Hoth: Blood and Ice

[Zeno Thul]

Zeno rested on his knees in the command center of Deathwright station, his eyes closed, with bloody tears streaming from his eyes. His father was nearby, discussing something with the Republic admiral nearby that had brought reinforcements from the alliance for the final push to remove the forces of Zakuul from the planet.

Since he had the most up to date information on the general flow of battle, being inside the minds of several Sith Empire commanders. When he collapsed to the floor in exhaustion, after almost 8 hours and an unhealthy amount of stims to keep him going, a young cousin and an elder aunt helped him to his feet and proffered water to his hands.

His father stepped away from the admiral, rudely dropping the conversation in favor of learning the state of things. He grabbed Zeno's shoulder and got right in his face to inspect him.

"You'll live. Report," he commands in his taciturn way before releasing Zeno's shoulder and pushing him back a step. His weakened body tripped at the sudden shove, falling to his backside.

Zeno, however, seems to be literally too physically or mentally exhausted to be upset. "It's done, the plan succeeded, the majority of Zakuul forces are routed from the city. I can't guess at numbers, but the casualties on both sides are... We can't withstand an assault from a band of pirates right now, but neither could they."

He then lays back on the floor while some med techs put him on a stretcher to take him to a kolto tank for rest. The Admiral, however, pauses to offer a handshake and thanks for Zeno's efforts. Which receives an obscene gesture in return. "Get out of the damn way pretty please. I'm in a whole lot of pain."

He hears his father chuckle at that. Which prompts him to redirect the gesture. "Choke on your victory, shitbird." Which receives a raucous round of laughter from his old man.

A day after the kolto tank...

Zeno is sitting with the Republic admiral and a dozen Deathwright pilots at a mess table, smiling, joking, and having apparently made up with the old fogey. The Admiral and his officers had been surprised at how level headed and not outright evil these nobles were. They were just excited and spoiling for a good fight, like any other elite military unit is. They didn't care about all the politics, they were simply gung ho patriots. Which made everyone from the Republic military feel quite welcome and at home.

And then the man himself, Zeno's dad, walked in and sat at the table killing the mood. Usually his presence wouldn't do that, but everyone could sense Zeno legitimately didn't like being around him and so it got super awkward when they shared a space. So Zeno looked at him and asked, "What is it?"

The masked pureblood looked at Zeno and shook his head. "Nothing. You may go. You're making things awkward."

He almost exploded. And his father could feel that as plain as day. He'll, even some of the Deathwright officers felt Zeno creep into their mind unexpectedly. He was on the edge of commanding them to kill his father. But an incident like that just after Dromuund Kaas was back under their control would have screwed everything up. Zeno had taken a support staff position in the alliance, but his father was simply the commander of the Deathwright forces and an Imperial liaison to the alliance. An alliance member murdering someone from one of the two allied factions would place his families in a difficult situation. And so he chilled himself out and allowed himself to be sent to his room.

Once there he called up Ziandra and the girls, let them know he was thinking about them, sang them all a lullaby and got some Alderaanian politics updates. He was careful not to say anything about the war though. Loose lips sink starships after all.

And then an explosion rocked the station, interfering with comms and cutting off his wife. Immediately, Zeno stretched his mind out to whoever dared to interrupt his wife. It was apparently a Zakuul landing party that had identified the command staff. But they had picked the wrong station. When his mind touched his fathers he immediately gave an order he knew wouldn't be refused. "Violet alarm, let her loose."

The responding thought was vicious and gleeful. She's got a mate now.

Shit. Well...

A silent purple lit alarm started going off in the station. The light caused a symbol to glow on all members of house Deathwright. And the two angy, hungry, and now doubly enhanced by both his father's force abilities and Zeno's battle meditation sniffed their way to the invaders, ignoring anyone with the glowing symbol. The Nexu pair didn't take prisoners, were apparently trained to play with their food, and were unreasonably powerful compared to others of their species. When the doomed boarding action was done, the staff found the nexu eating two halves of a torn apart knight of Zakuul.

"Kriffing piece of trash," Zeno replied before going back to reconnect his call, ignoring everything else. Someone else gets to...

"Aren't you going to clean this up?" his father asks.

Ohh, you piece of... "Sure." Zeno walks to a limb that was laying on the ground and then tosses it at his dad's feet. "I'll put them with the rest of the trash."

He wals away, ignoring all looks from everyone not knowing or caring how the insult landed. He had a wife and daughters to see to. Then a mother and sister. Then a whole space station of other relations, and then friends from the alliance, then two angry nexu, then a refresher stall, and then finally he would see to his father again.

Love you like a poodoo stew dad.