The Astral Drake MK II Port Kasiya Spaceport 42 ABY
Of all the things Draca expected to do when Melissa came to Port Kasiya, having a spar in the middle of the Astral Drake was not one of them. They could have had that spar anywhere in the known universe. The ship was, after all, an effective Consugna-Class Cruiser and Port Kasiya had a lot to offer. Anders was making headway with building the Opera Houses. The Entertainment District was abuzz with life and the harbour had a selection of food stalls and ice cream that one could only dream of. Erinyes really had gone all out with TEAD before she became Emissary.
But you know what? Melissa was coming and that was all that mattered. Truth be told, the young Jedi had felt a bit aimless since Anders had gone to deal with Clan matters. Draca had, of course, insisted to come, but was denied. Roo many were already assigned and a Jedi added to the mix would be too much, was what he had said.
Draca assumed it was for the best. Truth be told, he was still reeling from the revelation of Anders and Evelyn, and what he had walked in on. He released a shudder which was picked up by the BD-Unit droid perched on his shoulder, his droid now.
“Yes. Thank you, Buddy. I’m OK.”
The truth was he liked her. Really liked her. It was hard for him to put into words or express.
Kitty was happily playing in its alloted exercise room and the spar area, a twenty foot rectangular space equipped with a variety of weapons, equipment, and holo training modules for a variety of scenarios.
It was all set, but he had to double check. He wanted to make a good impression. He saw parts of Melissa’s duel on the Lunar Facility and, deep down, was really looking forward to facing her.
The big question was why? Why had she insisted on a spar? That was what he couldn’t understand. Then again, he struggled with certain social cues at the best of times.
It wouldn’t be long until she was here. Best check things over one more time.
<@432543120635461643>
Everything had changed so quickly. So so quickly. From her asking to move out. Cora’s tears as they moved her into the new apartment, not that far from the Ya'ir family home but far enough she couldn’t just walk there. To the war against the Gods, Draca being injured, the spar recently…
It always felt like she was learning something new.
So, to take a moment to breathe, what better to do than ask Draca if she could visit. If they could spar. Something was different with how she sparred Erinyes to the normal more tame spars she’d engaged with with Ruka and Cora. Something had clicked and she really had no idea what exactly it was, except that she wanted to try with someone she knew better. It was like she’d understood Erinyes on a level she couldn’t quite percieve.
Arriving at Kasiya Spaceport. This is the final stop on this journey, all passengers please depart.
Melissa jumped in place as the monotone female voice played loud enough it broke through the music in her NEKO headset. She slipped it so it rested around her neck, grabbed her bag and quickly stepped off into the port. The Astral Drake, Draca’s home more or less, was parked in one of the private reserved bays. It did belong to Anders afterall.
It took longer than she liked to find her way to it, glimpses of blue and flashes of strangely coloured signs on a planet she didn’t know making a nuisance of her navigation but she arrived to the ship, stepping up the ramp.
“Draca?”
She peered into the ship, not quite wanting to just walk in there as if it were her own. Nevermind the fact it wasn’t exactly small and.. well. Hopefully a Droid or a talky system thing would help her out.
Truth be told, there was every chance wouldn’t have even heard her. The Astral Drake, a Consigna-Class Heavy Freighter, was a massive vessel that stretched over one-hundred feet in length. He could be anywhere inside.
Surely, he might sense her, though. Right?
“Hey!”
Melissa heard a voice come from behind her as two spaceport patrol guards, donned in navy-blue security gear and brandishing rifles approached the young Echani on the ramp.
“This is a restricted area. No authorisation is granted to the general populace without express permission. I’m sorry, ma'am, but we are going to have to ask you to leave.”
“She’s with me.”
Now that was a voice Melissa recognised. The spaceport guards’ attention shifted towards the tall Zabrak that stood at the top of the ramp just a few feet away, his hands behind his back in a manner not to dissimilar to his Chiss father-figure, though he held a gentle, warm smile on his face.
“Oh, Draca… Zul, right?” The patrolman glanced upon a concealed datapad on his person, then gave a curt nod. “Yep. That checks out. Sorry for the trouble.”
“Nlt at all,” Draca shook his head. “You are just doing your jobs. I understand. Thank, you.”
The patrol gave a light wave before disappearing down the ramp and into the spaceport. The moment they were out of sight, Draca wasted no time in hoisting Melissa up by her waist and spinning her in the air. By the Force, he’d missed her. He was missing her more and more far more often.
“I missed you,” he made a point of saying that as he gently placed her back down on her tiptoes.
Melissa had been concerned for a good second there, her shoulders sagging slightly in relief at Draca’s appearance and simply offering the guards a smile as they left.
That smile only widened as Draca scooped her up, wrapped her arms around his shoulders and squealing a laugh as he spun them around, delicately landing back on her feet once he let her down but leaving her arms in place around him. It was good to see him again, even if it hadn’t been as long of a gap this time as before. At least she’d be able to visit more often now, having her own schedule.
“I missed you too.” She spoke softly, before bouncing in place and turning them toward the ramp to head back onto the frieghter. “How have you been?”
Now that was a question. In the last few weeks, Draca had been on a roller coaster from everything with the old gods, the lightsaber training and walking in on Anders and…
He let out an involuntary shudder. He opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came out for a few moments. It was all change happening so fast.
He could never lie to Melissa.
“I’m trying,” he said honestly. “There’s a lot happening and it’s a lot to take in. How about you? How have you been? Gotten any practice in with the lightsaber?”
They approached the training room, the doors opening with a hiss into the large rectangular space. It was not too dissimilar too what they used in the Envoy Corps facility. It was perfect for what they needed?
“Not much more. I try to do daily practise, and have been with your lightsaber. I think the full size saber is going to work a lot better for me than the Shoto.” She commented, though was looking with interest around the Astral Drake. It was interesting to see Draca’s home, to be able to put a picture to places described and situations occured in.
She grinned at the training room. It wasn’t like they didn’t have facilities on Selen but it was still really cool to have all this space on a ship.
“Do you want to talk about stuff? I know… Well. The stuff with the Gods attack. But it sounds like there’s more than that now.”
No. Everything is fine. Please don’t worry about me, Meli. I’m OK.
That’s what Draca wanted to say. The truth, however was different, and if there was one thing about the young Zabrak that Melissa likely knew all too well, it was his complete lack of aptitude for lying to someone’s face.
Draca just didn’t have it in him, especially to her.
“Things just changed so fast,” he finally relented, pressing his back against the training room wall. “Anders is… seeing someone now. I’m happy for him, don’t get me wrong, but he never told me about it. I don’t know. I guess I feel a little bit…”
“Lost?” Melissa offered, moving to lean on the wall beside him and looking out across the training room. “That’s.. a lot to find out and not get told about it.”
“Lost…” he seemed to get lost in the miasma of his own creation, a labyrinthine design of how he saw the universe around him. When he had walked in on Anders, it was like he’d hit a dead end, but was unable to retreat.
“Lost. Yeah. Lost and trapped.”
He fiddled with his fingers, seemingly gazing out into the distance, deep in thought. The hairs on his arms prickles at the feeling of the world changing around him.
Be the change you want to see.
How could he do that if things changed when he didn’t want them to? Was it his right to do so?
He shook his head. What was he doing? He should be spending time with his girlfriend. She was right there for goodness sake!
“Sorry, I got carried away again, didn’t I?” Draca rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, just like he did when they first met.
The young Jedi then moved himself away from the wall and took Melissa’s hand, guiding her to the centre of the training room.
“Can I ask you a question?”
She could see him drifting away but could do little to stop him. Still, Melissa was content to wait for him to return. She knew he would. He always did.
“Its okay,” She answered softly, a smile warming her face and squeezing his hand as they crossed to the centre of the room. “Sure. What is it?”
There were plenty of questions he could ask. She had her own, though overwhelmed as Draca was Melissa was content to wait before querying further as to what was going on.
“Why did you want to spar with me?”
The question was one asked put of genuine curiosity, if the tilt of his head was anything to go by.
“I noticed somehing during my spar with Erinyes. Something I don’t really understand or even know how to explain but…” She trailed off, silvery eyes unfocussed for a moment before blinking back into reality as if she never left.
“I understood her more. I think. I-” Melissa laughed lightly, “I guess I just wanted to see if sparring with less training wheels works better for me. To try and work out exactly what was different. We also haven’t sparred before, so, I thought it’d be fun.”
Draca tilted his head. He didn’t really get it. How could you learn something about someone from a spar? Unless it was how they fought? That might have been it, but somehow, the young Jedi seriously doubted it. He wasn’t the best at social cues, but if there was one person he could understand and who understood him back, it was Melissa.
There was more to this than he realised. Come to think of it, he’d read somewhere that certain species treated combat as a rite of passage. Was it something like that?
Besides, she was right. This was bound to be fun.
He beamed at her. “I think it will be! Who knows? Maybe you’ll learn more about me too?”
He couldn’t resist the small wink he gave her as he took her hand and guided her to the centre of the training area. She said she wanted the training wheels and honestly? He could do with blowing off some steam.
Once there, he released her and grabbed his lightsaber. The multi-hued blade sprang to life, glimmering amidst the room’s dim lighting. He twirled the blade in his hand and gestured for Melissa to grab her weapon.
“Maybe! If I do, well, heck yes! Cause more about you and more about me.” She grinned, drawing the twin to Draca’s lightsaber. Though the gem that made it a rainbow of plasma had been returned to him, and instead the stone within had been replaced with the one her brother had once given her.
Who’d have guessed it was a focussing crystal? It wasn’t until she’d looked into such things at the academy that someone pointed it out to her. The Force had a strange method of working, and just like this, it was often better to go with the flow.
The blue beam lit up the side of her body, and she slipped easily into the defensive stance of Soresu in repsonse to Draca’s twirling.
The twirling suddey stopped, the Zabrak’s eyes turned intense. He tossed his lightsaber up in the air, perhaps a bold and brazen move before he broke into a sprint towards his girlfriend. With the Force on his side, he moved faster than a lightning bolt, slipping behind the Echani before she realised what had happened.
As Melissa began to turn, Draca summoned his lightsaber back to his hand. Luckily, the Echani realised what was happening in the nick of time, deflecting the lightsaber as it soared towards her.
That was it. Missal had said she didn’t want him to go easy on her, so he wouldn’t.
Time to see how good her Soresu really was.
Draca’s weapon returned to his hand, and he followed up with fast, blurred strikes against her.
By the stars he was fast. Melissa could keep up at first, her form was undeniably perfect despite her relative newness to it. But defend was all she could do, as he leapt and span around her, forcing her to follow him and using precious energy to keep up.
But she remained there, Draca’s lightsaber allowing her keep him at arms length, reducing some of his momemtum at least.
It was just a waiting game for him to tire out, or for Draca to pull something unexpected that she couldn’t defend against.
Melissa didn’t mind that inevitably, watching the Zabrak seemingly flick from place to place. If she had a more aggressive form, there were visible points that if she had the knowledge of how to switch between something else and Soresu, she’d have had a chance to slip between his defences. It was interesting though, reflecting himself through his attacks. Ready to charge in, with speed and accuracy but leaving himself open.
The best defense was a good offense. That was the soul of Ataru. End conflict quickly and definitively. Draca’s boundless energy served him well in tbat regard. How many times had he called upon his lightsaber in the name of swift action? Far too many to tell. Then again, the man who trained him had a habit of upsetting people and had ensured against all odds, against all threats, against any enemy, that Draca would be prepared.
In short; Anders had trained him well.
The rush of battle began to course through his bloodstream. The warm up was over. Melissa’s Soresu defense was near perfect, which was not unexpected, given what he’d seen of her against Erinyes. She met each of his attacks with narrowly timed parries and deflections befitting a Soresu master.
However, a master of the form, she was still not. Draca had faced Soresu before. He knew she was searching for an opening of some kind, far too focused on his lightsaber blade to follow the rest of his body.
For when one practices Ataru, your entire body becomes the weapon. A small opening appeared and Draca strick, striking Melissa’s blade with his own, he kept the lightsabers positioned away from his girlfriend’s lower body.
He placed a foot behind her leg, and with a smile, pushed forward.
The squeak that followed was nothing other than karking adorable. If panicked and shocked and mildly betrayed as well.
With flailing hands, Melissa turned off her lightsaber in fear of dropping it and someone losing a limb, while simultanouely grabbing onto the front of Draca’s shirt, his sleeve, not having enough warning or grip to prevent her fall but instinctively trying to and finding herself dragging him down with her.
That was it. Round one to Draca Zul! The young man was rather proud of himself. Sometimes, it was the simplest maneuvers that could defeat an enemy. Sometimes, all it took was a lapse in their concentration and…
Melissa grabbed hold of his shirt. Her reflexes were almost cat-like and had caught him off guard. Draca gasped, his face a mixture of shock and sudden surprise as he too dropped his weapon to prevent any damage.
Thankfully, he held out his hands just enough to prevent himself entirely collapsing on top of his girlfriend, because Force only knew how bad that would seem. Granted, the position they were in was no better. His hands were by the sides of her face. Her hair, glistening like silver streaks in a river was spread out across the floor. Her chest heaved in and out and their bodies…
Draca went bright red. Oh Force damn it, oh Gods, oh no…
Mr. Ruka was gonna kill him. He tried to speak, but the lump in his throat prevented anything but a light skree to leave his mouth.
However, he’d be lying if he said he didn’t find her the most beautiful woman in the galaxy right now.
She looked up and met his eyes. The flush to his face and the slightly panicking, obvious flustered look. His arms in the sides of her vision as she looked up at him. A moment ago he’d been full of confidence, joyfully tripping her. He had so much strength but so much kindness within.
Melissa smiled, a flush on her own cheeks though not because she was worried about the compromising position nor any cameras that she wasn’t aware of being present. She leaned up on her elbows, closing the gap between them and pressing a gentle kiss to his lips before murmuring with a more mischievous grin.
“You know I don’t mind falling for you, you don’t need to trip me like that.”
And just like that, any shred of doubt and hesitation Draca had evaporated like steam upon a mirror. This, right here, was what Melissa did better than anything. She gave him a confidence that was almost foreign to him. She made him believe in himself in a way that no-one else could because she believed in him.
Draca returned the grin with a coy smile of his own. He leaned down, this time planting a firmer, slightly more passionate kiss to her lips.
“And you didn’t need to pull me down. I fell for you a long time ago.”
Melissa giggled, brushing against his lips as she and wrapping her arms around his shoulders.
“Who needs gravity when we have each other falling about.”
Her lips found his again, eyes falling closed.
If there was ever such a thing as an out of body experience, Draca was feeling it now. The world seemed to fade around him, his twin hearts thumping hard in his chest as his lips caressed hers gently, but firmly. A swarm of Stormtroopers could barge in on them now and he probably wouldn’t have noticed.
He lifted his head to catch his breath. He took her hand in his and looked into her eyes.
“Melissa?”
Melissa hadn’t noticed her eyes closing, yet had to open them as Draca spoke. She blinked slowly, the lights above casting the Zabrak’s face in shadow yet made his hair glow, highlighting the edges of each horn. What passed him reflected in her eyes, the silver more metallic and shimmering than ever.
She curled her fingers over his, squeezing his hand gently.
“Draca?”
He couldn’t resist stroking a few strands of her hair out of the way of her face. Her irises shone, even despite the fact that his head protected them from the light above.
If Anders say them right now, he’d probably chop them up. Well, not really, but he certainly wouldn’t be impressed.
Oh well. Melissa had a way of emboldening him that never ceased to work. She was purity itself. Being with her was like drifting gently on a raft downstream into the unknown. Comforting, yet adventurous at the same time.
“I think I love you…”
The words left his lips before his brain registered what he had said.
A pin could have dropped on the other side of the ship and they’d have heard it. Melissa felt a breath escape her, as if a pressure had suddenly been lifted yet dropped simultaneously. Shock and elation.
The Echani leaned up onto one elbow, her forehead contacting his and pressing gently. She could feel his horns.
Love. What a strange thing.
“I think I love you too.” She murmured back, “Every time we’re apart it’s like a piece of me is missing too.”
A piece of them seperated by time and space. Whenever they come together, it’s like the stars align and everything is right in the universe.
Draca didn’t know how to describe it, the fluttering in his hearts as they pounded against his rib cage. The numbing feeling of anxiety followed by the relief that his feelings had been reciprocated in the best way.
He loved her.
She loved him.
There was no stopping the breathlessness he ft. Not because he was worried, but because this all felt like a dream. One that he never wanted to wake up from.
He cupped her cheek gently with his hand. How far they had come since they met in the Shadow Academy Farmer’s Market.
“I promised you a spar. I’m doing a lousy job of that, aren’t I?” He chuckled at his own, admittedly terrible joke and took her hand in his. “We aren’t apart right now.”
The meaning was there. They were together. Right now, it felt they had all the time in the universe.
.
.
“It was a good spar.” She chuckled, squeezing his hand and smiling up at him, “I saw more of you than I think I ever have. It’s strange, not in the way the Force tells me things but it was like I could read you. For everything that you are.” Melissa spoke softly, placing her hand over his on her cheek and squeezing hte one that had become so quickly intertwined in his fingers.
“Everything is how it should be.”
Melissa leaned up, kissing him once more. It was gentle, but with intent. They had all the time they could want afterall.
Everything is how it should be.
With Melissa it really was. Even despite everything. Despite the constant chaos and strife that had become his life in recent years, there was at least one constant ray of sunlight that poured through the miasma.
Draca stared into her silver irises, and the smile on his face was intoxicating. He placed another kiss on her lips, then on her cheek and neck.
He was so enraptured with her that he failed to notice the door open behind him.
“Hey, kiddo. Anders said he wanted this place cleaned after… whoa.”
He practically jumped out of his skin when he heard Zoom behind him. He locked eyes with the Zygerrian, his brain failing to process the words needed to explain the situation.
Zoom glanced between him and Melissa then shook her head. “Seriously? You have a room. I bed the bed would be a lot comfier.”
She laughed at the look Draca gave her, then left the room to leave the two lovebirds alone.
Melissa turned quite a bright pink at the sudden entrance, not necessarily embarrassed but surprised and flustered. She laughed on seeing Draca’s face, sitting up on her elbows and kissing his cheek.
“It’s not a bad idea.” A moment passed and she giggled, stumbling up to her feet after wiggling herself to freedom from under Draca and offering her hand to him. “I haven’t seen your room in person before.”
Curse Zoom for barging in! Why did it have to be at that moment? Truth be told, he’d forgotten she was here.
At least he had the mental faculty to hear Melissa’s question.
“Oh, it’s nothing much,” Draca allowed himself to shrug. To him it was the truth, but if Melissa wanted to see it?
“This way, m'lady.”
He pulled himself onto his feet and dragged Melissa up with him, kissing her soft lips when he found the moment to do so.
He gestured out of the training room with a slight bow. Something Amders had taught him in regards to how to treat women; be a gentleman. He gestured out of the training room with a slight bow. Something Amders had taught him in regards to how to treat women; be a gentleman.
Melissa giggled against his lips, happily being led along and grateful they hadn’t really made any mess in the training room anyway. They had no reason to delay and no reason for Anders to try and check on them for not doing something.
Well, led along until the doorway which she stepped through, taking only a few steps before waiting for Draca to catch up. Some day she’d likely get to know the inside of the ship but for now, the pair were happy being together. Not somehow lost seperately on the same ship.
“How long is it until Anders gets back?”
A shrug of his shoulders told Melissa everything she needed to know, though he chose to elaborate anyways.
“I don’t know. He usually contacts me when he’s on his way back, though. I don’t think anything is wrong or I would have felt it.”
He led his girlfriend down the long corridor of the ship, passing a tiny BD-Unit droid along the way.
“What’s up, Buddy?” Draca gave the droid a wave, getting one in returning in the wave of its mechanical leg.
It beeped at him.
“No. I’m gonna show Kelissa my room, OK? Mind keeping Kitty busy?”
The droid gave a salute and went on its merry way. The two continued towards the cockpit area when Draca veered to a sharp right. He hit a control panel which opened up into a spacious, if somewhat barebones room. There was a single bed, a desk and chair where he kept his datapad. It was currently paused on some podracer game.
He did like those.
There were a few books neatly piled at the side of his bed. An ensuite to a private bathroom completed the setup. However, there was a small bedside table where the picture of them both at the Selen festival a few months back was taken lay in perfect view.
“Well, here we are. Nothing special, I’m afraid,” he rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly.
Melissa smiled at Buddy, waving to the little droid as he whizzed off to go take of Ander’s Nexu. Draca had mentioned that too, though it was as much a funny side note than anything else.
Her smile only widened on seeing his room, somewhat surprised at the walls being bare of any decoration but it made sense. From the neat stack of books to the still paused game.
Melissa did recognise the photo. She had her own copy on her bedside table.
“Its yours. So it’s perfect.” She spoke, placing a gentle kiss to his cheek and crossing the room, looking at the photo and the books he was reading.
Upon inspection, Melissa spotted a series of tomes and scrolls featuring tales of Old regarding the Jedi, stories and fables of legends, holocrons featuring who knew what inside. Besides the obvious clutter, his he’d seemed very well made and free from Nexu hairs, at least.
Kitty hadn’t made its way into his room. That was good.
There was one in particular that caught her eye, a book, no, an album, actually. It was titled ‘Memories.’
Melissa brushed a finger against the album, feeling the edge of the front cover before letting it be. It could be a mystery for another day. She turned, her hair framing her face as she peered at Draca, a slight smile crossing her face.
It felt rather hot in here, similarly to how it had in the sparring room.
“I think we were in the middle of something.” Melissa commented softly, her cheeks flushing a light pink.
Melissa had this unique ability to make his hearts race at just the swish of her hair or the uttering of a few simple words. His cheeks had always blushed red. His mind raced back to the training room. Did she mean…?
He took a step towards her and took her hands in his own. He was determined to seem confident, even if his nerves said otherwise. He placed her hands over his hearts so she could feel them beating in tandem with one another. It was a gesture they’d done several times at that point, and at no point did it feel any less special.
“Are you sure?” Draca had to ask first.
He didn’t want her to feel pressured into something like this, especially when they confessed their feelings to one another. If they continued, there was no turning back.
He needed permission first.
.
She could feel how fast his hearts were beating. Her own matched it likely, her cheeks felt as flushed as his looked and the grip of their hands intertwining left her confident that he was as nervous as she suddenly was.
Words weren’t needed, nor did they feel quite right in the moment. Melissa leaned up, pressing her lips to his and closing her eyes.
Almost like the Force had guided them, their movements carried them over to the single bed. No words were spoken between them as they spent the night together, at least, not until the end.
He loved her.
She loved him.
That was all that truly mattered, everything else be damned. Tonight, it was just them.