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| - Gunray had been easy to kill, all it had taken was five seconds for Shinai to slice off the Neimoidian’s head and then mess with the rest of his body. Yet all of this he pushed to the back of his mind as he walked towards his front door. That was work, and what happened while he was out there he didn’t let interfere with the time he spent with his wife and son. Ten years ago, Shinai would have thought that for a former Jedi doing this sort of thing he would had to have turned to the dark side, yet Shinai knew this was not true. He felt the Force as he had always done when he was a Jedi, and there was even a certain amount of removal of emotion from what he did—a practise he had begun while he was a Jedi. The only difference was that he was now freer to choose his own path in life—something that the Jedi had frequently denied him—that and the fact that he now had a family. Yet it was not with a smile and a kiss that Martreyea met him at the door. She embraced him and even with the Force, Shinai could tell there were traces of tears in her eyes. “What’s happened?” he asked her, touching her cheek affectionately. “You’re been crying, haven’t you?” “It’s nothing,” she said dismissively, walking towards the kitchen. “I’ve left something hot for you.” “Don’t lie to me,” Shinai warned, following her. “I can tell that something has upset you, what is it?” Martreyea shook her head. “It’s not important.” “If it’s upset you than it’s important,” Shinai said, sitting down at the counter. “Don’t you trust me?” Martreyea’s face went almost as red as her hair. “Of course I trust you! That’s why—” She put a hand over her mouth, Shinai removed it. “Now we’re getting somewhere,” he said. “Tell me, what happened this afternoon? Where did you go?” Martreyea busied herself getting the hot plate and a knife and fork, averting her eyes. “Someone came to see me.” “Well, that’s no surprise,” Shinai said, he caught her hand in his. “Didn’t you say that someone from Avingnon would come to check up on you? At least they haven’t tracked you to me.” Martreyea paused, her hand frozen as it was its way to her face. “That…wasn't what it was about.” “Then what was it about?” Shinai asked. “Shinai, you would never do anything to hurt me, would you?” Martreyea’s voice was low and somewhat nervous. “Of course not,” Shinai said. “You’re all I have and all that matters, what makes you doubt me?” “I don’t,” she said, brushing her vibrant hair away from her face. “It’s just that…why don’t you tell me what it is you do? I’m your wife, you owe me that, don’t you?” “Listen to me.” He caught her by the arm. “The reason I don’t tell you is to protect you and Arrin, do you realise what someone would do to you to get information about me? I can’t risk that.” “But it’s a little hard on me being in the dark,” she said. “I know, but it’s the only way to protect you.” He felt into the Force, sensing her hesitation. Yet there was something else, something deeper. “I thought you understood that, who have you been talking to?” She didn’t answer, escaping his grip and wiping some non-existent crumbs off the sink so as to avoid his questions. “Martreyea.” He got up from where he sat and stood behind her, catching her by the arms. “You have to tell me as it could compromise not only me but you and Arrin.” She looked fearfully up at him. “You mean that?” “If I didn’t why would I say it?” Shinai asked her, he stood back as she turned around. “All right.” She let out a slow breath. “A Jedi came to see me.” Shinai felt his fist clench. “A Jedi?” “Yes.” She continued on hurriedly. “He asked about you.” This was disturbing, but Shinai knew that she didn’t know enough to betray him. “What did you say?” “I told him that I didn’t know and that I trusted you,” she said. “But he said something about Senator Stokra, is it true?” She went on, not giving him time to answer. “And then, I saw on the Net tonight, Nute Gunray…was that you?” Her eyes grew fearful but she did not shrink away. “I love and trust you, Shinai, but this is a little hard to take.” He ignored her objections, there were things he needed to know. “When did he come?” “This afternoon,” she answered. “Quite early, before I heard the report. But please.” She stepped forward and clasped his hand, her voice earnest and soft. “Tell me those horrible things he said aren’t true, you haven’t been involved in those things, haven’t you?” Shinai could only make out parts of her face through the Force, but that was enough to know what she was feeling. “I cannot lie to you.” He enclosed her hand with two of his. “Yes, that was me, I was hired to do the job as people think I’m a Jedi.” She stared at him, horrified. “But…why?” “It’s what I do,” he told her, trying to convince her as well as himself. “It’s all I know how to do and it’s how I provide for you.” “But how could you do something like that?” she asked him, all of the trust going out of his voice. “Killing, for money?” “It’s not all killing,” he explained, but she wouldn’t listen. “It doesn’t matter, I don’t know how you can justify this even with yourself.” “I don’t ask why I do this,” Shinai said, his voice rising in anger, “I just do it.” He gestured around him. “How do you think that we got this place? Credits don’t just fall out of the sky.” Martreyea shook her head. “I’d rather be living in a burned out freighter than a place bought with your blood-money. If you do this to other people, how come I don’t know if you can do this to us?” “You’re being unfair!” he accused, distancing himself from her. “I would never do something like that to you and Arrin, that’s different!” “How different?” Martreyea spat. “And given all these lies you’ve told me why should I believe you?” She walked up to him, her eyes blazing with fury. “You disgust me!” He hit her, his hand impacting against her cheek and throwing her to one side. She held her face to the spot, tears running down her cheeks. “That's it,” she said decidedly. “I'm taking Arrin and we’re going back to Avingnon, my mother will take us in.” She started to cross the room but he stopped her, grabbing her wrist firmly. “You’re not taking my son anywhere!” he roared. “He’s my son as well!” she shrieked, fighting him. “Let go, of me!” With the Force he slid a chair across the room and shoved her violently into it. “Now you listen!” “I won’t!” She got to her feet. “Sit down!” He pushed her down so violently that the chair almost toppled over. Martreyea cried out in pain. -- The shouts and shrieks were enough to wake Arrin, he slipped out of bed and hid in the darkness of the hallway, crouching in his green pyjamas. He could see his father and mother, he was saying awful things to her and she was trying to fight him, but he was stronger and getting angrier. “I can’t let you go, anywhere!” his father roared, picking up his mother by the throat with such force that her feet lifted off the ground. She wriggled in his grasp, her eyes wide and fearful. “Shi…nai…let go…of…me!” she gasped. “You’re… hurting…me!” Angrily he threw her across the room. As he sucked his thumb, Arrin watched his mother move through the air and he closed his eyes so he wouldn’t see her hit the floor. Yet he heard nothing and when he opened his eyes he could see her hanging in mid air, her hands about her throat as if she was still being choked. “Shinai…don’t…do this!” she implored, yet she saw no remorse or emotion in his expression as he neared her. His eyeless face was as impenetrable as a durasteel wall, and just as hard and cold. This wasn’t her husband, she knew, this wasn’t the man she had nursed when he had been almost mortally wounded and had given her his love and a child they shared. -- Frantically Anakin and Obi-Wan ran through the building, upon entering they had sensed the disturbance in the Force. They entered the turbolift, impatient as it seemed to take its own sweet time upwards. “Do you think they’ve run?” Obi-Wan asked him. “Perhaps,” Anakin agreed, “but I fear the worst.”
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