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Doc was startled by the stranger. Through instinct, he quick drew his handguns with lightning speed, pulled the hammers back and had them pointed at the stranger.
"I don't know who you are but......" he paused, ".....you're the man from the Cantina. You obviously know who I am but I don't know you. Some answers would be nice."
At the actions of the guns being drawn the mans features only turned into a subtle smile, it seemed he was not so intimidated by such things, his posture didn't change nor did his state of emotion, probably suggesting that this wasn't so unusual to him.
"You know Doc, I am unsure of who you shared your secret to but normally logic would dictate that it would be one of those people, providing they were as trust worthy as you thought to keep such a secret, I am sure if you rake your mind for some answers, that we would come across the answer without me having to tell you, being who that person was has left Sirus and instead I am what has come back from such an endeavor, seeing as some people believe me to have died, I would seek to at least give you some clues - We know each other, I have pointed people to you that had problems with Cardamine, I know Doreen and her child, or rather knew, times change of course though it was nice to see her in good spirits - less so that your in worse spirits old friend - if you are clued in, please just call me Vaelin, the name I once bore no longer suits the person i have become - we once both shared each others secrets in Baffin."
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Doc watched as he spoke. He recognized the voice. That hadn't changed. The mention of Doreen, cardamine research and a previous name that no longer suited him from a previous life made sense.
"Dangen," he said cooly as he re-set the hammers on his guns, then spun them on his fingers and holstered them, "my last report was that you had been found and killed." He then smirked, "Isn't life after death......refreshing? We're probably the only two around that know the feeling."
He began walking to him, "Just do me a favor, let Doreen keep thinking it. She's been through enough as has her son but then, who am I to tell you what to do."
He then held his arms out, "So, this is all that remains," he explained as he put his arms down, "my old home, all but frozen and empty. Midori left me and is back on Honshu, married to and carrying another man's child." He paused a moment, "But I'm fine with that. I guess my work was too much for her. According to my daughter, Emiko, she is happy again."
He picked up a picture, an old picture, of him and a friend from long ago. He gave a chuckle and a smile before setting it back on a small book case, "I'm alone now, Vaelin. No Midori, no TAZ and no suitors although I have been working on expanding Med Force Enterprises. Still, I often find myself alone. At first, I didn't think I'd mind it but now, I'm starting to feel dislike of it."
"But enough about me, old friend, how have you been? WHERE have you been?" he inquired. "Would you care for a drink?"
Vaelin inclined his head. "I am tempted to let the rest of Sirius mostly think I am dead, and really? someone 'found' and killed me, well, I would love to find this glory seeker, I am sure I could scare him and act all ghostly."A chuckle rang out and he moved to take a seat within the room, reclining back as he looked around the house as Doc told him of what happened. "Sometimes duty requires all we have and leaves scant time with loved ones and for that they and you suffer for such things, though not a lot of people can deal with such situations, its likely she felt as alone as you did now, if I am right in saying that your duty took priority of your time, at some point in time Doc, you've got to learn to be selfish." He knew that this could be harsh bu it was his thoughts and he was more inclined to be honest and wasn't reluctant to speak his mind.
His head shook to the mention of the drink his gaze turning towards the window and to the outside scenery. "I had no intent of having Doreen know, for the simple reason that she was emotionally attached to me, my departure and my return, I dislike stringing peoples emotions or causing them pain which might be a surprise, I find that I am more inclined to being a free-spirited and for all senses of the word a nomad, the real meaning of it, not the flying blue balls of energy and flesh."
His eyes turned to Doc with a saddened expression and a frown. "I can see it in your eyes the toll, I can only guess drinks have become more appealing, depression has set in and weighs you down and maybe you have felt or you have cried in relation to how you feel, you can be around a million people and still feel alone - as for where I have been, well the truth was that I went out of Sirius and into the void of space, drifting and only being woken when coming across something significant, jump drives were used, found other planets and so fourth, but I find that complete solitude does my head in, there isn't much to observe in terms of society out there, my head was doing me in."
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He wasn't cross with him at the mention of selfishness. "I never thought of myself as selfish. If I was, I would be a very, VERY, wealthy man as I would have charged for every service I ever provided," he explained. Looking at the picture again and taking another sip of his drink, he continued, "but that's not me. It never was." He turned a bit toward Vaelin, "If anything, I spent so much time worrying about everyone else BUT my family that it cost me. You know, keeping the Corsairs happy so as to not harass us and the many other acts of diplomacy I did over the years."
He then finished the contents of his glass and went over to the half-full bottle of brandy and re-filled his glass before turning back to Vaelin, "I don't miss it and it will take a lot...and I do mean a lot, to force me into it."
He then gave a squinting look at him, "Nomad you say. I suspected because you are something else other than human.....which doesn't bother me. People fear them." He then shook his head, "I do not. I do have a question for you though, one only you could answer. IF you're some sort of Nomad, why is it that Admiral Golanski knows of my hatred and my attempts to reverse cardamine addiction? He said it was because of you that he knows.........and I don't want anyone knowing that!"
He sipped his drink, wondering what kind of answer he might get.
His head shook slightly. "I know, old friend, as to your selfishness, but sadly that has a price and you have paid it." He motioned around more so noting towards the empty and barren house. "I wasn't meaning to be selfish with money, but to be selfish in terms of time, you have to steal the moments for yourself for everyone else will take, you neglected those you loved - they are gone because your to much of a good man and an idealist, you're not the only one who is able to handle such things, this is why I always hated politics." A sigh escaped from his lips, his fingers interlacing.
His brow lifted at the next part of what he said. "I would presume that Golanski would be lying that I have not spoken to the man on any length, I would not tell him for what I had for breakfast, the only ones I told of that was those that were cardamine addicted and those are the ones I sent to you, if you remember - its easy to blame a figure who is no longer around, but now you have a hole, for it was not me who told him of such things, you'll need to look to others that you entrusted with that information." A sigh came from his lips as he moved to stand moving to the window to look outside.
"There are very few who I have shared information with, and that's only been with my own information and not others - my loyalty to groups may be questioned, but to people it is not, few ever came to understand that my loyalty isn't in their idea's, or the concepts of the group but the people and how and who they are, it is why in the Order I followed the leader I trusted and fractured from them when I no longer could trust them, I have heard words of Galonski and to me it sounds like he is another warmonger who only seeks to use ultimatums, he expresses a severe level of expediency, This universe will only suffer from men like him, in terms of things being done with a delicate manner, I am lead to believe he uses the bluntest curdle he can find to beat these 'delicate' situations."
Turning his head over his shoulder to look at Doc, he'd look him directly in the eyes as he spoke next. "As far as I know, what I am has no relevance towards the Nomads, I am sure if there was, then they would seek to bug me, which I wouldn't mind, I find I quite like the nomads, as a society, they are at least less prone to wars and fighting when there is no reason - I knew one for a while, an individual, it was unique but I no longer know of what became of it."
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"There's little I can do now in regards to those who I treated for cardamine addiction or at least, tried to help," he answered. "Hopefully that generosity doesn't come back to bite me on the ass one day." For the moment, he let go of his dislike of Golanski.
He turned back to Vaelin and took a seat next to him at the subject of Nomads.
"We agree on much regarding Nomads," he explained. "You know that I have been considered infected or a sympathizer for wanting to learn more about them? For admitting to having a mind link with one? It's an experience one never forgets as they are powerful and will leave you with a headache but I gained a lot from it."
"You are right, Vaelin. Don't give them a reason and they are quite peaceful to be around." The thoughts of Golanski came to mind as he spoke of Nomads. Doc sipped his drink and "hmphed" at the thought, "The Order claims that despite what we learn, Nomads want us dead. Well, if that were true, I'd have been killed a long time ago and believe me, there have been ample opportunities for the Nomads to do it. It's not hard to down my transport, especially not for them."
Doc stood up and walked towards his piano before turning around, pointing to Vaelin, "I remember my mind link quite well. I remember it showed visions of peaceful places but also the sufferings of Nomads due to mankind. It wanted me to know, to understand, why they resist but at the same time, the peace they love." He paused a moment with an odd look, "I found more peace with them than I have most anywhere else. Go figure."
He took a step towards Vaelin, "And anyone with half a brain would know and admit why they fight humanity. Man encroached upon their space. Man left Sol to get away from war so long they had no idea what they were fighting for. Man left Sol to find peace......" He turned back towards his piano, arms extended as he shouted, ".....and here is man again fighting each other like they did on Sol!"
He settled himself again and came back towards Vaelin, "I'm sorry for letting my emotions get the best of me. Um, did you mention that you knew where I came from?"
Vaelin lofted a brow at doc. "Indeed, you told me yourself if you remember such an event, I believe it was either you or me who first shared each others secrets, mine being a changeling and yours being a very old man and a reverent from the past - though you mightn't think so but your generosity has already bitten you in the rear." His hands motioned to the empty house and then to him as a reference to his state.
"Golanski gives me the impression of someone who wants a dictatorship and for the universe to be as they believe it should be, his threats to you would be an example to others, to prohibit others from gaining further knowledge - if you truly think about it, the Nomads are all connected, knowing the same as others and are a collective, its likely those that found them of the humans responded in fear and aggression due to that fear, Nomads can only judge us on what they know and the action of one, to them was an action by all, its hard to explain a concept to something that fails to comprehend the divided nature of the humans."
Vaelin moved to sit down in his chair again. "Humans are parasites, no offense, they shift environments to suit them, though that's more because of necessity, but Humans as a whole consume and the only advancements that seem to be made, or at least any of the major ones seem to be the result of war, for the need of better and better devices, War is the great motivator of the human race, and few consider a person full tested until they are lost to the midst's of it."
"I think the nomads are more peaceful merely for the reason they know what the others know, there isn't hidden motives, one doesn't lack the knowledge of why one does something, they all have an understanding, where as Humans only have the understanding of what they perceive and believe, as long as humans seek individual prestige, I doubt there will ever be peace - when humans have no one to fight, they will start fights with each other."
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Doc paced as he listened, finishing off another glass of brandy as he did and subsequently refilling it. He stopped in his tracks and looked over at Vaelin when he compared humans to parasites but continued when he made his explanation.
"War," he said pacing, "war is, what was once said to me, final diplomacy." He shrugged, "maybe that's why I failed at it." He then turned to Vaelin, "I always viewed war as a result, a result of people who don't want to listen. It happened in Sol and it's obvious that humanity didn't learn. A motivator? I'm not so sure about that but I do know that it's a business. Imagine, if the almighty credit wasn't the rule, I wonder what people would fight over." He smiled a second as he thought aloud, "maybe that's why Nomads get along so well. Credits aren't the rule."
He then went over to him. "Now, you said to me back in Texas something about you know where I come from. Might you care to explain that? It might clear up a few things for me."
Vaelin would loft his brow at Doc. "You told me you once came from Sol, from old earth, which is now only resided to the people of Sirius as a legend - War is the great motivator because people will be motivated by its effect, by their belief's of homeland or that they will save lives if they develop this in the time when their people need it the most, despite the suffering it causes, it seems people become motivated by it or even to win." Vaelin got up as doc came to him. "Doc, as a friend to another, I am going to have to ask you to look for love again when your ready, your state only gets worse from here, and be more selfish with your time, don't make the same mistake twice, don't neglect which is precious to you, for they are not inanimate objects, loved ones are like plants, if you neglect them they wither away until there is nothing you can do to make it healthy again."
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