himself. don't be so selfish. they want you to give up hope. they want you to break. don't give them what they want. they'll come back, just you wait.'

but what if they don't?' that somber voice in his head asked, the voice of his pragmatism and his cynicism, 'what if you're just left to rot in here until you break?' the very thought rankled his feathers, and he knew better than to say such to the chiss. he turned away, neatly tucking his wings up to his back so that they just poked up behind his shoulders, hovering just above the ground. he couldn't deny it. he was getting tired of waiting for those in his cell, or anyone to come here for him. fenrys scoffed silently, turning away from the chiss. he was doing this mission with the chiss to gain rebellion intel, that's all there was too it. he didn't need to bring stupid sentimental feelings into it. the shaliz'na was a bit surprised to hear his captor say an actual good-bye, and after a moment, he repeated it, his edged voice following the chiss out as he shut the cell door. suddenly too sullen to think about anything else, he sat down on the steel bar, the cold silence enveloping him as he was left with his brooding thoughts.

[ 626 words ]

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Eli Vanto was awoken the next day by a bright light shining on his face. He lifted his head up, back and knees aching as he came to realize he had fallen asleep in the chair. Glancing down at his hands the Imperial noticed a datapad lit up, likely an update on the prisoner transfer Anthony had sent in yesterday. The human picked up the datapad, handing it over to Anthony as the chiss entered the room. Flimsi displaying various notes and calculations were scattered on the table and floor, and Liuteneant Commander Vanto quickly moved to pick them up.

"The transfer has been approved." The chiss' voice cut through the silence like a knife, and Eli had known the chiss long enough to catch the confusion lining his words.

"That's good," Eli commented, finally straightening up, "we'll arrive at Kellux in just a few short days at this rate."

Anthony uttered a short agreement, but the higher ranking officer still seemed tense. Finally the blue-skinned alien turned to face Eli. "You will be the one questioning the prisoner today."

That... shocked Eli, but he pushed the emotion off to the side as Anthony continued to speak. "I've been scheduled to meet with the warden to discuss the transfer in further detail, after which Admiral Konstantine has requested that we speak."

Finally the human aide nodded, quickly uttering an affirmative as the chiss once more left the room. It was quiet for a few moments, as Eli Vanto looked down, noting that the datapad had once again found its way into his hands. With a silent grumble, the Liuteneant Officer made his way towards the shaliz'na's cell. He stood in front of the door, hesitantly reaching for the controls before taking a calming breath. The door slid open and Vanto walked into the cell, looking up and catching sight of the winged alien. What was he even doing, just as with Anthony, he had never interrogated anyone before. He shot a quick glance towards the now shut door, trying to assume a casual stance.

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