Having crushed the assassins sent to silence Grito, Avery and his team continued on their way towards the nearest warp portal.
With a more than triple-in-sized Alliance Police escort, there was absolutely nothing else to worry about on the rest of the journey.
Or so Avery had thought. But the closer they got to reaching the Cocarro System, the more nervous and distant Jasmine beca.
While she had not said anything, it was obvious to anyone with a working brain that she had so connection to the system. Perhaps even to planet Azade where the court Grito was to be testifying in was located.
Avery had told her not to worry about divulging her past to him and Kasandra, but it was clear that this decision was what was worrying her.
A part of Jasmine just wanted to get it off her chest, but another was afraid of what the others might think.
Eventually though, when they were only an hour away from the warp portal, she worked up the courage to tell Avery and Kasandra about her past.
The three of them sat down in the dining room to talk.
Each of them had picked out a drink of their choice and sitting in the center of the table were a dozen freshly cooked Ariac Buns that the autochef had just whipped up for them.
After Kasandra had first introduced them to Avery and Jasmine, the two of them had gotten hooked on the sweet snack. It was now one of there go to comfort foods.
After they had sat around for a bit, rely relaxing, Jasmine began.
"It was a bit less than seven years ago now. I decided I didn't like the constraints of my ho, so I ran away. All my life I'd looked up to heroes and proponents of justice, both in stories and throughout history. Since I was young, I wanted to be like them, so I thought it only natural that I join the Alliance Police. That way I could protect the people and uphold the laws of the Dramid Alliance." Jasmine said, a nostalgic but sad look in her eyes.
Obviously, the future she had envisioned had not co to pass.
For a ti, she had done good work with the Alliance Police. Yet in the end, the corruption from within had forced her to leave. Had she stayed, she already would have been dead by now. Soone in power had not appreciated her ddling in the case regarding the six dead bodies that Avery found aboard the Dauntless.
Jasmine was smart enough to see what her future with the Alliance Police would have entailed and escaped the grueso fate that had been awaiting her had she accepted her 'promotion' and transfer.
What she had told Avery and Kasandra so far was only the broad overview of her life before joining them. Sothing the two of them had already figured out on their own.
Of course, she was not done yet. And after a large gulp from the glass of wine sitting in front of her, she started telling them about her ti before the Alliance Police.
"I don't think I hid this at all, but I might as well co out and say it. I was born and raised in the Cocarro system. On Azade to be specific."
This also ca as no surprise. Jasmine gave off the feel of a planet raised girl.
Over ninety percent of the Dramid Alliance's population lived out in space. Either on colonies or spaceships.
With under a hundred habitable worlds throughout the entire Alliance, terrestrial land was a premium most people could not afford. Plus, there had long been a saying that most people had heard at least a few tis in life. "The stars are filled with opportunity."
However, Jasmine was not just the average person that had been living on Azade. As she soon explained, she was born to a family of so repute and held a position of power within the planet's governnt.
"I had a feeling that there was sothing like this looming on the horizon. Don't tell your father is going to send private troops after to get you back?" Avery asked, a dismayed look in his eyes.
"No, I don't think that will be happening. Not unless he wakes up from the dead and commands an army of ghosts. My dad passed away fifteen years ago, when I was nine."
Despite trying to make a joke out of it, Jasmine could not hide a bit of somberness when bringing up her deceased father.
From either side of her, Avery and Kasandra hugged Jasmine and brought her into a comforting embrace. Though, Avery could not help feeling a bit relieved that he did not have to worry about an irate father coming after him because he had slept with his daughter.
Yet his feelings of relief did not last long when he heard what she had to say next.
"Although, my mother might send so people after . I had to flee halfway across the Alliance before her agents stopped coming to find and bring back."
At first Avery thought that this might just be another jest. Yet, as he looked at Jasmine, the expression on her face was one of the utmost seriousness. She truly believed that her mother might send people after her, and by extension, Avery. This was the main reason she did not want to tell them about her past. She had not wanted to make trouble for her new family.
While Avery was reeling from this revelation and the possible conflict to co, Kasandra decided to ask specifically what position Jasmine's mother held.
"Well, I haven't really kept up to date on what's going on with my ho. But when I left, she was one of the senators that represent the planet's highest legislative authority. There are five hundred in total, and I have no reason to believe that she has lost or vacated her seat in the last seven years. It's a position that my family has held since the current governnt ca to power around four centuries ago."
As Jasmine talked about her family and their prestigious position within the political sphere of Azade, her lips slowly twisted into a scowl.
There was little doubt that she did not care much for her family's background and the power and authority it had amassed over the last half a millennium.
Jasmine might have been the most straightlaced of Avery's group, but in her family, she was basically a wild child.
She was a deft hand with a weapon, and she was certainly willing to get her hands dirty. Her grit and determination in the standoff against Iniquus' forr aide was more than enough proof of this.
"I just found it all so aggravating. The studying was fine, I enjoyed learning new things. But the manners and politicking were asinine as far as I was considered. So many people in charge were just after power for the sake of having it. The only tis most of them wanted to do anything good was as a publicity stunt. It just wasn't for ." Jasmine said, shaking her head as she thought back on her younger years.
Once she had finished telling them about herself, Avery felt his head pounding at the prospective future awaiting him. He really did not want to have Jasmine's mother demanding her return, and inevitably sending people after her when she refused.
Had Jasmine wanted to return to her forr life, she already would have. And after all they had been through together and the intimacy they had shared, Avery was not willing to let her go unless that was what Jasmine truly desired.
He had already promised to fight tooth and nail to protect her, and if that ant doing so against her powerful mother, then that was what he would do.
"Still, it's not like she knows that you're with us. It seems unlikely that a senator busy running a planet will care about so random rcenaries entering the system. As long as you don't announce yourself, she should remain unaware." Avery said hopefully.
Jasmine, however, was less optimistic than him.
"I can't say for sure, but I think that even after she stopped sending people to bring back once I joined the Alliance Police that she might have still been monitoring . It's just a possibility though. She's not all-powerful or all-knowing"
Her uncertainty on the matter was hardly reassuring, but Avery decided to put future problems that were out of his control to the back of his mind. Instead, he wanted to focus more on Jasmine since she was currently being so forthcoming about her past. He intended to spend the rest of his life with her, so he wanted to know more about her.
Yet, before they moved on, Kasandra had a few questions of her own that she wanted answered.
"When you first joined us, I ran a pretty extensive background check on you, but I never found anything on your mother being a senator on Azade. The records I dug up listed you as an orphan."
Kasandra had found this suspect when she first went digging into Jasmine's background.
She had wanted to make doubly sure that they were not bringing aboard a dangerous elent. Though her past worries seed pointless now. Kasandra and Jasmine had grown incredibly close during their ti together. They were almost like sisters now.
"Ah, I chaged my last na and had so generic background created for my new identity. I did that to try and keep my mother off my trail and to prevent anyone from recognizing from my family na. So of my superiors in the Alliance Police knew about my forr life, but I kept it under wraps for the most part."
After giving this explanation, both Avery and Kasandra pressured Jasmine to tell them what her original na was.
It took a bit of ti and so bribery in the forr of luxury foods. Nevertheless, she eventually caved and told them.
"I was born Jasmine Rhinelander. But I already abandoned that na. Now I'm just simple Jasmine Iralus. A forr Alliance Police Sergeant, current rcenary, and one of my captain's lovers."
User Comments
0 comments from readers