Circles

Disclaimer: I do not own SW.

Chapter One: Surrender

Chaf’orm’bintrano paced his chambers, a whirl of yellow robes, unable to return attention to his current affairs, too preoccupied with the sleepy female in the room next door.

It was unnatural, undesirable and immoral; but it was unpreventable. His mind would not wander, would not even leave the thought of her alone. It continued to spin around, his thought-process an unbreakable circle that could only be self-destructive.

He did not know why or how such a change had come about, when Feesa had grown from a sweet child to a beautiful female. They were not related closely enough for it to be illegal, but they worked too closely for it to be allowed.

Besides, she was much too young for a Chiss of his age, and would be better suited to someone more virulent, who would be able to give her the child she would need to have to fulfil her quota.

It was a sad state of affairs that targets had been set for Chiss females to meet in regards to having children; the very nature of their Ascendancy, its sheer size and the military campaigns it undertook required a large number of troops in order to present a formidable enough army.

It may have been military doctrine to wait for the first blow to be struck, but total devastation of the aggressor required many troops who were obedient and sympathetic to the Chiss doctrine.

It was becoming less and less frequent to see women anywhere near the edge of Chiss territory, despite the Far Outsiders threat, and the rumours of nomadic pirate gangs.

Perhaps emancipation was the correct term; but as a species, Chiss women had never been considered second class, merely presented with a different set of gifts and skills to men, and therefore highly useful in certain situations.

Physically, there was very little difference between the two genders, despite the obvious.

But the needs of the Ascendancy needed to be met, and unless the Ascendancy continued to grow and expand, it would be unable to defend the people inside its territory. Everything that had been gained over the last 500 years would begin to root and wither away into a husk.

Defences manned by dwindling numbers would do no good against the numerous threats that were beginning to emerge. It turned his stomach that every female within the Expansionary Defence Fleet had to have at least 2 children

Maybe that was why this felt so unnatural; for a Chiss to allow a feeling to control their actions, as he was, was incredibly rare, and frowned upon as a weakness. The risk of not going to her was too great, but the consequences of not indulging his weakness was potentially ruining. For himself and for his family, and of course for Feesa herself.

Besides which, she would not want some one like him. Not when she had her general Drask.

She thought he was unaware of her relationship with the general, but how could he not be? The Chaf Envoy was his ship, registered in his name; it was his business to be aware of everything that occurred aboard. And the very idea that his niece and the military commander aboard his ship were engaged in sexual relations could slip past him was ludicrous.

Even setting aside his unnatural desire, what kind of person would he be?

He faltered at that question; he was the very worst kind of person. Even if he could pretend that he was only interested in Feesa’s romances because of their family connection, and not from the thin-disguised jealousy he held towards the general, he could not justify his feelings for his beautiful young aide and niece.

Even telling himself these things, he knew that he would go to her room tonight. Nothing would stop him. Not even the Jedi he knew were possibly roaming the ship.

Being an Aristocra had many advantages, and one of them was the ability to enter every room aboard the Chaf Envoy by voice recognition identification. Even now, carefully concealed inside Feesa’s room, he felt a thousand eyes watching him, unnerving and yet somehow adding to the sick enjoyment of the night time visits to his niece.

Her room was as it always was, plain, understated and fairly devoid of personal effects. The only thing that labelled it as her own were the clothes carefully laid out upon the chair beside her bed, her yellow jumpsuit carefully pressed and immaculately hung. Her shoes and underwear too was nearby, and as perfectly presented as her other clothing.

He resisted an urge to take the clothing to his nose and inhale, instead using all of his control to carefully kneel beside the bed, and reach out a trembling hand to touch the softly curled hair that lay against her bare shoulder. His hands itched to see if she was as soft as he knew the especially lacy underwear to be.

She moved, a gentle moan escaping her lips, blue lips now parted, the sheets enveloping her, wrapping her tightly in their cheerless embrace. He could see, by the very shape of her, that she wore no clothes beneath the sheets, and was engaged in a personal dream.

He bit his lip to hold back the gasp, almost painfully aroused by the simple noise made by his niece. It was too dangerous for him to remain close by her; she could awake at any moment. Any other night would be safe, but she only had to have a few minutes with her eyes open to see him and to ruin his night time wanderings.

Backing away, he left the room, making his way towards the door, a stream of barely coherent names groaned aloud. His blood ran cold as he heard his own name between two colourfully tasteless Cheunh words, and left the room, terrified at what he had discovered.