Star Wars Character Cafe - Trix Chapter 5

TRIX

CHAPTER 5

“It looks like you’ve lucked out this time Captain Murtel.”

Maxx frowned as he returned Eva’s gaze. From a certain point of view, Eva Maru was right, it was fortunate that the saberdarts contained nothing worse than a powerful sedative that was compatible with both human and Twi’lek biochemistry. Trix and Lo were resting peacefully and would soon awake without any permanent injuries. Still…

“I doubt that Aayla Sedota feels very lucky at the moment,” Maxx replied bitterly.

Eva nodded.

“It’s unfortunate, but that’s the way things go for a Twi’lek,” Eva replied serenely.

Maxx fixed Eva with a piercing stare.

“Would you be so agreeable if it was one of your techs we were talking about?” he asked pointedly.

Eva sighed.

“Look, I didn’t say that I liked this,” she replied. “It’s just that our galaxy has a certain order to it. There are some who have power and others who are abused by the powerful. People like us may be able to make good money breaking the rules, but we can’t change the way things are.”

Maxx frowned as he considered Eva’s words. He had seen enough of the galaxy to know the truth in them.

“You may be right,” he replied, “but maybe the reason that things are the way they are is that those of us who know better have never tried to change things.”

Eva fixed Maxx with a very maternal stare.

“Now Maxx, you’re not going to do something stupid like joining the Rebellion, are you?” she asked.

Maxx looked into Eva’s eyes and gave her a weary smile.

“Of course not,” he replied sadly. “I’m just tired and angry and I don’t like the way things are going. But I will tell you one thing.”

Eva narrowed her eyes at Maxx.

“What?” She asked.

“You’d be wise to keep your eyes on that new tech, Sulla James.” Maxx replied harshly. “In fact, I don’t want her working on my ship and Lo, Trouble and I will be inspecting the Nerf before we lift off. If I find evidence of sabotage…”

Eva glared at Maxx.

“You’ll what!?” She demanded.

Maxx met her stare and narrowed his eyes to match hers.

“Let’s just say that it will become common knowledge that the Nerf was damaged while you were working on her,” he replied firmly. “If you don’t want that to happen, you had better make certain that there’s nothing wrong with my ship.”

Eva’s eyes narrowed until they were slits.

“There will be NOTHING wrong with your ship!” she replied firmly.

***

“Did you actually expect to find any evidence of sabotage?” Lo asked as the Wild Nerf sped through hyperspace.

Maxx shook his head as he looked across the cockpit at Lo.

“Not really,” he replied. “I figured that Eva would make certain that everything would be right once she knew the consequences. It’s funny though.”

Lo turned and gazed at Maxx.

“What’s funny?” she asked.

“According to Jay, Sulla James seems to have disappeared,” Maxx replied.

“What makes you think she was involved in this?” Lo asked.

Maxx frowned, he wasn’t certain he could explain it to Lo’s satisfaction.

“Just a hunch,” he finally replied, “I thought it strange that Sulla would be so argumentative at the exact time that you, Trix and Aayla were attacked.”

Lo shook her head, she wasn’t sure that Maxx wasn’t overreacting.

“And Eva just made Sulla disappear on account of your hunch and a coincidence?” she asked.

“I thought you knew Eva Maru better than that,” Maxx replied sharply.

“I do,” Lo answered pointedly, “That’s why I asked.”

“Sorry,” Maxx replied, “I didn’t mean to snap at you, Lo. It’s just that my failure to protect Aayla is getting to me.”

Lo leaned across the cockpit and put her hand on Maxx’s shoulder.

“Look, it’s not your fault,” she said warmly. “You did everything you could to bring her safely to Tapan. I’m afraid there are times when even YOUR best isn’t good enough.”

Maxx took his left hand and placed it over Lo’s hand. He turned to her and smiled. It was the first smile Lo had seen since she had wakened up.

“I know,” he replied, “I guess I’m not used to losing. And to answer your question, I just told Eva to keep an eye on Sulla and warned her that we were going to check the Nerf for sabotage. She may have found some problems with Sulla’s work, or Sulla may have left for fear of being found out. Either way, she’s gone and we’re on our way to Tapan.”

Lo nodded thoughtfully, she turned her hand to grasp Maxx’s and gazed into his eyes for a moment. After awhile, she spoke.

“Trix wants to talk to you,” she said.

Maxx sighed. He didn’t feel up to facing Trix at the moment.

“So I’ve heard,” he replied.

“You need to see her,” Lo replied earnestly. “There’s something very important she needs to tell you.”

Maxx looked into Lo’s eyes and sensed that she expected him to talk with Trix. He also suspected that she would think less of him if he didn’t find the courage to do so.

“Ok, just one thing,” Maxx said as he stood up, “Keep an eye peeled for trouble. If you see anything that bothers you, hit the warning claxon.

“Yes sir!” Lo replied, giving Maxx a crisp salute.

***

Maxx couldn’t help feeling guilty as he walked back towards the ship’s lounge. He had managed to accomplish so much when it came to lining his own pockets, why did he have to fail when it came to helping somebody else? Why should someone who had done so much to help others have to pay the price for his failure? For the first time in his life, Maxx really didn’t want to see his old friend. Still, he knew that he owed Trix this visit, even though he had no idea why she would want to see him.

Maxx stopped as he passed the corner and Trix came into view. She seemed sad but also a bit nervous. She smiled when she saw Maxx and gestured for him to sit across from her. TC-23J was sitting at the engineering station and she turned around and watched Maxx sit down.

“Lo said that you wanted to see me,” Maxx said glumly.

“Yes, thanks for coming,” Trix replied warmly.

“It was the least I could do,” Maxx replied, “Considering…”

Trix sighed.

“Look Maxx,” she said, “before you go any further about how you had failed me, I should tell you that your failure was more impressive than many men’s successes.”

“Oh?” Maxx replied. He couldn’t see how that could be true.

“Think about it,” Trix answered sharply. “You didn’t have to offer to help us at all. I had no idea how much trouble Aayla and I were in. You did, and yet you offered to give us a lift anyway.”

Maxx shrugged.

“It was the least I could do considering…”

“And yet, most smugglers wouldn’t have gone that far.” Trix replied. “You didn’t even try to back out or renegotiate our deal once you learned that things were tougher than even you had imagined. Instead you took on two Skiprays and the might of the Corporate Sector Authority itself. You may have failed, but it was a heroic failure.”

Maxx frowned.

“Why are you telling me this?” he asked.

“Because I don’t want you fixating on the past when we should be talking about the future.”

Maxx’s eyes narrowed.

“I thought your future was with Marshall,” he replied.

Trix smiled.

“It is,” she answered warmly, “and yours should be with Lo Price. Still, you and I will have a relationship of another kind, as Mother and Father.

Maxx’s eyes grew wide.

“You mean that last time?”

“Was one in a million,” Trix replied as she touched the screen of her datapad and a small hologram of a toddler appeared. the child had a slight resemblance to Trix around the eyes but there was nothing that suggested that she was even distantly related to Maxx. While Maxx’s face was long, like his father’s and had a prominent nose, the girl had a roundish face with fine elfin features. Her small lekku barely reached down to her shoulders. “Her name is Tre’la,” Trix continued.

“Trouble?” Maxx replied as he tried to translate the name.

“Mischief,” Trix corrected. “I know that she doesn’t look like you, but I swear that you are the only man who could be her father.”

Maxx nodded.

“Your word is good enough for me,” he replied.

“And even if it wasn’t,” TC-23J interjected, “there’s no mistaking the family resemblance.”

“Oh?” Maxx replied, staring at the protocol droid.

“If you’d be so kind as to remove my faceplate, I’d be happy to show you what I mean,” the droid replied earnestly.

Maxx stood up and accepted the hydrospanner TC-23J handed him. Soon he had removed the droid’s faceplate. Trix was surprised to see a hologram projector located right below the droid’s two photoreceptors and above the vocabulator. TC-23J bowed toward the table and produced a one meter tall static hologram of a young woman.

Both Maxx and Trix marveled at the resemblance between the petite looking woman and Tre’la. Everything from her relatively small proportions and slender build to the fine features of her roundish face gave the woman an elfish look. Her strait red hair came all the way down past her shoulders and there was something about her expression that suggested that she was about to do something very serious. She was wearing a loose pair of tan work pants, a loose brown blouse and a pair of brown work boots. There was a long cylindrical tube of some sort hanging from a utility belt that must have been under her blouse. Most of the tube was obscured by the blouse, but the tip, which seemed to be the business end of whatever it was, seemed to be different from anything Maxx had ever seen. It was much wider than a hydrospanner and Maxx could only guess what the cup at the end of the device was for. TC-23J killed the hologram as soon as she noticed that Maxx was staring at this tool, or whatever it was.

“Who is she?” Maxx asked.

“She was Tamrin Kjell, your mother,” TC-23J answered.

Maxx frowned as he pondered the droid’s words.

“Was?” he asked.

“She has probably been dead for a long time,” the droid answered. “But this is not the time to talk about who your mother was, or why she had to die. I only showed her to you to erase any doubts you may have. Tre’la IS your daughter.”

Maxx frowned and shook his head.

“Is there ever going to be a time to talk about my mother?” he asked sullenly.

“There will be,” TC-23J answered, “and it will be sooner than you think.”

“It will be sooner than I think if it happens before I’m forty,” Maxx groused.

“I swear, you will know all about Tamrin Kjell by your next birthday,” TC-23J promised.

“We’ll see,” Maxx replied as he silently vowed to hold TC-23J to that promise. He then looked up at Trix. “What do you want me to do?” he asked.

“For now I just want you to know that you have a daughter. I know that you aren’t free to come to Tapan often; but I would like Tre’la to know her father. Maybe you could visit her some time in the next year.”

Maxx nodded.

“Maybe I should see her this time,” he said.

Trix frowned and shook her head.

“I don’t think it would be a good idea,” she gently replied. “The events of the past twenty four hours have been very painful for both of us and I want your first time with your daughter to be a happy occasion.”

Maxx nodded sadly. At the moment, the last thing he really wanted to do was meet somebody new.

“I understand,” he replied. “Mind you, there’s always a chance that I’ll die before we meet again.”

Trix shrugged.

“There is,” she answered, “but I suspect that you’ll be around for a long time in spite of everything.”

Maxx smiled.

“I hope so,” he replied. “How will our failure affect your business?”

Trix frowned.

“It will hurt. I spent more on Aayla than I should have and two of my girls are ready to move on. Still, I have some money saved. If I watch my expenses, I should be able to pull through.”

Maxx nodded and stood up, he had a feeling that Trix’s situation would be far worse than she was telling him.

“I think I may be needed in the cockpit,” he said.

Trix gave him a warm smile.

“Thanks for taking the time to see me,” she replied.

***

Maxx sat down and leaned back against the Nerf’s captain’s chair. He had so much to think about; he had no idea where to begin. He reached back to the long coat that hung in the cockpit’s aft bulkhead and fished his pipe and a tin of tobac from one of the pockets. He then called TC-23J on the intercom and requested a vacuflask of tea. Lo watched intently as Maxx carefully took a pinch of tobac and sprinkled it into the pipe’s bowl. She couldn’t remember the last time Maxx smoked inside the cockpit while the ship was moving. Maxx waited for TC-23J to bring him the tea before he lit the pipe. As smoke started to fill the freighter’s small cockpit, Lo leaned forward and hit the vent fan. Maxx frowned.

“Trix is going to love that,” he said wearily.

Lo shrugged.

“She can’t complain too much,” she replied coolly. “She did give you a lot to think about.”

Maxx turned to look at Lo.

“You know about Tre’la then?” he asked between puffs.

Lo nodded slowly.

“We talked about it on Etti Four while you were out scouting the ramp.”

“And?”

Lo smiled.

“If I have to share you with your daughter, I accept that.”

Maxx took the pipe out of his mouth and returned Lo’s smile.

“Thanks,” he replied. “Mind you, I have more to think about than Tre’la. Twenty Three Jay also showed me a hologram of my mother.”

Lo’s eyes widened as she listened.

“Oh? What did she look like?”

Maxx took a couple of puffs on his pipe as he recalled the hologram.

“A lot like Tre’la,” he answered. “Small and slender with long red hair and very fine features. She was wearing a utility belt under her blouse and there was this strange looking cylindrical thing hanging from it. I guess it was a tool of some sort, but it was like no tool that I’d ever seen.”

“How big around was it?” Lo asked.

Maxx frowned and closed his eyes to concentrate.

”Hard to say, maybe a little larger than a speeder bike’s handlebar, and it had a cup shaped thing on the end.” He answered slowly.

Lo closed her eyes and concentrated on Maxx’s description. As an engineer and an outlaw tech, she had seen many tools that Maxx would have no concept of. She couldn’t think of any tool that fitted Maxx’s description and yet the description seemed to be oddly familiar. Then it hit her.

“Maybe it was a lightsaber!” she blurted out.

Maxx chuckled so hard that a cloud of ash shot out of the bowl of the pipe.

‘My mother, a Jedi Knight? You’ve got to be kidding.”

Lo stared at Maxx intently, her eyes full of curiosity and wonder as she pondered the ramifications of what she had just said.

“It may sound strange,” she replied distantly, “but it would explain a few things.”

Maxx took his pipe out of his mouth and frowned. He couldn’t believe that Lo was serious.

“Like?” he asked.

Like the way you suddenly decelerated and changed course during our last Rampa run,” Lo answered firmly. “There’s no way you could have known that we were being shot at, at least not through normal means.”

Maxx frowned, he couldn’t say how he knew that Rampa Skywatch had just fired that shot, he just knew.

“And then there was our last venture in Hutt Space,” Lo continued. You lost the sensor tray leaving Nar Shaddaa and yet you were able to hit two TIEs and a TIE Shuttle at great distance. The Nerf’s targeting computer depended on range and vector information from the sensor tray. Without that, you’d have a hard time hitting a Star Destroyer at point blank range. There is no way a normal person could have hit three snub fighters at that distance.”

Maxx shrugged, this was probably not the best time to admit that he didn’t pay attention to targeting computers.

“I’ve always been a good shot,” he said. “When I was a kid, I used to pick off hawkbats for pocket money. Hawkbats move very quickly and I never had time to aim properly, so I just learned to wing it.”

Lo nodded.

“And did you know anybody else who was able to do as well as you by just ‘winging’ it?”

Maxx shook his head.

“Most people don’t go after hawkbats with blaster pistols. They either used a scatter gun or a micro-missile launcher.”

“There you go,” Lo replied triumphantly.

“Wait a minute!” Maxx argued. “Just because I’m a good shot and a talented pilot, you are ready to declare me some sort of Jedi Knight? Does this make Han Solo and Dash Rendar Jedi Knights too?”

Lo frowned, she couldn’t understand why Maxx couldn’t see it.

“I don’t know,” she replied, “has either of them taken out a snub fighter without a working targeting computer?”

Maxx shrugged.

“That’s my point,” Lo replied. “I’m an engineer, remember? I know enough about starships and space combat that you’re not going to convince me that you can just hit a starfighter at a distance by just taking a wag at it. Now if we throw in the possibility that you can sense the Force, the whole equation changes.

Maxx narrowed his eyes and shook his head as he tried to grasp what Lo was saying.

“You’re saying that I can sense the what?” he asked.

“The FORCE,” Lo replied. “Don’t you know anything about the Jedi Knights of old?”

Maxx shook his head.

“Only what I learned in school, and I don’t believe half of that.”

“The Force is what is said to give the Jedi Knights their power,” Lo explained. “It is an energy field produced by living beings. The Jedi were able to sense and control the Force, they could use the Force to move objects and to know exactly know where things were. That’s how they were able to redirect blaster bolts with lightsabers.”

Maxx shook his head.

“You expect me to believe that the Jedi Knights were able to redirect blaster bolts with lightsabers?” he asked.

Lo sighed.

“Man, you really don’t know anything about the Jedi, do you? Of course they were able to deflect and redirect blaster bolts with their lightsabers. How else would they defend themselves against blasters?”

Maxx shrugged.

“With blasters?” he asked.

Lo shook her head.

“It’s my understanding that the Jedi rarely used blasters. I don’t know why, maybe they just considered them to be too clumsy.”

Maxx narrowed his eyes as he listened, so much of what Lo was telling him about these Jedi Knights sounded so crazy that he could scarcely imagine it.

“Where did you learn this?” he asked.

Lo blushed and giggled nervously.

“I used to collect holodramas about the Jedi while I was in college,” she replied. “It was mostly Clone Wars stuff, though my favorite was about Naomi Sunrider, an ancient Jedi Knight.”

Maxx frowned, the Empire didn’t tolerate that sort of thing.

“You could have been sentenced to Kessel for that,” he replied.

Lo shrugged.

“Are you going to turn me in?” she said with a chuckle.

“Of course not,” Maxx replied. “I was merely surprised that you’d do something that was so foolish.”

Lo nodded.

“Well, I was very foolish back in those days,” she said. “I wised up and got rid of them before I graduated.”

“And did these holodramas explain why I might be able to sense this Force without understanding what it was?”

Lo leaned towards him and shrugged.

“How much starship engineering do you need to understand to fly the Nerf?” she asked.

Maxx frowned and leaned back.

“I’ve always noticed that you do breathing exercises to relax before lifting off,” Lo continued. “Where did you learn that?”

Maxx pressed his lips together as he considered his words.

“Jay taught the breathing exercises to me,” he replied. “She said that they would help me to relax and that as long as I was calm, I’d be unbeatable.”

Lo smiled as she listened to Maxx.

“And Jay used to belong to your mother, did she not?”

Maxx nodded.

“Yes, but…”

“Couldn’t Tee Cee Twenty Three Jay have been teaching you to relax as a means of helping you connect with the Force without your knowing that that’s what you were doing?”

Maxx frowned thoughtfully. He wanted to say, “Yes but why would she do that?” but the droid’s reasons for doing so were plainly obvious.

“Then you’re saying that my mother, the Jedi Knight, instructed Jay to secretly teach me the ways of the Force without even my knowing about it?”

Lo nodded.

“That may be the case,” she replied matter of factly.

“But why would my mother have insisted on secrecy? I was born over a decade before the Clone Wars started. The Jedi were not outlaws until the Clone Wars ended.”

Lo frowned.

“I don’t know, maybe your mother knew what was to come, maybe she was afraid that your father wouldn’t accept a Jedi child, maybe it was Jay who decided to be secretive as she learned about the New Order. Only the droid knows for sure.”

Maxx nodded thoughtfully.

“Well, I do know one thing,” he finally replied.

“Yes?”

“If you’re right, then you might want to reconsider our relationship. Sith! You might want to reconsider remaining on board this ship.”

Lo stared intently into Maxx’s eyes with a look that was firmer and more resolute than any Maxx had ever seen.

“Maybe I should,” she answered, “but I won’t. I’ve been with more men than I could count, but I have never felt anything like what I feel for you. I’d rather spend a short life on the run with you than to run away and live the rest of a long life regretting it.”

Maxx was shocked by the strength of Lo’s conviction. He could hardly believe that he was talking to the former Corellia Tech party girl who used to care about little more than what club she was going to visit at their next stop.

“It won’t be that easy,” he replied. “Stick with me and you may be facing Darth Vader and the full might of the Empire to boot.”

Lo nodded.

“I know,” she answered firmly, “and I accept that too.”

***

As TC-23J listened to Maxx and Lo talk, she was glad that her faceplate was incapable of betraying emotion. Things were bad enough without Trix wondering why the protocol droid was so worried. She couldn’t believe that Lo Price, who was usually so oblivious, was able to grasp the truth that had so far eluded Maxx. She was concerned about Lo’s apparent resolve to be with Maxx even at her own peril. As she stared blankly at the Nerf’s engineering/com station, TC-23J couldn’t help thinking that she should have explained things to Maxx after that last Rampa run. Now everything might be ruined. Lo seemed to be sincere, but could she have any idea of the trouble she could unwittingly create? Still, Lo did seem to have some understanding of the Jedi. Maybe she would respond to reason. As she sat there staring at the engineering station, TC-23J resolved to talk with the young engineer.