Editing Fallen from Grace (section)

===Chapter Five===
As it turned out, calling Yttri Alpha an outpost was a slight exaggeration. Little more than a Defiant-class cruiser embedded into an asteroid, the only way in or out was via shuttlecraft. T’riss argued against letting Adeon come along, but soon acquiesced after one particularly convincing promise to stay out of trouble, followed by a warm embrace. Over the past month and a half since leaving Sehella, the pair had grown closer in ways neither had expected. At times, it was even enough to let them forget their collective troubles.  “At least being weak isn’t all that bad…” she thought to herself, boarding the Weaver’s shuttle with Adeon in tow. 
 
After docking in one of bays, T’riss lead them to the Screaming Skull, one of the popular bars on Yttri Alpha. Having been here a few times, back when she was still a Kabalite, she knew of a few places to begin asking questions. They couldn’t keep drifting through space forever, and going back to Commorragh was out of the question. That left either signing up with some mercenary band, or trying to find an uninhabited moon to live on. Either way, they needed more information than the database on the Weaver could give, so off they went. 

Much to Adeon’s surprise, a majority of the outpost’s inhabitants were human. Granted, he didn’t notice anyone he would have associated with back in the Imperium, but it was still slightly comforting to be around others of his kind. After pushing past one particularly grumpy pair of Kroots, he paused before the entrance of the Screaming Skull, raising an eyebrow at the sign. “Odd name for a bar,” he mumbled, causing T’riss to laugh as she led them inside to a table in the back. “See the barkeep there? She’s a psyker, some say ex-Inquisition even. Most give her a wide berth for fear of being turned into a daemon, but she always seems to have the best information on the Imperium’s convoys. Plus,” T’riss winked, “she makes a mean mixed drink.” Adeon wouldn’t be talking to the bartender after hearing all that, but he couldn’t argue against the allure of a nice bit of liquor.

Rather than immediately asking around, T’riss and Adeon enjoyed a couple of bottles of Rotgut while sizing up the rest of the bar’s occupants. Other than themselves, there was the standard array of mercs enjoying their downtime, though two individuals stood out in particular. The first was a Rogue Trader in a booth in the opposite corner of the bar, and the second was a hooded figure at the bar. While the later was of note simply because no one else in the place was hiding their face, the former was hard to miss. Recounting tale after tale of his “heroic” efforts to his comrades, the man grew louder and louder as he consumed more and more drinks. Adeon was simply content to ignore the idiot, but T’riss found herself glaring at one particularly odd piece of jewelry on the Rogue Trader’s person.
Nudging Adeon under the table with her foot, T’riss pointed over in the Trader’s direction, “That necklace, wonder where he got it.” After turning around to look for a moment, Adeon shrugged, “Dunno, probably more of his spoils, if I had to guess.” Rather than reply to him, T’riss slowly rose and found herself walking over to the Trader’s table. As she approached, the Trader raised his glass and called out jovially, “Ah, and here comes the entertainment boys!” She resigned herself to rolling her eyes, deciding it best not to start a scene. Now opposite the Trader, T’riss asked, “Yes, well, we can talk about *that* later. First, tell me more about that necklace. It’s quite beautiful.” 

The Trader took the chain between thumb and forefinger, admiring the jewel set in the pendant, “You’ve got a fine eye there missy. This here is supposedly one of them spirit-stones you pointy-eared freaks seem to love. I took it as compensation when the Xenos scum decided not to make good with his payment.” Anger rushed through T’riss, but she could do little more than ball her fist tightly before Adeon appeared by her side. “I don’t suppose you’d be interested in a little wager?” he asked, causing the Trader to laugh in response. “Trying to impress your little pet are ya lad? I’ll humor you. What do you have in mind?”

Adeon smiled, walking over to the bar to obtain a pair of paperclips and piece of paper. “Now then,” he began, returning to the Trader’s table, “the challenge is to interlink these two paperclips using only this here piece of paper. If ya can do it, I’ll let ya have some time with my ‘pet.’ But if you can’t, and I can, you hand over that there necklace.” T’riss shot him an incredulous glance, but had grown to know Adeon enough that she wasn’t overly concerned with him losing. Still, as the Trader began fumbling with the paper and clips, she couldn’t see how such a feat was possible. Eventually, the Trader gave up, shaking his head as he passed the materials back to Adeon, “Can’t be done, not unless you’re going to use fancy mind magic like the bar witch.”

Laughing, Adeon simply curled the paper into an S shape. On each end, he attached the clips to the inner loops, then snapped the ends of the paper apart. Perfectly intertwined, the pair of paperclips fell to the table before the Trader, causing him to scoff, “Fancy parlor trick you got there boy, but you got one thing wrong – I don’t take kindly to being tricked.” With a snap of his fingers, the Trader’s retinue crowded around T’riss and Adeon, raising various forms of weaponry ranging from simple brass knuckles to laspistols. Just as they began advancing forward, the Trader found himself hauled into the air by his collar, causing the mob to pause as he choked out a cry of alarm. Turning to look at their leader, they came to see the formally hooded bar patron had pinned him against the wall. 

The strange individual was wearing a multicolored jester’s outfit, and had red hair that spilt out from behind a mask. Though T’riss immediately knew a Harlequin when she saw one, the rest of the mob was clueless. Abandoning their former two targets, the gang advanced, soon surrounding the woman and their boss. Quietly, the woman muttered, “I suggest you make good with your promise, else you’re going to find yourself losing more than a simple piece of jewelry.” The Trader  glared back at her, then nodded at his men. What followed was too quick for Adeon’s eyes to follow, but the results couldn’t be argued with. 

As each of the now battered group cradled stumps of various limbs, running from the bar, the Harlequin threw the headless corpse of the Trader back into his seat, taking the necklace and tossing it to T’riss. Barely catching it, T’riss stared down at it before replying, “Well, I guess we owe you a drink now.” Laughter emitted from the masked face, and soon Adeon was playing third wheel as the two rapidly conversed back and forth in Eldar. He didn’t mind, of course, as T’riss seemed to grow more and more excited as the conversation carried on. Finally, the Harlequin stood, bowing her farewell before departing. “What was all that about?” Adeon asked, raising an eyebrow at T’riss. She could barely contain her glee as she replied, “I think we’ve just found a new home.”