Friends and Lovers (gabe)

[Chani Alia Kynes]

Chani had been working round the clock to get the com system in the shop working again. It was a little more complicated then she had anticipated. Not that she minded any she liked a good challenge. It was more that she had needed a new part and had to wait for her father to deliver it. Which it had come hours ago and so she was putting everything back together and she'd take all the new things her daddy bought her and put them in a safe place. On top of that she had a few things to look at on the bottom most floor. See she was sneaky like that and had backups for back ups. On top of that she kept each little communications area including the main one she used in tip top shape. She was a little ocd like that. She's been thinking lately that a little pet might be fun to have too. She loved furry animals and she even had a section in her room. Rather the one of her own. That was set aside for such a thing.

She and Gabe shared a room, then they each had their own room and then their work areas. It was how it had been set up. She liked it that way too. She could go cuddle up with him when she was scared or whenever she wanted too. Yes even on this moon Chani got scared. She finished the com system updated it a bit and then smiled knowing full well that it would work. Then a call came in. "Daddy Hi..." Hi my Little Princess. Just calling like you asked. I see its working." "Yup thanks daddy talk to you tomorrow" The other line went silent. She smiled brightly and skipped out of the room but not before giving Gabe a kiss. "Dinner soon my love."

She skipped off with her things and area having been all cleaned up before Gabe could say anything. She was probably just a little delusional as well. After all she hadn't exactly slept more than an hour in the past two days. She came to her work area after having put stuff away and made sure everything was fine before she flopped onto the couch and grabbed her teddy bear falling fast asleep before she knew it. She tossed and turned however in her sleep.

She was five again. "Baby baby girl wake up please!" Her daddy's voice sounded in her ear and the five year old her woke up. Next thing the five year old version knew was that she was running like her daddy told her too and that men were coming after her. Then all of the sudden they left and she was at her father's side and he was bleeding really badly. She was screaming seconds later Chani was unaware of the fact that her screams from her dream were actually in the waking world as well. She couldn't wake up and her screams could be heard in almost every part of their moon.

[Gabriel Pierce]

<sub>Gabe bustled about with a clipboard under his arm, a pen hanging precariously from between his lips, a digipad in one hand, and a scanner in the other. Most people preferred to keep inventory on their pads, but Gabe was a bit old fashioned. He liked to have a hard copy on hand in the event that his hard drive got fried. Working around Chani had that effect on technology. It wasn’t like she couldn’t fix whatever she messed up, but she just loved to tinker with anything technological. Gabe didn’t really mind, either, but it made it a bit hard to work when his digipad goes ‘on vacation’ and he has work to do.

It was the little things like that which made him love Chani even more. As he scanned a row of marked boxes, he looked up as she typed away on the keyboard, not even really paying any attention to her fingers. She might not have been looking at them, but he loved to watch the way they danced so effortless from key to key. She could be singing a song, drink some water, and dancing the tango and still never miss a key. There was something special about Chani. There always had been.

The scanner made a loud beep as he attempted to scan the same crate twice, snapping him back to the task at hand. He finished the stack before hooking the scanner to his belt and pulling out the clipboard to right down the inventory table on the pad. He scribbled the information in a shorthand that only he and Chani understood. Winnie was starting to get the hang of their little language, but she only knew what she saw the most. Secrecy was always of the utmost importance on this tiny moon.

“Evenin’, sir!” Gabe managed to squeaked out before Mr. Kynes’ connection was closed. He smiled back at Chani as she bounced over to him and gave him a quick a kiss. He wanted to pull her back and never let go over her, but when she mentioned dinner he remembered just how hungry he was. “No rush, dear. I need to finish up with this section and then I’ll be up.” He stood frozen, watching her as she skipped out of the room and off to do whatever it was Chani does when he isn’t around. Most likely sleep.

As soon as she was out of sight, he finished the couple of stacks he had left and headed to northern most wall of the workshop. He pushed the corner of a wall panel and popped open, sliding to the left. Inside was a small metal crate with a ton of holes throughout its sides. Carefully, he picked up the crate and closed the panel, sticking his finger through a hole and wagging it slightly. A soft sound came from inside he smiled softly, glad that he hadn’t suffocated his fiance’s gift.

Making his way back into the main building, he heard what sounded like Chani screaming. He bolted for the room, dropping the crate on a chair just inside the door. “Chichi!” he called, running to the couch and squatting down next to it, grabbing Chani by the shoulders and shaking her gently. “Chichi, wake up. It’s just a dream.” His voice was softer now, almost like a coo. He gently brushed the hair from her face. “I’m here, Chichi. I’m here.” This wasn’t the first time he had to wake Chani from this type of dream, and he was quite certain that it wouldn’t be the last.</sub>

[Chani Alia Kynes]

Chani was still shuddering in her sleep. It took moments before Gabe's soft voice echoed through her ears pulling her out of the darkness. She grabbed a hold of him her teddy and blankets having fallen off of the couch. She didn't let go of him as tears streamed down her face. This was one of the reasons why she didn't sleep and also the reason why it was really bad for her to go anymore than a couple of days without a good 12 hour sleep feast. The memories of long ago had the tendency of creeping up on her dreams. Her worst memory being her worst nightmare. Okay so there was a nightmare worse but this one has actually happened the other one she knew was just a dream. What she's just seen through her dream had been real. Very real to the five year old that was still frightened about it in her. Chani acted child like and naive but in reality she wasn't as naive as some people might think she is. She was her father's daughter after all and the ability to still be childlike was what kept everyone around her so ammused and happy when around her.

She finally let go of Gabe and dried her tears. "S...Sorry if I di..Disturbed your work." She was always stuttery and shakey after she had been woken up by Gabe. It wasn't the first time that he's woken her up from her nightmares and it wouldn't be the last time either she was sure of it. She hated bad dreams though and she hated how memories came back to haunt you. She picked up her blanket and began to fold it something that happened when she was still nervous about stuff. She'd tidy to the point that Gabe would have to stop her from doing that and get her mind off everything. On their little moon it was just them. They were safe but the dreams and the fears still came. Secrecy was something that they had built and constructed so elaborately that it would take someone far more skilled than Chani herself to find them in their safe haven.

The next thing they needed to work on getting was a force feild that would save off someone trying to blow up the moon because they were so angry that they couldn't get to them. There would be no way to blow it up from the inside. No Chani's father and herself had made sure of that. She shook her head and picked up her teddy bear and sat it back down and then grabbed ahold of Gabe again to calm herself more and didn't let him go.

[Gabriel Pierce]

<sub>“How many time do I have to tell you, Chichi. Never apologize for having that nightmare.” he replied, waiting patiently as she folded the blanket and picked up her bear. He had been with her long enough to know that she had her quirks about things being messy, and he knew that in some weird way, going through the motions helped to calm her down. As soon as she was done, however, he pulled her into a tight hug and stroked the back of her hair.

Softly, he said, “I will never let anything hurt you. Ever. No one will be able to take you from my arms so long as I am still breathing.” He had nightmares of his own. Most of them included the Alliance find them and trying to take Chani away. The events were always different, be it by transport shuttle, bounty hunter, army of fighter ships, or even just a cruiser parked right outside the atmo with a giant chain pulling the moon out of orbit. It always ended the same though; with Gabe dead and Chani imprisoned for life, unable to life the somewhat carefree life that she deserved.

He stood there for what might have been twenty minutes, rocking her back and forth and rubbing circles on her back, before he remembered the crate in the chair. “Oh!” he said, stepping back from her a bit but holding onto her elbows. “I got you something. One second.” Reluctantly, he left her go and took a few steps over to the chair. He opened the crate and scooped out the fuzzy creature. “Now, you’ll have to take care of her, but I think that you two will get along just fine,” he mused, turning around to reveal a small, black and white kitten in his arms. It was just winged from its mother, and it’s eyes were blinking from the change of light.</sub>

[Chani Alia Kynes]

Chani couldn't help but say sorry each time she had that nightmare though because she always felt like she had pulled her boy from something important that he was doing. He was hugging her once again and stroking her hair which added to the things that could calm her down after such a dream. She snuggled into him just a little more glad that she had him in her life and glad that her father had chosen him for her husband. Sure she may not have been happy about it at first but well that had changed only days after they had met anyways. She couldn't imagine life without him now. He'd keep her sane if something did happen to her father. Something like what happened when she was five and nearly lost him. She shuddered a little and shook her head trying to get the images and memories out of her mind or at least at the back of it where they belonged.

"I love you." She whispered after he said he wouldn't let anything hurt her so long as he was still breathing. She was sure that he had nightmares of his own. Actually she knew full well that the men in her life were afraid of the alliance, academy, or something taking her away for good. Her father had a very good reason for it and Chani knew that she and her father had told him the story of when she was five many times before. So they all were afraid of something to that effect. She was afraid of losing them more than she was of being captured and imprisoned for life. She's not last long if she were to ever be imprisoned for the rest of her life. She's go crazy and no longer be the Chani that everyone knew. No you couldn't cage the roaming spirit within her. She would last a few days but the rest of her life not at all. She's likely die after the first five or so years. Of course she never voiced that opinion and when those thoughts came to her head the vanished as quickly as they came. No she would not get caught and taken away. She's not have those she loved taken away from her. She just wouldn't.

Twenty minutes or so passed before he stepped back from her and she cocked her head not really understanding why until she saw him turn around with a fuzzy little creatures in his arms. Her eyes lite up like a little kid's at Christmas time. She took the black and white kitten from his hands and held it up and then cuddled it close to her. "Blackie, that will be her name" The kitten gave a small purr and Chani sat the little thing on her blankets next to her teddy bear where it curled up and waited as she literally almost took Gabe to the ground after pouncing him. "Thank you thank you thank you" She kissed him and smiled brightly before finally calming herself down and sitting down next to the kitten who moved to her lap and fell asleep in almost an instant.

[Gabriel Pierce]

<sub>Gabe braced himself for her attack, barely managing to keep himself on his feet as she tackled him. She had always mentioned wanting a kitten, and he finally got the hint and given in. To be honest, he wasn’t one for pets. They were an extra mouth to feed, which was something that he had avoided the best he could growing up. On this moon, they fared well enough, and it really was pretty adorable. Banishing the thought from his mind, he shook his head to indicate that no thanks were really necessary. “Blackie. Sounds good,” he commented lamely. It wasn’t like he would have had any say in her name anyway. He wasn’t very good at naming things anyway.

He couldn’t help but beam at the two of them sitting so peacefully on the couch as if it were as natural as breathing. Or eating. His stomach rumbled slightly and he nervously scratched at the back of his head, embarrassed by the sound. “So what was this you said about dinner?”

Looking down to rub his belly dramatically, he noticed a bulletin from the cortex amongst the clutter on the coffee table. He pushed aside a few random pieces of paper and scanned the paper carefully. Apparently there was going to be a ball on Osiris to celebrate the recent release of a new engine by one of the worst engineers in the black. Well, Gabe thought he was worst, but the Alliance seemed to love him. The guy had a knack for reusing old designs, throwing a few new parts on it, changing up the packaging a bit, and calling it the next big thing. People ate up his lies like they were candy.

“Can you believe this?” Gabe said incredulously, unable to look away from the picture of the round man smiling so confidently into the capture. “This kuh wu huen dahn! Once again he’s put out crap and everyone fawns over him like he’s a god. This design isn’t even that…” his voice trailed off as he took a closer look at the design. “Chani, would you be a dear and pull up the full schematics of this?” He pointed the article out to her, fairly certain that he recognized this particular design. It looked eerily similar to the project he was currently working on on the side.</sub>

[Chani Alia Kynes]

Chani smiled brightly as Gabe agreed on the name. She knew very well that Gabe wasn't exactly a pet person because it meant that there was another mouth to feed. Chani on the other hand simply loved their company and she was happy that he'd finally gotten her a little kitten. It would keep her happy and company when she was working on things and she's train it to do the odd because that was just how she was. She let out a small giggle as she heard his stomach growl. "Sorry I fell asleep. I'll go make dinner in a minute. What would you prefer tonight. There were two things that Chani did well. One was anything and everything to do with Technology and getting the word out. Then there was the fact that she was after all a wonderful self taught cook. After all she was the only female in a male household. Not to say that he father or Gabe couldn't cook it just usually fell into being one of her duties and she liked it.

The kitten adjusted itself on her lap as she began to pet its smooth fur. She looked at Gabe as his eyes traveled elsewhere. There was a ball or something on the cortex that caught his eyes and had not caught her own. She looked over at it bringing Blackie into her arms so that she could stand up. It was some ball on Osiris that featured a man that she knew Gabe absolutely did not like. What he gave out was old reworked designs that were a piece of crap. Chani wasn't too keen on the engineering stuff like Gabe was but if it dealt with technology she could tell you who knew what they were doing and who didn't but there was something that caught her eye before Gabe caught. It looked all too familiar. She put Blackie down on her blankets next to her teddy bear again and the kitten stayed asleep. She moved back over to her desk just as Gabe said something about bring up the schematics of the thing in the article.

"One step ahead of you my dear. Give me just a moment and I'll pull the whole thing up so that we can take a better look." It didn't take her long as her fingers flew across the keyboard with great precision. In moments the fully schematics were brought up. She knew very well that Gabe was working on something on the side of everything else. That was how they rolled so she brought up the Schematics for what he was working on as well. They looked too familiar. She however couldn't be completely sure about that. Gabe would be able to tell her if they were or not. "There you go and the schematics for your job as well. It looks eerily similar."