[center][b]Reunions at the Nova Retreat[/b][/center]

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Ba'alkyri looks over the pilot's shoulder once more before huffing and moving back to the other areas of the seat and taking a seat, bouncing impatiently. She looks left, and then right, beginning to anxiously rap her knuckles against a console's side. Alyssandri arches a brow at her, relaxing back as Ba'al begins to stand to try and peek out the window before the Master calls out, “Are we there yet?”

Nikan had been taking a turn at the helm of the Risk vs Reward for the past few hours of the journey, the last half hour or so he had been host to Ba'alkyri and Alyssandri. "Yes we're there." He replied cheerfully as he watched out the viewport at the hyperspace tunnel that was far from looking like it was closing down and returning them to real-space.

Ba'al sighs in relief before prodding out at Alyss with her foot, “Go wake up Vitril and Writh. They're straight off to the med bay.” Alyssandri gives a challenging look only to be met with a flat expression from Ba'al. The human woman snorts and gets up to see to them. “Think Neia is around?” she asks curiously, shifting so she can watch out the viewport eagerly.

"She owns the station, unless she's busy I imagine there's a good bet she is." Nikan replied as he continued to watch the hyperspace tunnel, more importantly he watched the sensors and hyperdrive gauge that told him they still had fifteen minutes before they exited hyperspace.

Ba'al narrows her eyes for a moment, scrutinizing Nikan. “Aha, spot on. Smart, I see. Cyphor does keep you in his employ for a reason,” she tries to stumble to catch herself after her less than brilliant question.

"Cyphor doesn't employ me." Nikan replied as he rolled his eyes.

Ba'al pauses, pursing her lips. “Right. You just do things for him. Like picking up the occasional stray Jedi.”

Nikan just waved his sabre hilt under Ba'al's nose for a moment without saying anyhting.

Ba'al frowns and takes a step back, “Right, I get the picture. I'll leave you to your piloting. Wouldn't want you to crash, after all. I imagine Neia'd throw a fit about that.”

Meanwhile, Allysandri raps Vitril on her forehead to rudely wake her up. The other Knight sputters and winces in pain, going to swing her feet up before looking at her stump again. “Geeze, is it chow time again already... I still feel full.”

Allysandri shrugs, “We're arriving here in a few. I imagine you might want to be awake and functioning when they cart you off. Maybe get excited about a new leg, even? Or would you prefer we call you stumpy and watch you learn to hop?”

Vitril waves her away, moving to sit up, “Quit being an ass.”

Allysandri snorts and helps Vitril get up and hop back into the room Ba'alkyri was currently residing. Vitril looks out the port and furrows her brow, “Are we there yet? Or is there trouble afoot?”

"No, no trouble at all, your master just happens to be an easy mark." Nikan said with a broad smile. "We'll be there in a few moments." he added still smiling

Vitril snorts and grins, “Oh, so someone else noticed. Good, I have proof now.” With that, the other Knight assisted her with getting settled in a seat and waiting for their arrival.

Nikan turned back to the controls as he watched the hyperdrive count down, pulling the Lever back at the appropriate moment to drop the Action IV frigate out of hyperspace and approach Nova Retreat.

At the station's traffic control center the approach of a Action IV was noticed and one of the operators contacted the vessel, "Risk vs Reward, we detect your approach, welcome to the Nova Retreat, where in it's casinos the odds may forever be in your favour. If you do not care for our casino floors, we have excellent services to any damages you ship might have or refuel your ship. Do you wish to be cleared for docking?"

Ba'al clears her throat, “Think they can patch my ship back together?...”

"That would depend on how many pieces your ship is in now as compared to when we picked you up." Cha'alla said as she entered the cockpit. "Have you been to the hanger bay recently? Too seemed to think he could fix it given enough time in there, it might just be component parts by now."

Nikan meanwhile flicked the comms to respond to the traffic control "We wish to dock thankyou. Is the proprietess on the station? we have some associates of hers aboard that were hoping to speak with her during their stay."

"Director Neia Kahleesi is present, she is a busy woman however, who can I say wants to speak to her?" The operator responded in a friendly voice.

"We can figure that out once we've docked, just knowing she's there is enough." Nikan replied.

The operator seemed unfazed, "Docking bay 7A is cleared for you, please note that any and all weaponry are to be left on your ship or they will be confiscated at our checkpoints, enjoy your stay." A message was send with directions to the docking bay in questions as well as a passcode for some free casino and beverage tokens.

"Sweet, free drinks." Nikan said as the comm channel closed and he piloted the vessel to the designated bay.

"You are still underage." Cha'alla said from behind him before turning to Ba'alkyri. "Neia has several of our kind in her service, I guess we will need to leave our sabres behind."

As Writh stumbles in, he grunts, “That, I do not like. It's my walking stick.” He steps over the outstretched foot of Allysandri as she goes to trip him.

“Not that you need it. We'll respect Neia's wishes.” Ba'al holds her hand out to begin collecting lightsabers and blasters.

There were two Twi'leks standing outside, waiting for the new visitors, smiling and dressed in what could be considered 'skimpy' entertainer clothes, one of them was holding a pad of some kind and was looking at it the moment the new visitors walked into view. The second Twi'lek was walking froward and about to open her mouth to welcome them when her fellow greeter stopped her, staring at the screen of her pad and then at the people walking down, shaking her head and tapped her ear and the hidden communicator underneath became active. "Kali at docking bay 7A, inform Neia we have some of her jedi friends here and some of them look beaten up, requesting medical staff to report to the docking bay at once."

Both the Twi'leks looked rather serious now and approached the group, "Apologies we had not been informed you were aboard, if you could wait here, medical staff and Neia will be here shortly, can we do anything else before they arrive?"

"We have the remains of their ship in our hanger bay." Cha'alla replied, "I don't know just how good Neia's repair facilities are, the ship is in at least two pieces, might just be cheaper to built a new one."

Ba'alkyri nods, helping support Vitril as she staggers, feeling feint at being standing like this. “Yeah, if that's the case, at least we can salvage some of it.” She grunts, moving her free arm out to redirect Writh who was about to walk into a wall without his weapon to guide him and his hearing off.

The other Twi'lek frowned and gestured to Writh. "Does he require medical assistance as well?" She asked just as the doors opened and a pair of floating medical beds were pushed in by Nova Retreat staff wearing medical uniforms, followed by Neia and Maaike. "Ah there's the boss."

Neia nodded to her commandos and approached the jedi, looking them over, noticing that the ones from Ba'al were looking rather beaten up, she gestured to her staff, "Well don't just stand there, they require medical assistance." The medics nodded and came forwards asking questions and bringing one of the beds to Vitril. Neia meanwhile looked from Ba'al to Cha'alla. "Well I would ask what brings you to my station but I can guess, you are safe here in case any trouble is following you?"

"That depends on if you consider Master Cyphor trouble." I got word shortly after we dropped from hyperspace that he was on his way here as well he is travelling on Hayles ship and should be here soon, within a few hours most likely." Cha'alla replied

Ba'al grimaces at the mention of Cyphor before helping Writh to a medical bed. “Aside from Cyphor, I don't think there should be anyone in pursuit. The CIS droids were either disassembled or probably assume us dead.”

Neia blinked and lookeda at the jedi before her, "Has someone organized a Jedi conference again at my station without informing me? I just got off a call from Thrall, the Sluissi friend of Tohkran, saying that one of Tohkran's knights was coming to my station to discuss some urgent matters and perhaps arrange meetings with everyone else." She shook her head, "But this isn't the place to talk, my medical staff wil treat your wounded, we can share a drink and tale in my conference room."

"Very well, lead on." Cha'alla replied with a slight bow of her head

Ba'al smirks and waves a hand, “The force works in mysterious ways... but a drink does sound wonderful after the week I've had.”

Chris makes a whimper behind her and murmurs, “Poor rabbit...”

Neia frowned, CIS and rabbits? They sure had a tale to tell as she led her jedi guests to the conference room and arranged for food and drinks. "Well suppose you should be glad my people recognized you, we've changed our security protocols somewhat after some commandos tried to infiltrator and blow up my station, but my story can wait. I'd rather hear your stories, if you don't mind?"

"I'll let Ba'al take the lead here, we only picked her up really, we actually came here because you have the closest medical facilities we trusted." Cha'alla said as she took a seat.

Ba'al sighs and sits down, letting out a soft noise of comfort after being in the wild and on a cramped ship. “Ah, honestly... I touched down on Arkinnea after digging up some information on Arkinnea looking for a jedi temple supposed to be there. Unfortunately, we hit a snag on the way down. The CIS was apparently investigating the planet and set some scout droids after us. Trying to lose them, Zobis managed to wreck the ship something fierce... by deciding it needed to get intimate with some trees.” She leans forward, accepting a drink as it comes and sipping from it. 

“We got off a message to Cyphor right after that, needing a ride, ours was ruined. Thankfully we managed to pull out from that unscathed. Sadly, when we made it to the temple...” She pauses furrowing her brow, “We weren't expecting such a heavy droid force there from the CIS. Apparently they must have scoured the place over looking for something?” She shrugs and drinks harder, “That's when we hit a nasty snag. A couple of them were better armed and we walked right into them. A couple of us took some minor hits, nothing some good force healing didn't help us get over in our week on the ground, but Vitril and Writh got the worst of it. I don't know how. They must have advanced targeting protocols.” 

She gestures towards Kreeva who was daintily drinking from some flavoured, carbonated water eagerly. “That one and Writh stumbled upon a damaged message, though. It must have triggered given their talents in the force. It directed us towards the Vergesso Asteroids for the next leg of whatever mystery must be awaiting us.”

Neia nodded slowly, "I see, scouring jedi ruins, huh?" She was about to say more when a hologram activated on the table in front of her, depicting Mochi. "Ah, my station engineer, what can you tell me about that ship of theirs that needs repairs?"

The verpine was eagerly rubbing his hands together, "It can be done, it will cost time and effort but I am looking forward to start repairs and have parts of the vessel reconstructed and installed, it is always a delight to work on something new. Assuming the owners want it to be repaired?" Neia turned to Ba'al and looked at her expectingly.

Ba'al slips off her mask, rubbing over her face and the scars that weaved a web over her features. “Ah, rip out what you can from the old system, but I need to change up the core layout and function. I need a weapons system installed upon it. If we had one back on-world, we probably wouldn't have been in such a mess.”

Again, Chris mutters nearby with a sniffle, “The bunnies never stood a chance... Why, Ba'al?”

Neia looked at Ba'al's companion, if she had eyebrows she would have raised them and then turned back to Ba'al. "Do you need my medical staff to look at Chris? Ah well." She shrugged and then turned to Mochi. "Wait for now, have Ba'al contact you with details of what she wants installed and make it happen, I am paying for it." She saw Mochi shiver with excitement and forestalled him, "Whatever she suggests I pay for it, not you." She shook her head and smiled hearing Mochi let out a sigh.

"Very well... I will look forward to the details she wants done to her ship." With that he ended the call on his side.

Ba'al blushes and ruffles her hair, “No, Chris is fine... Ah, just stumbled upon a talent of mine that... was rather brutally effective to surviving without supplies in a less than friendly environment.” She gives Chris a serious look intending to relay the pact they made to never mention just what happened to the sweet woodland critters.

"Well whatever you decide to do with the remains of your vessel, contact Mochi with the details while you are on the station and I'll handle the costs whatever they may be, though I'm not going to pay millions though, that would be a bit too generous." She grinned, "Anyway, I can offer you places to stay while you are here, because it seems you will be here a while if both Cyphor and one of Tohkrans knights are coming too."

"Cyphor was just at Kashyyyk, I believe he is coming becuase I sent a message after we picked up Ba'alkyri that we were on our way here." Cha'alla said, "I think he may with to speak with Gaarwarr when he arrives as well if the walking carpet is here."

She looks embarrassed for a moment before nodding, “Thank you, Neia. It is too kind of you. If there is any way I could make it up to you, consider it done.” Ba'al offers a small smile over the brim of her glass. She pauses for a moment, setting the drink down, “I accept your hospitality. It would be nice to catch up, aside from all these stories of daring-do and hostile encounters, that is... if you'd like, I mean...” She coughs and looks away, swiveling in her chair to face the counter and looking down, submitting to just being silent to save herself the troubles.

Neia scratched her cheek, "Ah, well Gaarwarr is currently staying at a asteroid field in the Sarka system i just laid a mineral mining claim on to guard it after my expidition evicted some pirates." She then turned to Ba'al and chuckled, "I wouldn't mind exchanging stories, I have to admit, from the stories Gaarwarr told me, the life of a jedi is filled with excitement, wouldn't mind hearing more about that."

She went to check her data she received and nodded slowly, "According to the message from Thrall, Tohkran's knight would arrive in a few days, since Thrall mentioned he wanted to send messages to all of you it might be best you all stay here? Cyphor included when he arrives?"

"That would make the most sense." Cha'alla agreed. "Cyphor will not take much convincing I think."

“So its settled,” Ba'al nods, glancing sidelong at those gathered, “Which, is probably good... Because we got word from Leonis that he is coming here. Expect him to try and recruit you all to join his great Sith hunt.”

Cha'alla raised an eyebrow "Another thing Cyphor may not need much convincing for."

"Sorry I won't be joining any sith hunts or wars unless they are for a good cause, no offense to you jedi but I haven't seen what harm a sith can do to me or my own." Neia shrugged.

Ba'al grimaces, “Of course, Leonis is still single-minded after the events that took away Master Theodis... But he thinks he has found a good lead after the culprits. The lightsaber of one, in fact.” She rubs over her eyes. “He wants one of us to look at it. I am worried what he will find in this chase of his. I fear how it may end.”

Neia grimaces, "Sounds like he just needs to take a break, get him some R&R, possibly a appointment with a counselor to deal with his loss."

"Then at least he's coing to the right place for some R&R." Cha'alla replied, "assuming your facilities are still at the same high standard as last time were were here Neia."

She smiled, "They are and I have plans to actually extend my facilities with a even bigger casino and more luxurious accommodations." She shrugged, "But that is for another time, please, all of you enjoy your stay here and the facilities I have available. You will also be cleared to use my training facilities."

Ba'al shakes her head, “If he stays for a time, perhaps it will do some good.” She moves to her feet and dips at the waist. “My thanks, Cha'alla for the time and assistance you have given me. Neia, your hospitality does not go unnoticed. I repay my debts...” She frowns, nodding to Alysandri, “If you do not mind, we must check upon our compatriots and see that any procedures are going well. There was something in particular we wished addressed for one, as it were.”

Neia stood up, "I'll show you to the medical bay."

"I will see to my own people for now and await Cyphors arrival." Cha'alla said with a bow of her head

Alysandri, who was on her way to standing up simply stops and takes her seat again, Ba'al had it and she was getting tired of being so close to the woman anyhow. Ba'alkyri meanwhile smiles and nods to Neia, “My thanks. I would hate to find myself stumbling about lost.”

She chuckles and went to the door, "I myself get lost from time to time if you can believe, but as the owner it's very easy to contact someone to give me the right directions to familiar grounds." She gestured, "Shall we?"

She exits through the door, waiting for Neia to follow and come to her side before she begins onwards, “I could believe it.” She looks about the interior, “It must be a large enough place. I hardly imagine residing in such a place.” Ba'al crosses her arms, drawing her robes tighter about herself as she walks beside Neia, “You really do not need be so kind. I may not be the sort to highly value worldly things, but I do make sure I can provide for those in my company.” 

Neia smiled, shaking her head. "Some call it kind, others may call it earning favours, all of you are my friends and I'd like to help where I can." Grinning she winked at Ba'al. "Doesn't hurt if you ever feel the need to repay the favour of course, as for living here... you get used to it, I used to make a living on a smuggler ship and when I settled down on this station as my base of operations... well not hearing the humming of engines made it difficult to sleep at first, but got used to it."

Ba'al raises her brows, “I'll keep that in mind. Any tips on how to sleep without it would be appreciated, actually.” She pauses, giving Neia an uncertain look. “What sort of favours do you typically ask for? I do not know how much I can help with smuggling operations or casino resorts, but I have my talents.”

Neia smiled and shook her head, "Don't worry about it, if you think you can repay me in some way you'll know and you offer it." She stopped and looked at Ba'al, smiling still, "As for the sleeping without engine noise, it ah... might help if you had some pleasant company to spend some time with before you close your eyes to rest."

Ba'al finds herself flushing, “I think I would like that, do you have any suggestions? I'm afraid I'm all out of pleasant company amongst my friends...” She begins to move her hands nervously, tempted to reach out with the force to try and ascertain better just what Neia might be implying. She refrains, though, feeling that would be wrong of her.

Neia smiles, looking Ba'al over, settling on her face, still smiling. "Am I making you nervous? You seem somewhat bothered?"

Ba'al clears her throat, “A small bit, admittedly. I can try to compose myself better, if it is a trouble?” She fights against biting her lip as she casts her gaze aside, cheeks glowing just a bit more.

Neia smiledand winks, "Oh no trouble, I was thinking it was rather cute actually." She grinned and continued walking, guiding her guest.

Ba'al stumbles in her steps before walking briskly to catch back up. “N-no! We Jedi are not cute,” she corrects quickly, “We are stern and diligent and anything but cute, I'm afraid.” Yet, she has a faint smile upon her lips at the comment.

Neia stopped again and turned to her guest, smiling. "Stern and diligent, huh? Ok fine, prove it." She crossed her arms. "If you claim to be stern and diligent I am sure you can make me feel guilty by just staring at me."

Ba'al purses her lips, stepping forward and gives Neia a serious look, “You should feel bad for calling me cute.” She smirks and jokingly waves a hand in front of Neia's face, “By my mystic Jedi magic, I compel you... Is it working?”

Neia smiled and winked, "No, sorry, still very cute... and you have pretty eyes too."

Ba'al snorts and taps Neia lightly on the nose. “And I thought Writh was the blind amongst us.” She relaxes before looking down at her feet, “Excuse me for this question, but were you and Master Theodis ever... I mean, I could tell she liked you quite a deal, but I do not know if...” She coughs and smiles awkwardly.

Neia blinked, surprised. "Huh... Theo liked me?" She looked away, closing her eyes a moment. "I, ah... actually never knew, I mean, I liked her... and I wondered at times but, well we all know what happened. But no nothing happened, I... wish something did though, hearing that she liked me a quite a deal." She smiled softly.

She looks oddly dejected at that before offering a strained smile, “It... was a shame, yes.” Ba'alkyri looks aside, trying to look for any markings on the wall, “Ah, the medical facility, are we close?”

Neia nods, "We are... but."She stopped again and turned around, standing in front of Ba'al. "Why did you ask that? About if me and Theo ever had gotten close?"

She offers a small shrug, not meeting her gaze, “Trifling passing thought. It matters not.”

"I may not have eyebrows like most other humanoid species but when someone seems to want to avoid eye contact that means they are hiding something. You can tell me." She smiled gently.

Ba'al flushes and looks back, barely drawing her gaze up to meet Neia's. “There may have been tension between Master Theodis and I in the past. Over a particular Nautolan woman. Nothing too serious, but... I still hold respect for the one who allowed me to learn in the right direction, her own... skills, aside.” She straightens herself, attemting to repress the colouration to her cheeks as she continues, “So, it would be improper of me, not only to impose upon my host, but to step forward in the wake of events to act upon anything, I think.”

Neia blinked, confused and stepped forwards, taking hold of the shoulder of the jedi in front of her. "Wait, what? You aren't making much sense... tell me what you mean so I can understand."

She leans in closer, her lips barely from Neia's for the briefest of moments before she withdraws, flustered. “My apologies. I am... Not myself right now. I must need to meditate, to recenter.” 

Neia blinked rapidly, did Ba'al just... did she almost? She reached out quickly, stopping her. "I... ah... oh ferglutz, not this time." She said and cupped the cheeks of the jedi and kisses her softly on the lips.

Ba'al hesitates for a moment before returning the kiss, allowing herself to sink closer to Neia. “You're just bound to lead a knight to trouble, aren't you?” she teases nervously, lingering in her proximity with a warm smile.

She smiles softly, "Ah, perhaps. Just... felt like if I didn't do that, a opportunity would escape, like last time. Wasn't going to let that happen... so, uhm... about that suggestion of company, after I lead you to the medical bay... mind if I would be that company?"

The jedi pauses for a moment, acting if she had to seriously think on it. “Oh, I do not know. Do you think you could enjoy my company? I hear I can be quite boring in my downtime, I'm afraid.”

She chuckles, "I think I'll manage, didn't hear a answer in that reply though." She bit her lip.

“Consider it a date, then,” the Diathim purrs out as she dips down, daring another kiss.

Smiling she kisses back, "It's a date."