Star Wars: A clash of lords

Chapter three

The hanger buzzed with life, as people ran to mend the transports and fighters. The sparks of welding lit up the edges of the hanger in blue fading to the stale grey of the walls. Lieutenant Leyl felt on edge from the battle still even though she knew she was safe in the base away from the front lines. As she stepped off the gang plank of the transport she saw lord Shyr and general Ilam standing welcoming the remainder of the force as they disembarked. Shyr was wearing her usual black cloak with a mandalorian chest guard that was as crimson as fresh blood. Leyl could see the signs of battle scaring streaking from the top right to the lower left of the armour. It's metal blazed through the scarring like a fresh wound. General Ilam was in his uniform of white which contrasted heavily with his dark red skin. His jaw line was joined with what Leyl could only describe as tentacles. As she took her turn to disembark the shuttle she started focusing on what she wanted to say to the commanders she took a deep breath straightened her posture and strode down the metal ramp
"Welcome home lieutenant Leyl, I had hoped commander Tacilin ..." The sound of her name brought up a lot of feelings and emotion for Leyl so she bowed her head to not appear weak "...did not put all our faith in a failure, but clearly he knew that you could do what was asked of you" Lord Shyr said with no sign of remorse for the role she played in the conflict ...why should she, she didn't know him, she didn't serve with him or dine with him. He like the rest of us are numbers nothing special nothing to remember.
"Lord Shyr, general Ilam about Tacilin,... I mean commander Tacilin he paid the ultima..." Leyl stopped her in her tracks as she saw Tacilin and many other troopers being unloaded on stretchers. Then she realised Shyr had risen a hand "Commander Tacilin did her duty as did you all. But we recognise that Commander Tacilin and several other troopers went on a last stand to assure as many troops survived. This was not the directive I ordered, but it did result in having a greater force in the battles to come they will be remembered and if we win this war we shall see about immortalizing them in their finest hour" as Shyr finished talking she gave Leyl a salute, which Leyl returned, and turned to walk away. Leyl said in a hush tone"thank you, and thank you Tacilin for saving so many" the last part was more to herself then to anyone who might have heard her.
As she strolled through the hanger she started to feel numb to her surroundings, as everyone got on with their day to day duties she wondered if anyone realised that Tacilin her units leader had been ferried through the hanger on a stretcher or if they had they showed no sign of it affecting them or their work.
So she decided to head over to the canteena maybe a few members had gone there to get the whole ordeal out of their system or at worst she could have a few drinks and hope some one might join her. As she walked down the dark corridor she pondered to herself why so much of the base was under lock and key and why on blueprints a lot of the corridors led to nothing, she had already decided she would never understand the significance of the glyphs on the wall nor would she understand why Lord Shyr and her inner circle held this ruin as a base and fortress. There were many better strategical locations vacant on this planet and a lot of them were above ground, she hated the fact there was little to no light in this base apart from the hanger if the bay doors opened, which again was rare.
As she hit the button to open the canteena door she suddenly felt the sorrow and guilt she left buried.she whacked the button again and again then on the forth whack it sparked and the door froze halfway open. For a moment she hesitated weather she should continue in through the gap or make a hasty retreat and pretend it never happened. Of course she went for the former and entered to see the whole room facing in her direction at the now broken door. Even the bartender was staring with his mouth open at what possibly happened for his door to receive such a brutal execution. Leyl saw the bartender standing in bewilderment and jokingly said "I think your door is jammed" with a tilt of the head in the doors direction. But all it achieved was more suspense for the canteena patriots.
The bar tender waved his hand broadly in-front of him at the bar stools, which meant in any language to come sit have a drink. The stale silence suddenly broke with the noise of a regular canteena and the insufferable music the 'band' always played. So she took the sign and strolled across the canteena to where the bartender stood and took a seat on one of the bar stools which in her opinion needed a new cushioning from the years of abuse it taken.
The bartender lent onto his elbow and held his head in his hand the white stubble just peaking from the rim of his hand "What can I do for you? Hopefully the door is the only thing on your hit list today" he said with a smirk sneaking through.
"I'll have a bottle of corellian spice and a glass please, sorry for your door it was... urm ... in my way of drink" she shot back at his joke as justly as he made his reference.
"It's okay I'd rather you fight a door then attack any of my clients, it's bad for businesses having some one beat the clientele you see" he said waving his hands in exaggeration while retrieving a bottle of black goo "I must say, I think you are the only person to order this stuff. I'll sell it to you for a fraction of the price if you tell me your secret to enjoying it"
Leyl grinned a menacing grin nearly showing the white of her teeth, "I'll tell you, if you make this bottle free and I'll pay for another after I'm done with the first"
The bartender looked at the bottle as if asking it if this was a good deal then he looked at Leyl "done, but don't tell anyone I made this deal I need to make some credits here remember"
"The secret to drinking such a bitter and ugly goo is to suffer an even more bitter and uglier day" she said as she poured her first cup. The black goo poured like tar into the cup and took even longer to stop flowing. Once the liquid had settled in the glass she gave it a swirl with her wrist as if studying if it would pour out onto the counter. Then she rested the glass back down and removed her helmet revealing a face no older than 25 years old, in the galaxies average years cycle. But her eyes were as aged as someone who has seen many more years of sorrow and pain. Her hair was as white and matted as a tauntaun. She bore a scar on her right eye stretching from the top of her brow to the cheek bone the eye was replaced with a cybernetic prosthetic that was not disguised as a human eye it was black with a red light in the centre.
She lifted the glass back up to her lips and poured the whole content down in one.she pulled a face when she swallowed it as if someone had poured acid down instead.Slam, she poured another and repeated the ritual over and over.
By the time she'd polished off a bottle and a half by herself she started to feel her hatred for what happened to Tacilin start to fade. As she kept downing more cups of correlian spice she realised a man had slowly made his way toward her.
"Can I help youuuu?" Her words slurred out. The man who had approached was blond and as thin as a twig. He opened his mouth and asked "are you an angel?"
Leyl at this point was bordering a full drunken state thought she miss heard him and responded "WHAT?"
"Are you an angel, I heard of them growing up. Skippers would come into my fathers bar and talk about them and their beauty often" he said and it was clear to her he believed it would work as a chat up line.
Unable to hold in the laughter any longer she said " I'm sorry but I doubt that would even get a cute 10 year old boy on a remote desert planet anything even if the female was stranded there" her laughter was contagious and he began to laugh too.
"I hope no one ever tries that line again, its so cheesy" the man said rubbing the nape of his neck. Leyl waved a hand at the bartender signalling a need of a second glass then once the bartender started to make his way Leyl turned to look at the man again and said "you may drink with me, but after that line you are highly unlikely to get any further with your conquest"
The mans grin remained as he swept a tear away from his eye due to laughing too much and said with a coy bit of play " my conquest will be complete by just having a drinking buddy".