Conversation with Mom

After his data-log recording ends, Artemis will try to feel his way around the cell as well as he can, to get his bearings. After a few minutes, he takes a breath and leans against a wall, finding secure support.

"Mom?" he calls. His voice hitches, so he tries again. "Mom? If you're not busy, can I have a word? Please? It's important."

You can hear the click of metal boots walking towards your cell. The cold emotionless voice of The Arahn greets you however, and not your mother. Referring to your data log recording she says, "You seem to very talkative for a man with nothing to say."

Artemis blinks, though he can't see anything. His mouth twists with distaste at the knowledge that his log had been overheard. He thought he'd been quiet, but then he knew firsthand how well sound carries in this ship. Then he shrugs. "I keep my datalogs for myself, not for anyone else. They don't have to mean anything to you." He pauses. "Might I know who you are? All I know is that you're working with mother."

"People call me The Arahn, but then they also call me Bounty Hunter and that's not right. After all a Bounty Hunter finds people for money, and I've never accepted credits on a job I take. Your mother calls me Samus. I'm the one that's kept her going all these years, when she was ready to call it quits. I was her only friend as a child, but she met your father and sent me away cause I didn't approve of him. In the end I was right about him, and she came back, when she was too weak to carry on. I'd apologize for using you like this kid, but I have the feeling it'd sound insincere coming from me."

Artemis recognizes the name, of course, and reacts with a widening of his eyes and a momentarily tenser posture. The surprise turns into intrigue as Samus continues. A childhood friend? I had no idea that mom had such a close friend. But, I didn't know mom for long. Sounds like father wouldn't have had any reason to mention her either.

Artemis tilts his head slightly to one side. He thinks for a moment after Samus finishes, and then speaks. "And why should you even apologize in the first place? You have nothing to apologize for, and I don't see how you're "using me" at all. You're doing what is necessary, and you have my thanks for that." Artemis pauses. "And really, thank you for helping mom. I'm glad that she has someone to help her." He thinks, but does not say, I wish mom had believed her about father to begin with.

You can tell by Samus' change in tone that she is taken aback by your words, not expecting you to thank her for what she's doing.

"Then you realize this is the only way. Still, I'm sorry if only because turning you over is tearing apart Marus. It took me a long while to convince her of this plan."

Though you didn't hear her enter the room you hear your mother speak up at last, she sounds to be in tears.

"I'm so sorry, Artemis, believe me I just wanted to see you one last time. I wish it didn't have to be this way. I wish things could have been different."

Artemis is about to reply to Samus when he hears his mother's voice. He hadn't realized she'd been there all along. The sound of Samus's footsteps must have deafened his mother's softer ones. But he doesn't dwell on it, because his mom is crying, and suddenly Artemis can't seem to breathe very well. He stretches his fingers out as far as he can push them and searches blindly, hoping to find his mother's hand.

"I know mom, I know," he tells her. He realizes that he's close to tears as well, because his voice doesn't sound normal. He tries to swallow the obstruction in his throat. "It's okay. It's best this way anyhow. I'm not well. I thought I cured myself, but I think I'm still crazy, and it's better if I'm turned in because a war isn't worth it. No one should have to die because of me." He's rambling, he realizes. But he just has so much that he wants to say, and he feels, for some reason, that at any moment he could lose this, lose the chance to talk to his mother. Lose the chance to be her son.

"It's not your fault. And I'm so, so happy I've gotten to see you again."

Your mothers' voice raises and sounds angry, "No you are NOT CRAZY! Do you hear me, NOT CRAZY. Don't let anyone ever tell you that! Your my special boy and I'm very proud of what you done with your life....well maybe not the defel thing so much. But you've done so much else."

Armored hands reach through your cell and pull you through the bars laying your head against an armored chest and caressing your hair.

Still it's your mother's voice saying, "It's going to be okay baby, everything is going to be okay. Samus he doesn't need the restraints anymore does he? I'm sure he won't try anything."

The armored hands move toward the restraints and you hear Marus saying, "Alright, but if he does try anything I will be turning over a dead body to the Defel."

As the restraints are undone and you are able to bring up your sight through the Force you see your mother clad in bounty hunter armor minus the helmet, though Samus' voice is still speaking through her.

"I'll leave you two alone for a while."

With that her face softens, and your mother's voice returns. "Is that better honey?"

Artemis clings, confused, to his mother, with a flurry of questions turning his mind into disarray. He is crazy, he knows that. But his mother sounded so upset, so adamant, that he's not going to argue with her about it. And then he wondered why his mom was wearing heavy armor, and then when his restraints fell and he brought up farseeing, he looked up at his mother and realized the truth.

A chill vibrates in the core of his chest. Samus was----his mother was---no, there really wasn't a medical term for this. But even their voices sounded so different. And his mother's face. And now, it kind of made sense in a twisted sort of way, because Artemis also felt something like a duality within himself at times, though nothing anywhere near this developed.

"Yeah," he whispers, his voice sounding like wind over dust. He swallows and reaches up to touch his mother's cheek lightly, reaffirming that she is indeed real. "Mom? Who is Samus?"

"She's my oldest and dearest friend. I met her when Aretak had only been established as a colony world for a couple of years. I must have been four at the time. The Defels and Arahns were not yet used to each other, so while the adults tolerated one another the children were not quite so civilized. There weren't a lot of Arahn where I grew up and mostly I played alone, until Samus came along. I was being picked on by a few of the Defel children, and they got a bit carried away. One of them hit me with a rock. I still remember blood trickling down my eyes...."

Your mother's face changes to one of anger, and through the Force you can feel a bit of darkness that wasn't there as she was just talking.

Her voice transitions smoothly over to that of Samus, "....and that's when I showed up. I taught those kids not to mess with us. Levitating the rocks and launching them right back at them. Since then your mother and I have been good friends. I look after her when she needs me. Being without you, being away from you, she's needed me more and more."

Though he doesn't use the Force to check, Artemis is certain that his mother isn't crazy. Samus is real, and probably has a force signature of her own. Whether he believes this because he knows it to be true or because he doesn't want to believe otherwise, is irrelevant. He feels guilty that his mother has to rely on Samus so much. He feels lost, as he wishes that he could help, but knows that he's only going to wind up making things even worse.

"I'm sorry," he whispers, looking Samus in the eyes. "She's going to need you even more once I'm gone, too." His fingers tighten around his mother's--Samus's--form, and his eyes spark with focus. "But you'll protect her from anything, right? Please, please help STARS in my place. You must have listened when I told mom about Sith and the Construct. If that thing wins, this galaxy is gone. Eaten. Nothing will be left, and it won't stop at just this one galaxy. Nowhere will be safe. Please take my place in STARS."

Samus' eyes stare at you like daggers made of ice, "I've gotten her through tough times, and will protect her from anything. Even this world's ending if need be. I'll consider your request to help your friends, if it means keeping Marus safe from this Sith."

Her eyes change and glisten with a fresh coat of tears. You mother is back, "I'll be okay Artemis. I promise I'll do what I can to help your friends. I know you think dying for what you did is the only way to make things right, but I don't think that is your fate. Let me show you."

She kisses your forehead through the bars and then puts her head against yours. You see a vision of yourself lying in a prison cell when from out of nowhere comes 8 with some others disguised in black robes. The sound of explosions can be heard in the background.

"You have good friends."

As the vision sweeps through his mind, Artemis feels himself torn by two polar desires. One part of him is pushing the idea of rescue away with disdain and revulsion. Another part of him latches onto the hope that maybe he needn't die, maybe he'll have more time in life, with his mother.

He doesn't know which feeling is the right one.

What he does know is that he's seen far too many false visions and hallucinations to believe this one, even if his beloved mother is showing it to him. He looks up at her and smiles sadly. "I don't think they're coming for me, mom. They all think that I should have turned myself in a long time ago, and they're right. Besides..." Artemis swallows away the part of him that's screaming for self-preservation and a chance at living. "If I escape, the Defel will just go right back on attacking the Arahn. The war will just continue. I've tried to do the right thing, mom. I've tried so hard, and I've failed so much. The best that I can do is to try to mend all of the damage I've done, and if this is the way, then I have to do it."

"No, I believe an Arahn giving you to the Defel without taking the reward will be enough to stop the fighting. If you were taken by a third party, neither Defel nor Arahn, they might even unite to once again hunt you down. I can live with this decision knowing that you'll probably go into hiding with Caduceaus. Even if I never saw you again at least I'd know you were alive, but if my our actions end in your death....I don't know how I could go on."

"Oh mom," Artemis sighs, and he just leans against the bars and holds his mother, because what else can he say? He wishes that what she says is true. He hopes that it's true. But he doesn't believe that he deserves to see that chance come to fruition. But how can he say that to his mother? His mother.

"Even if that were so, mom, the galaxy could be destroyed at any second. Literally. And the best plan that we have is to toss Myrkr into a black hole before it hatches. If STARS is coming after me, they'd better wait until they've taken care of Sith. They can't afford to waste any time. Here..." Artemis detaches the commlink from his wrist and gives it to his mother. "Their frequencies are all on this. I can wait to be rescued until we're sure the world isn't going to end. Tell them this is of my own free will. Please. I'll even tell them myself once we come out of hyperdrive."

Steely eyes meet your gaze once again, and Samus crushes the comlink you've just given her.

"If you die the galaxy may as well be forfeit as far as your mother is concerned. No, our first priority is seeing you safe. If the Defel rush you to trial there may not be enough time for your friends to take care of Sith and still rescue you. Maybe you don't care whether you live or die, but other people do. Get used to it."

Artemis stares at Samus for a moment before his head falls forward and taps against the bars. He sighs. "I'm not used to that. I've worried about keeping alive for too long when I shouldn't have. It's been wrong and cowardly to want to stay alive. And now you're telling me otherwise, and I don't know what's right to think or feel."

"And now death is the easy way out for you. You ran from your death and that was cowardly, now you rush to your death to run from your guilt, this too is cowardice. Live now because of the two it's the hardest thing to do. Do your penance with Caduceaus and hate yourself later."

"But I thought that was still running and hiding," Artemis murmurs, shaking his head. "I just want to make things right without anything bad happening because of it. I'm sorry Samus. I wish I could be a better son to mom, but I never seem to be able to tell what the right thing to do is. I do try. I swear that I really do try. But my head is always filled with conflicting thoughts and I don't know which thought is the right one most times. But I definitely don't feel as though death is the easy way out at all. There's still a part of me that wants to run screaming away from it, but I'm positive that's the wrong part."