Star Wars The Road to STAR WARS: Episode XI: The Hidden Temple

(Posted with approval from @Sinrebirth )

Rhoen Aquilla
Chandrila

Plus 1​

It had been three months, three glorious months of peace, of being together. Syal was enjoying being able to call her family, and Rhoen was enjoying just being home, and without the tension that had hung over them for the past decade. It took him a while, longer than he would like to finally shake the feeling that he'd be called back to war the next day, that this would be his last in peace.

But, it didn't happen, and finally he could let it go and just be. There were still offers, requests that he join the Core Fleet, or the Chandrilan Defense Force, but those were going to wait. He finally got the idyllic life he'd always wanted, he wasn't about to give that up. The sun rose on his farm, his wife was in his arms and his daughter would come bounding in to wake them both.

Her little feet thumped across the hallway that connected her room to the master bedroom. Bursting in she ran up to the bed and shaking her father.

"Daddy, daddy, daddy…" Rhoen rolled over with one eye still closed.

"Val…" He said still groggy from the late night he and Syal had. Nothing like a war to supercharge attraction.

"Daddy, I'm hungry…"

"Uh huh," he rubbed his eyes, shifting a little he felt Syal pull the sheets up a little tighter around her chest. "And there's some ploystartch in the pantry."

"But daddy, I want bacon, and eggs…"

"Do you now?" He closed his eyes tight. Opening them he looked into her shining blue eyes. "You want me to make breakfast?"

"Yes." She said nodding her head. He took a deep breath looking at the ceiling.

"Alright, let me get dressed."

"Yay…" she ran out the room, her overly loud footsteps echoing in the house.

Syal merely groaned and rolled to the side away from Rhoen. Throwing the covers off him he moved to the wood dresser and pulled out some clothes. Half dressed in a pair of light pants he made his way over to his wife.

"Any requests princess?" He asked laying a soft kiss on her temple.

She moaned snaking an arm out to rub it across his bare chest. "Ice Cream, mint."

"For breakfast?" He asked letting out a little chuckle.

"Yes, but, don't let Val see you…"

"Don't want to set a bad example." His lips found hers and captured them in a deep kiss.

"Daddy!" Val's voice called out from the kitchen. He broke the kiss and rested his head against hers.

"Duty calls I guess." He gave her one last quick peck before moving downstairs tugging on his shirt. "Yes my child." His words to Val were unheeded at least for the moment. She'd found a datapad and was staring into it. Soon the smell and sound of cooking bacon permeated the kitchen. Rhoen liked this, being with his family, cooking for them, just existing in a time of peace. It was everything he ever wanted.

"One egg or two sweetheart." He called out over his shoulder to the girl sat at the little table in the kitchen.

"Two."

"Coming right up." He cracked the two eggs into the skillet and watched them cook in the bacon grease. Soon enough breakfast was ready and he set the plate in front of Val, taking a moment to kiss the top of her head. "There you go." As she became fixated on the food in front of her, Rhoen took a moment to swipe the carton of ice cream from the freezer. He didn't have time to put it in a bowl, lest he be caught by his daughter. So he just grabbed a spoon and made his way upstairs.

"Babe," He called out once he closed the door. "Got your ice cream…" He saw her sitting on the bed, fully clothed, a stick in her hands. "Um, what's that?" He asked, sensing an energy in the space.

"Rhoen…" She turned to him with tears in her eyes but smiling. "I'm pregnant…"

In that moment his stomach dropped. No, she, she couldn't be. She can't.

"Are...are you sure?" He stammered out.

"These tests are pretty accurate…" she added.

"Ah…" Well it wasn't like they were being careful, they had just survived a war, they weren't necessarily thinking clearly. "Um...that's uhhh…"

"Rhoen? Are you ok?" Her tone had dropped from one of joy to concern.

"Um...yeah, it's just...this...ahhh…" He took a breath trying to reign in his thoughts. "It's just, we're going to have to call and schedule with the magistrate, I think Zar is working today."

"What?"

"Ugh the paperwork, and I'm sure we'll get a special dispensation, I mean, we did save the galaxy…" He didn't like leaning on his name and reputation but, in this situation.

"Rhoen," She walked towards him, "Rhoen."

"And what's the talk around town...But I guess I can…"

"Rhoen!" She grabbed the sides of his face forcing him to look at her. "What are you talking about?"

"What am I talking about...The One Child Policy. Don't you remember, to protect Chandrila's natural beauty each family is limited to One Child."

"Rhoen, they repealed that…"

"What? When?" He snapped his face screwed up in confusion.

"Right after Exgol, we...we talked about it when we had Val."

"We did? Why don't I remember…"

"Well, there was a lot going on after that and well, I was unsure if I wanted to bring another child into this world. So, I guess it never came up again."

"But...But, how could they just change it? It's been the law for generations."

"Something about losing two generations to wars? Chandrilans fought on the front lines of both the rebellion and the resistance. You among them."

"I know but, we…" his mind was still reeling the one child policy had been with him since he was a child, he became aware of it after wondering why he didn't have a sibling, why none of his classmates had a sibling when they went over the words for family members in his class. "It...what will happen to Chandrila, it's a beautiful planet…"

"And it'll take more than a few more babies to ruin it. There are other ways to protect it than telling families they can't have more than one kid." She held his face tighter pulling him into another kiss. Her warmth soaked into him. On instinct he wrapped his arms around her pulling her close. "Rhoen...We're going to have another baby." She said again hoping this time it would break through.

"We're going to have another baby…" he said to himself in a whisper, finally a smile came to his face. "We're going to have another baby." His arms held her tighter his mind letting his heart feel the moment he held his wife tighter sweeping her off her feet and turning her around. "We're having another baby…" He gave her another kiss peppering more of them on her lips and cheek as he set her down.

They both laugh smiles beaming as they looked into each other's eyes.

"I love you." He said once the giggles had left him.

"I love you too." They share another kiss her hands running up and carding through his short blonde hair.

"I guess." He said breaking the kiss, "We should go break the news to Val."

"I'm sure she'll be excited."

The happy couple make their way downstairs to find their daughter in the lounge room still flipping through the datapad.

"Val," Syal said getting her attention, "Mummy and daddy have something to tell you."

"Uh huh?" she replied looking up.

"Well," Rhoen started, "You're going to be a big sister."

There was a moment of quiet as the words sunk in to her little mind.

"No," Val said curtly before returning to her datapad.

"What?" Syal shot back.

"No thank you."

"Well, this isn't a decision you get to make." Rhoen added.

"Why not?"

"Mummy is already carrying your sibling in her belly."

Val's eyes went wide as they returned to the glowing datapad. Rhoen and Syal looked to each other before sitting on either side of their daughter.

After a long pause she looked to her mother.

"They're not taking my room are they…"

"No, there's an extra room we'll clear out." Syal assured her.

"They're not taking my stuff?"

"No, they'll have all their own toys." Rhoen answered.

"They're...they're not replacing me?" She asked eyes a little teary.

"No sweetheart, we love you." All three share a group hug. "No one will ever replace you. Our family is just getting a little bigger."

"Ok…" Val said burying her face into her father's neck.

TAG: @Sinrebirth

 

OOC: Combo with @Sinrebirth

IC: Barriss Sunrider, Eeth Sazen, and Talon

Coruscant, Core Worlds

She was in the midst of meditation on the journey ahead of her when she heard Trace Martez rapping on her door. When she heard Trace's voice, Barriss Sunrider opened her eyes and smiled.

"Come in," the former Jedi and Inquisitor said.

Trace stepped through, looking sheepish. "Sorry, I didn't mean to disturb you."

Barriss chuckled warmly. "Don't worry, you didn't. I was just meditating. Maybe I could show you how sometime."

"I'd like that," Trace said, biting a cute response about how she thought they had been meditating last night. She perched on the corner of the bed. "I just wanted to tell you that your ship is all ready to go on your big old quest."

Barriss nodded. "Alright, are you ready to go?" she asked, her question revealing that she expected Trace to come with her rather than her intending to leave Trace behind.

"I'm coming with you?" Trace sounded immensely surprised.

"I thought you were going to track down Master Unduli's artifacts? The Bogan Collection?"

"That's the plan," Barriss told Trace. "But that doesn't mean I want to go alone. The Force knows that I've gone it alone long enough. I don't know, I thought you might want to come with and help me out. Especially since I would hate to leave you like this."

Trace looked happy, extremely so. But then she pulled a face. "Hey, what's wrong with my life?"

Her tone was part-jibe, part-serious.

"Nothing, nothing," Barriss told her. "When I say I would hate to leave you like this, I meant I would hate to leave you alone. Especially after what you and me already did earlier..."

Trace blushed again. “I’m definitely on-board with that. I’d like to help you with Master Unduli’s wishes. The Bogan Collection sounds dangerous in the wrong hands. The first stop was in the Deep Core, wasn’t it? Until we could find our way onwards.”

Coruscant was, save for the devastated Senate district, mostly the way it had been. Some said the shadows seemed a bit deeper, but it was much the same as always. The capital had settled briefly on Chandrila, leading the Republic or Alliance or whatever the Resistance intended to settle upon.

Barriss nodded. "We can go whenever you're ready. Though I'm not in a rush to leave either. If you want us to stay here for a bit longer, I can do that. I just..." She smiled. "I just want to be with you, whether it's here on Coruscant or anywhere else."

Trace was elated, clearly, and she kissed Barriss deeply. "I would very much like that."

She couldn't smile more broadly. "I really, really do."

The woman was half caught between the energy of getting everything together and in place and ready to go, and kissing Barriss until they fell again on the bed and stayed.

Luminara's cache had been hidden for decades.

A couple more hours couldn't hurt, right?

-

Lothal, Free Systems

One figure, a local, wasn't watching the celebration and the inauguration over the HoloNet with everyone else. Instead, the cloaked figure stood in front of a mural. It was one of many, painted a long time ago to commemorate Lothal's liberation from the Empire and those who had made it possible.



Eeth Sazen lifted his hand to touch the mural. He knew these faces and the stories associated with them. Hera Syndulla, Kanan Jarrus, Ezra Bridger, Zeb Orrelios, Sabine Wren, and C1-10P. To those who called Lothal home, the Spectres weren't just heroes. They were legends. Eeth himself had grown up admiring these rebels, just as fascinated with them as he was with the loth-wolves that were always depicted on the mural and that he had tattooed on himself.

More than anything else, Eeth wanted to be like the Spectres. And he knew that the galaxy could always use more people like them, people willing to make a difference. Though he had lived on Lothal for his whole life, he had a feeling that would soon change. But first he was waiting for a sign...

The HoloNet communique carried on anyway, lauding the efforts of the Resistance heroes everyone knew from the speeches after the Battle of Exegol - Finn, Poe, Rose, Rey, Threepio, Artoo, BB-8 - and then went on to name others who had helped, showing their images to the galaxy. Madelyn, Eleanor and Asteria, Kaz and Amira, Rhoen and Syal Aquilla, and Barriss Offee -

There was a hesitation and amendment. Barriss Sunrider.

The roll-call went on, and though many of the names mentioned as heroes had not attended the award ceremony, led by Connix and Calrissian, others had arrived from other worlds -

There were cheers and whoops, especially from Chopper for the droids present -

The galaxy was seeing representation. A Chiss, a Twi'lek, a Mirialan -

Eeth eventually did watch the communique with the rest of the crowd and one thing caught his attention in particular: the image and mention of the Mirialan woman named Barriss Sunrider. This gave Eeth pause and he couldn't help but feel that there was something... familiar about that woman.

Once the communique ended, Eeth decided to return home. His mother, Shadow, would be waiting for him and would want to hear the news from the rest of the galaxy.

Abandoning the party when it was in full-swing did not mean he was noticed.

Though his mother was waiting and she could hear the happy ruckus. Sitting in a hoverchair outside their home, she looked up from her datapad. "You didn't want to stay?"

"I needed to talk to you," Eeth told Shadow. "There was someone mentioned in the communique about the Liberation of Coruscant. Apparently a Jedi of some kind that was involved in the fighting and is now being treated as some hero. She's Mirialan and her name is Barriss Sunrider. When I saw her, I couldn't help but feel like I knew her from somewhere. And then I remembered... your stories."

"My stories?" Shadow said, intrigued. "Of the Jedi who took a stand against the rot?"

She leaned forward. "Or the brain-worms one? Or the Drongar one? If that is, as you aver, Barriss Offee, then she was in a few of the stories I passed down..."

The crystal caves of Ilum; the Ansion mission; the battles with the witch Ventress...

Eeth nodded. "Yes, that's the one. Barriss Offee. I think... I think she's still alive. Though the story I remember most is how she saved you, after the fall of the Empire, from a fate worse than death. How she reunited you with grandma."

"With Grandma..." Shadow wondered aloud.

"... remind me, my memory fails me, Eeth."

Eeth sighed. "The Empire came for you, after you were born. Because you were Force-sensitive and the daughter of a former Jedi, my namesake, who died trying to protect you. The Empire wanted to raise you as one of its Inquisitors... but she found you, saved you, and brought you home to where you belong. Remember, Mom?"

“Vaguely…” she said, staring. “Sometimes I wonder if my memory no longer wishes to remember these things, Eeth. The Dark Times were dark… for everyone involved, but especially Force users.”

“Barriss saved me, you say, and I believe you…” Her gaze sharpened, and became knowing. “And you wish to track the young lady down?”

“No, wait, old lady?” She seemed to be befuddled, as if struggling to follow the conversation.

Eeth nodded. "Yes, old lady. I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for her, so I feel like I am... meant to seek her out. And maybe, just maybe, I could learn how to further develop my connection to the Force from her. I want to help people, Mom. Just like the Jedi. And I think this is my chance."

"The Jedi are gone," she suddenly snapped with force. "They became the tools of government, more than once, of Coruscant. Palpatine, Omas, Caedus, Daala, whatever tyranny they served until it was almost too late." Her finger was accusing. "You want to join that Order? The one which abandoned your family? Killed your namesake?"

A huff. "A Jedi only need live long enough to become a Sith."

Eeth considered this. "It was the Jedi that saved Lothal once," he pointed out. "Ezra Bridger and Kanan Jarrus. And it was still a Jedi, or at least a former Jedi, who saved you once. I don't know if I want to be a Jedi... but I do still want to help people and the best way that I can do that is about learning the ways of the Force. Perhaps the Jedi are gone, but heroes aren't. And you raised me to believe in heroes, remember? To believe in people who could make a difference. Those people still exist."

She held her gaze, baleful, and then it melted, as if she'd forgotten why she'd been doing so. Of course, she had forgotten. "Do what you need to do, my dear." The woman's voice was gentle. "I don't need to remember what we're talking about to see the determination of your features, the intent behind them. But know that whatever it is you seek, it will take time. You may not find it immediately."

The woman reached out for his hand. "Will you be okay with that?"

Eeth took his mother's hand and squeezed it gently. "Of course I am," he told her. "After all, it's a pretty large galaxy out there and I'll be seeing it for the first time. But I trust the Force to lead me where I need to be, even if it's not necessarily where I thought I wanted to go."

"Then go with my blessing, Eeth."

She reached into her robes and produced an ornate cylinder. "I imagine you know what this is, my dear."

Eeth's eyes widened as he took the cylinder. "W-where did you get this from? How long have you had it?"

"Long enough," she said. "The Inquisitors didn't get it. I went back home, and, well, I found it, under the floorboards. Or perhaps, it found me, lodged in the broken down house." Her face was wistful. "It's yours, if you intend to walk with the Light, Eeth."

Eeth nodded slowly. "Yes, I do." He then wrapped his arms around his mother in a hug. "Thanks, Mom."

She held him in a hug, for as long as she could be proud, and not forget the moment. Of course, watching them had been a medical droid, a nanny-model for older patients who were addled by memory issues. Eventually, there were tears in her eyes. She broke the embrace to wipe at them. "Now go, before I change my mind."

Eeth smiled at Shadow. "I will do you and our family, Mom. I promise."

And with that, he turned and started to leave.

He stopped only once to look back at his mother. "And may the Force be with you," he said.

Then he was gone.

-

Christophsis, the Andoan Free Colonies

Talon arrived on the Invincible with other Twi'leks that had pulled from Ryloth to join the ship's maintenance crew, taking note of her surroundings like she always did. To most, she was just another Twi'lek woman. Though an attractive one, to be for sure. Of course, that was how Talon intended it. She knew how the galaxy saw her, how it stereotyped her and the rest of her species. However, she made that work to her advantage. She knew that the other Twi'leks were here mostly because out of desperation, fear, or hope. But unlike them, she was here for something different.

Talon was here to kill.

An ancient IG guard stepped up to take the identi-cards of those who arrived.

Two Super Battle Droids flanked him, and more B1s escorted the Twi'lek's to their repair stations.

It was all old; very old.

Even though the Invincible was a remodel of an older design, that itself was a repeat of an ancient Sith design. If something wasn't broke, designers rarely fixed it, but sometimes they tweaked it to death, birthing a thousand flaws. Imperial Star Destroyers were especially infamous examples of this, being based upon a four thousand year old Old Republic design (double the old, Rendilli engineers joked).

The IG stepped to the Twi'lek in-front of Talon in the line.

Talon didn't say anything or do anything to draw attention to herself. She was very good at getting attention when she wanted to, but the Twi'lek recognized that now was not one of those moments. She couldn't be seen an anything more than just another Twi'lek.

The sight of such old droids did fill her with an anger that she kept hidden, however. The Separatists had come to Ryloth during the Clone Wars. They had killed, starved, and enslaved her people. That may have been before her time, but she could still feel the wounds that the Separatists had left on Ryloth. All trace of the CIS should have been wiped out a long time ago. To see some remnant of it still alive decades later disgusted Talon.

The queue brought her to the front, and the IG held out a hand. "Papers."

The Super Battle Droids kept their photoreceptors on the other Twi'leks behind Talon, their weapons kept upward, not pointed. In theory a B1 could aim and shoot quicker than a B2, but a B2 could take a hit and promptly kill whoemever had dared shoot at it -

Talon brought out her papers, showing them to the IG droid. "I sure hope that everything is in order," she said, faking a smile to sell the act. The papers were very much real, though her methods of getting them had been... less than legal.

The IG droid scanned them briefly and almost sounded peeved. "Continue."

The next Twi'lek was not so lucky.

The Super Battle Droids gunned the woman down for having fake papers...

A skinny B1 droid stepped up. "I'll escort you to where we require assistance. It is not far from the bridge, so we will have a second security check to pass."

Another B1 perked up. "Why did you tell her that?"

"I like to make conversation with the slaves, what's wrong with that?"

"You need a memory wipe."

Her B1 shook his head sadly. "We all need one."

Talon barely kept her anger in check after watching the innocent Twi'lek woman get gunned down and being called a 'slave' by the B1 droid. Her fists tightened slightly, but she played along and she followed the B1 droid that was escorting her.

The B1 led her to a tertiary adjunct - an automated droid maintenance system that had broken down, undoubtedly because it was some seventy years old.

Clearly the Aqualish had hoarded these ships for some time, which gave rise to the question of where they had been before now. Potentially the inter-species makeup of Ando had prevented them coming to the aid of the homeworld, which probably explained why the Harch were in-charge, and not one of the other two species.

The droid simply let her work.

It was but one droid, but then there was the second security element he had referred to, which had not materialized across the kilometer length of the ship...

"You said there was a second security check, right?" Talon asked the B1 droid, looking around. "Where is it?"

"Um, any minute," the B1 said nervously. "We're not under-crewed at all."

"Not at allllll."

Talon gave the B1 droid a look before leaving into it, quickly grabbing the head of the battle droid and twisting it off in a feat of strength. Once that was taken care of, Talon lifted up her shirt and tore off the false layer of skin that was on her midsection. This revealed the hidden weapons that she had managed to sneak in.

If Talon was one thing, it was prepared.

The B1 was dead.

He had lied about the second security check, but not the fact that she was by the bridge… even then, she would have undoubtedly have studied, and known…

Trench was not far at all.

Talon laid in wait. She was not going to just storm the bridge, that would be reckless. Something like this required patience and caution. After hiding the remains of the B1 battle droid, she also found a hiding place in the vents nearby the bridge. While she waited, Talon realized that she could sense Trench... and her hatred burned for him.

The alarm went up soon enough, but B1s were useless, and wouldn't find her.

Indeed, her hiding place was sufficient that when she was not found, the Harch himself took to the field with two IG bodyguard battle droids, searching his ship in person. His odious voice sounded out to Talon, hidden as she was. "We can't allow for any security breaches. If Chandrila should find out about our methods, well, we may be bumped above Gherlid in the list of Galactic Warlords the Resistance will inevitably come after."

He clucked to himself, a self-depreciating chuckle.

Talon threw down a smoke grenade first. Then she herself leapt down in the confusion, drawing out her weapons. She knew that the IG bodyguard battle droids could survive a decapitation, that the only sure way to destroy them was a stab to the chest. So she targeted one of them first, moving incredibly quickly for a humanoid and burying her blade into the 'heart' of the droid. She also took the droid's electrostaff, using it to double-tap the bodyguard just to make sure that it wouldn't be getting up.

That was the easy part, however. Talon knew that taking out the second droid would be even harder, now that she no longer had the element of surprise as her advantage.

The second droid bowled into her, using its durasteel strength to shove at her hard, even if she managed to block. Talon would be lifted off the floor and hurled into the bulkhead and the IG sought to capitalize on its momentum -

"A Twi'lek? How droll," Trench said, positively bored sounding.

Talon, however, was ready for this. She planted her feet against the bulkhead and launched herself back at the IG, actually propelling herself over its shoulders with unexpected agility and striking the droid in the back. She ignored Trench's comment, since he would get his turn soon enough...

Trench watched her with some shock but he was a tactician too -

The IG droid managed to follow her movement and turned to block, albeit it was haphazard and it was off-balance -

It did this even as Trench pulled a blaster and took aim, not yet firing, backing towards the bridge and a comlink appearing in one of his other hands -

Talon noticed that the IG droid was off-balance and she took advantage of this weakness, pushing against it while tapping into something that she felt but didn't understand... the dark side of the Force. It gave her the strength to momentarily overpower the bodyguard, knocking it to the ground and striking it in its center.

She then turned toward Trench and threw two knife-like projectiles from her wrists. They were small and sharp, while her aim was deadly and true. One knocked the blaster out of his hand, while the other smashed his comlink.

His other hands were not idle however, and the arachnoid produced two more blasters and began to fire as the bridge doors opened behind him -

A panicked crew of B1s were at the seats -

Talon flipped back, avoiding the blaster fire while pulling out the blaster that she had taken from the B1 droid earlier.

Then she fired several times, aiming for Trench's head and vital organs.

The bolts erupted across his form, and he dropped to the floor, even as the blue B1s stood from their seats and drew blasters, a good dozen of them -

Alarms sounded out!

By the time that the B1s left the bridge, Talon was already gone.

She had already planned her escape route as well, ending up in the hangar with Trench's own personal ship. She thought it would be appropriate if she took it after taking his life.

The personal ship was, of course, an antique but high end - a Separatist commander was usually flesh and blood, and so would have a Bellabub-22 on standby. Trench was no different.



The hyperdrive equipped fighter was ready to roll.

Of course, Talon knew that she would have to worry about tractor beams, blaster turrets, and of course droid starfighters. But fortunately, she had planned for that.

Talon had learned many things in her travels, including a trick that had been taught to her by smugglers. It was a risky trick, but one that she knew she could pull off.

And as B1 droids piled into the hangar, Talon made the jump to light speed... from inside the hangar.

What she left behind was chaos, confusion, and, of course, a very dead Trench.

TAG: @Sinrebirth

 

Lothos Minor - A few minutes after the destruction of the galactic jammer...



It is dark out when the droid called Seeker begins to receive the transmission.



The transmission contains little information itself but when the words

“Dol Khan is Dead”

Are received a command prompt in Seeker’s droid CPU initiates a massive download. It’s a few minutes before Seeker’s blue optical lens reverts back to its purple hue and Seeker understands more than it ever has. It knows what it has to do and it flies off. Down the massive heap of junk it was surveying towards the damaged innards of a destroyed starfighter that Skirin Cloudstrider called home.

Skirin sat in front of the fire. She loses herself between tinkered enhancements she’d sell to the junkers and her own developmental projects she has used to past the time for over a decade; since she was a little girl, this planet has been her home. That was not on her mind as she gazed into the fire tonight. Tonight, she only thought of when the next time she would see Dol Khan. There has been new developments since the visit he’d made 5 years ago. Her Force-sensitivity was growing. She could now simultaneously work on up to 3 different projects. She could lift entire junk piles to move to her workstations. In 5 years, given the cyber programming holovids he’d left with her last time, she had improved Seeker to what she considered to be the most complete droid in the galaxy. Though, she couldn’t guarantee he was, given her limited exposure, Skirin had run the numbers and comparisons and was sure Seeker could compete with the best of them.

She was older now. She and Seeker could help Dol Khan free Coruscant. Skirin even knew how to defend herself and fight, thanks to some early harassment from the junkers. She was no master fighter, but Dol Khan would see… she just knew… the next time he would come he would have to take her with him.

She was ready.

“I’m ready.”

“I know I am ready.” She says to herself just as Seeker pried the ramp door open and floated up the ramp to her.

“Hey Seeks! What did you find?”

Seeker tells her he has received a transmission from Dol Khan. Skirin’s eyes widen!

“Dol!? Is he coming? YES! We have to get ready Seeks! I have-“

Seeker tells her that Dol Khan is dead.

Her excitement shifts to shock.

Seeker tells her that the galaxy has changed. The Final Order has been defeated. The galaxy is now free. That Coruscant is free.

Skirin is speechless. She begins to cry.

Seeker does not comfort her. He knows his command prompt says that delivery of Dol Khan’s message is more important.

Seeker shows Skirin a video of Dol Khan. He is in the cockpit of a starfighter. The years have not been kind to him since she last saw him. He speaks in his normal stoic, emotionless matter of fact way of speaking. Skirin cries harder at hearing him, but listens to his words.

“Skirin. Seeker. If you’re viewing this message, things have changed, kid. I’m gone. My starfighter has orderes to come to Lothos Minor and find you. You’re not ready for what this galaxy has to throw at you. But you’re going to leave that planet because it’s time. There’s things you need to know, way more than I can tell you in this video. Study the data logs and files that are attached to this message.”

He paused and his hardened Kubaz face softened behind his dark goggles.

“The First Order, the Jedi, Sith, Outer Rim warlords… they are all just organizations of control. You can’t trust any of them. You may think I left you alone because I’m a cold bastard. I admit, I am. I did it also because you on the planet far away from this crap galaxy have been able to grow uninhibited by the forces of the galaxy that crush people and bend them to their will. Your parents and I- we fought for liberation. We fought for a better future for you. We probably did a **** job at it. It’s because of this galaxy’s systems. There’s nothing redeemable in this galaxy, Skirin. Once it gets it’s claws in you, you’re forever altered. When you leave Lothos… be prepared for that. Either crush these systems or they will crush you, kid. I don’t know a lot about the Force. I’ve attached everything that I could from old Jedi archives and Sith records and Known force organizations throughout the galaxy. I won’t tell you who was right or who was wrong. I don’t care. Use it to make yourself stronger. Strength and resilience is only thing that matters. Your Survival is the only thing that matters. That’s what I promised your parents.”

Dol Khan pauses for several seconds. Then with a broken, cracked voice he says:

“Good luck, kid. Dol out.”

The holovid blips out. Seeker complains that Dol Khan should’ve come back earlier.

Skirin has streams of tears dripping from her face to dampen her lap. She pulls her knees to her chest and buries her face in her pants. So many thoughts flow through her mind. She curses Dol Khan and her parents. She curses Coruscant and the First Order. She grieves again for her parents as she grieves Dol Khan’s death.

They had left her alone. The galaxy‘s forces were determined to make sure she was alone.

And now… she was.

 

OOC: A combo with @Sinrebirth

IC: Bernhardt Johnson, Rose Tico
Location: Chandrila, Prison

This was one place Johnson was not expecting to be in.

Well not yet anyway.

He had been stripped of his suit, his earpiece too. The Silencer was who only knew where, probably destroyed.

No Ilsa.

No Lucretia.

Just himself.

Clad in a jumpsuit and still nursing his body after what had happened with his fight with Smith and getting beaten up by Trench he was staring up at the ceiling of his cell. Waiting to be judged.

He heard the door open and a familiar voice spoke.

"Rose '' he said sitting up and slightly smiling wincing as his body protested "I didn't know if anyone would visit me, I did wonder if anyone from Command would be interested".

"I'm glad you survived. And you broke the galactic jamming too. Hope they gave you a medal for that".

"As you can see, I was captured. I'm going to go on trial, pleaded guilty of course. If I am found guilty, which I probably will be, I will either spend the rest of my life in prison or will be executed."

"But at least I got to talk to you one last time".

Rose didn't immediately respond. She eyed up Johnson and his matter-of-fact approach to a guilty plea.

So she went in differently.

"I presume you know the punishment for war crimes?"

Rose's tone was neutral.

It was a short and simple question.

"Keeping in mind that we haven't written a new Constitution yet."

Johnson raised an eyebrow, had she not heard him just say so?

"I just said, life in jail or executed. If I live I have the war criminal title for the rest of my life. Of course the death penalty will be sort out and i'm not going to protest it".

"I don't have anything to live for. I lost my job, I have no memory of my family or whether I had friends. I killed the woman I loved, Lucretia who loved me didn't want to come. She knew what I had become".

"I deserve nothing less than death. Even if I told my side of the story my crimes outmatch the fact I was turned".

"The AGENT program though," Rose said. "Dr Gast and her projects, they turned a lot of people. Their entire objective was to brainwash people." Her eyes tried to search Johnson's for understanding of this. He had very little agency in all this.

"I only know of six of us in the Agent program, I don't know which of us they turned from humans. Myself, Smith, Brown, Jones, Jackson and Thompson".

"I don't know if I was the only one in the Resistance they turned. Guess not. Even innocent civilians. But it doesn't excuse what I did. Killing civilians, killing my own comrades. Becoming a First Order killing machine".

"Even as myself I killed. You saw me kill Ilsa. And I don't deserve forgiveness, not from anyone".

"And what if they did turn other Resistance members, would that make you feel less guilty?"

Rose sighed a little. "I want to know how I can make you forgive yourself for things that happened to you, not things you did."

"I mean Finn was a Stormtrooper for years. More than half his life. You don't see us stringing him up for his past actions."

"That indeed is a fair point" Johnson said after a few moments "There must have been some as well as me, Ilsa and Lucretia must have known since they both worked under Gast. Well Ilsa did when she was looking for me".

"I don't know if there is a way to help the Resistance like I intended to do after Christophsis. As a way of maybe atoning for what I have done".

"All I know was someone wanted me. Lucretia said I was chosen to stop Smith. Maybe I was captured, interrogated, tortured for a reason. And that reason cost me everything".

"And if I ever get the chance I would like to pay them back for that and others they have turned. With interest".

"Which you can't do in a prison cell," Rose said.

"So you're gonna have to change your plea from guilty." Her tone was one of finality. "Otherwise I think you won't even get a chance to speak." Rose wasn't a lawyer.

"The problem with that is I could be given the same result, jail or death" he shrugged "I suppose what have I got to lose right?"

"If I change my plea it could mean that people see me as a person with no guilt. That I feel I could walk free".

"But might as well throw everything at it".

Rose nodded. “Exactly. I’ve my people going through the wreckage of the Armand Isard institute, so we should be able to find something to corroborate that there was a brainwashing program involved.”

“Of course, if you have any ideas where the First Order hid its dirt, then that would help. Otherwise some criminal elements purged the data on Coruscant, or, well, we blew it up with the Capitol…” Rose trailed off.

Johnson shook his head "I guess it would mainly be the Capitol, maybe somewhere else on Coruscant. The Agency was the main place for my programme."

"Unless it is somewhere where you wouldn't think to look. Ilsa if she was here would have known, she was quite high up and furnished me with information when I worked for Resistance Intelligence. But she never told me where she got it from".

"Yes," Rose said, carefully. "About Ilsa."

"She never worked for Resistance Intelligence. She never once forwarded a report to us, not on Ajan Kloss, or Korilev, or anywhere in-between." Rose hesitated. "We suspect she was a mole, working for some unknown part of the AGENT organisation..."

"... did Lucrecia ever mention any other names or locations to you... at all?" Rose didn't want to bring up bad memories. Not at all.

Johnson bowed his head. More lies from Ilsa. It turned out she had given nothing to the Resistance herself, only what she had told Johnson at their meetings.

And they had parted on bad terms before he was captured due to her lying to him.

Did she in fact get him captured? Fell in love with him so she could lure him in? But she had at her death said she had loved him, it was all so confusing.

He tried to rack his brains about Lucretia "No" he replied "We only talked in between torture and interrogation sessions. And it was never about First Order business, just that she loved me and wanted to get me out".

"You won't be able to bring her in either. She's part alive and part not in some crystal cave on Christophsis".

Rose winced at the between torture and interrogation sessions line.

She nearly missed what he said about Lucretia.

"Say that again? She's what?"

Rose probably thought Johnson sounded bonkers.

"When I left Coruscant, a tracker brought me to Christophsis. I didn't know whom it belonged to. But when I got there my ship was shot down and I landed at some crystal caves".

"Lucretia was there. She said she had become part of the caves, not alive, not dead. I don't know if it was her spirit I was talking to or what".

"I offered her to come with me but she said she wanted to atone for her sins and stay there".

"That's on Andoan territory," Rose pointed out. "I don't know how quickly we're going to be able to free Christophsis and corroborate what you're saying - "

Darkness. Darkness beneath Coruscant. Deep. Did you destroy it, Johnson?

It wasn't the exact words of the woman, but the words were reminiscent.

"- so I can either push the courts to be set up so you can be tried quickly, or I can slow things down until we manage to liberate Christophsis and can dig into the... crystal cave..." Rose wasn't sure what to say. "Thing."

Now Johnson was hearing voices again. Who was speaking to him now?

"Well I'm sure you can negotiate with Admiral Trench, he brought me to you after all. If you can find Lucretia and tell her that I sent you then she might be willing to talk if it helps my case".

"But something dark lies beneath Coruscant, deep down. I don't know what it is but...someone was asking if I destroyed it".

He shook his head "I must sound bonkers to you. But when I was an Agent I always heard Ilsa and Lucretia in my head, memories, information. A voice said to me just now about Coruscant but I can't tell who it is."

Rose was quiet for the longest moment.

"Well, we can always try the insanity plea," she said with a slight laugh.

"But I still think you're a victim. Do you understand that?" Rose stepped forward for emphasis.

Johnson slightly smiled "Thank you, even if you are the only one that does think so it might be a voice loud enough to change their minds".

"I mean," Rose said lightly, "I changed yours, didn't I?"

She went to stand. "I'll look into this... underground AGENT program but we've not even reached the infamous level 1313. The Opera House is a mess of squabbling gangs, fighting over the Don's kingdom." Rose shook her head. "Coruscant won't be the capital again for a while, not after the last nine years."

"Is there anything else you need? It might be a while before you're tried anyway, so you'll have to be careful when you're introduced to the wider criminal community." She hesitated. "We've not had time to sort out which ones are political prisoners and which one even we would have imprisoned. You might get some heat from both groups."

Johnson chuckled "That is true about changing my mind".

"I'm sorry that I cannot come to Coruscant, I could have helped out. After all, I spent a good many years there and know the place, especially since you would need someone who is quite good at taking care of anyone that would seek to harm you".

"But I guess I will have to settle for battling my fellow prisoners. I was in Intelligence and an Agent" his smile grew wider "I know how to take care of myself. But I promise to be in one piece for the trial".

"You stay safe out there, but what am I saying! You can handle yourself too".

Rose grinned. "You and I just took out a Megador-class Star Dreadnought. We can handle anything."

The doors opened. "You remember that, and I'll be back before you know it."

Johnson noted the use of 'we' but didn't think anything of it. They had worked as a team aboard the Capitol after all.

He spread his arms wide "Doesn't look like I'm going anywhere…."

TAG: @Sinrebirth

 

Because I'm addicted to @Sinrebirth games! I hope you enjoy.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
IC: The Stalker
Later, on Kamino

The Supreme Leader left to manage his latest schemes, leaving Ben to the Stalker, a woman with a penchant for violence.

And impatience.



Adept in the Force, and particularly fond of pyrokinesis, she seethed at the clone, demanded perfection, demanded aggression. demanded results. "When Snoke returns you need to have made progress. Or I'll recommend he starts over."

There were PROXY droids besides them.

"Now, you are mature enough to know these are droids."

One fuzzed into a simulacrum of his father.



"And I know this impacts you, nonetheless."

She folded her arms.

"Kill him."

He glared daggers at this…this…'Stalker’, his face shooking with pent up fury, teeth grinding together. Why did the Supreme Leaderleave this crone in charge of his training? It made no sense. Was he not supposed to be guided personally by his hand alone?

“I know they are droids!!” He snapped with a feral snarl. “I’m not stupid.” His eyes narrowed very dangerously then, as a thought crossed his mind.

“ …and don’t you DARE call me Ben.”

Slowly he turned, his seething gaze falling on the droid which had taken a familiar form: That of his father. The man who had been hardly there for him, his famous ‘dad’, who saved the galaxy more than once, but had no quality time for his one son. Hating him was easy.

Killing him again, even easier.

'Kill him', the crone in the cloak had order. He scoffed at the command.

With pleasure.

“RAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!”

Kylo roared out in anger, his red lightsaber flaring to life in an instant. In a blink of an eye, he struck out with lethal force, the red blade slashing down diagonally, intending to bisect the hapless droid from shoulder to hip in a single move.

The hip was bisected, and the droid dropped to the floor.

"Hmmm," she said. "I wonder as to the usefulness of using droids for this... but let's see."

A gesture, and another droid appeared. "This one will be more of a fight for you, no doubt."



Standing among the wreckage of the droids was suddenly his mother.

Well.

The mother of his source material, anyway.

Kylo sneered at the first fallen droid, then glared at his masked instructor, gifted her with a fanged moment. Slowly, he turned, his face etched with anger and determination -that is - until he beheld his next opponent.

Leia.

Kylo felt every ounce of anger and vehemence evaporate almost immediately, as he heard himself almost whimper.

“Mother…?”

He knew it wasn’t her. He knew it, but that did not stop it from not making what he was feeling real.

At once he could see her smiling at him, in that reassuring way that always comforted him, no matter how bad things were - or seemed to be. He could hear her voice, calming his fears, whisking away his anger, washing away his every trouble. To him, she was more than just a Princess. She was his reason for being. His guiding Light.

Powerless.

That’s how he felt. His anger was impotent against this ‘foe’, so he shook his head, as he tried to ‘deny’ his weakness, but he could not summon any strength. Kylo took several steps back, shaking his head still, closing his eyes, feeling suddenly very ashamed.

“No…I….I….” he stammered, his lightsaber switching off. “I can’t…” He nearly pleaded.

Leia pounced.

As was her nature as a warrior, before she had abandoned her lightsaber, Leia was a swift and sure and almost merciful opponent. Her droid-persona was much the same, and her blade pierced the centre of his chest almost immediately. Just as quickly, the blade was withdrew and Leia stepped back, leaving a hole through her ersatz son.

An ersatz mother for an ersatz child.

The Stalker snorted. “Of course. Your feelings for mother run deep.”

Kylo gasped aloud, his eyes wide in disbelief. He had heard a strange sound. Oh, that had been himself as he'd cried out, even as he now moaned, but not at his wounded flesh. The physical hole in his chest did not compare to the gaping chasm sundering his emotions.
He stumbled backwards, his form shaking uncontrollably, his face now drenched with sweat, mixing with tears he was not even aware he'd shed.

A spark of anger flared at feeling betrayed- but it wasn't enough.

His lightsaber flared alive. He swung wildly, missing by a parsec. It had been more of a warding gesture than a strike, the poor defense of the wounded.

His gaze was troubled, conflicted. He looked plaintively at Leia, trying to understand- but found no solace, no answer.

"Ugh....no...." he managed to finally utter in protest as the inviolate images in his mind were visited by a seeping dark taint.

" ...NO! Noooo!! "

Tag: @Sinrebirth

 

OOC: A combo with the incomparable and master of timey-wimey-ness @Sinrebirth




IC: General Wedge Antilles and Booster Terrik
Aboard the ISD Errant Venture, Battle of Coruscant, slightly earlier that day

Bang…BOOM!…bangBOOM!

Drums.

The steady rhythm of battle never ceased to fill Wedge’s ears each and every time he flew into it. Even with the deafening scream of a TIE fighter, or the hum of his X-wing’s throttle between his legs vibrating up his extremities, war was music and it was a song he was very tired of hearing.

Its beat had been far more violent more recently. The Resistance had attacked the Eclipse fleet in Kuat, a gutsy move spearheaded by General Poe Dameron. Somehow, the gamble had paid off. Their luck had held. They had ships and weapons. They just needed an army.

Then the First Order arrived and destroyed the Resistance base at Korilev.

The aged General, now 65 years old, closed his eyes to the memory of those that they couldn’t save. To those destroyed by the Knights of Ren and their superweapon. He’d been in command of the Resistance fighters - just 16 of them. He’d sent more pilots to their deaths.

Drums.

The beat continued, shaking him. Wedge leaned forward to grab the HUD display in front of him as the ship rocked.

The irony of his position wasn’t lost on General Wedge Antilles - the Rebellion hero, the leader of Rogue Squadron, the New Republic flight instructor, the leader of Phantom Squadron, devoted husband, estranged husband, father…

As the Errant Venture shuddered under his feet, his free hand found the medallion in his pocket - worn from 9 years of rubbing at it. It was the remnant piece of a broken B-1 Battle Droid personality core that had belonged to Temmin “Snap” Wexley. It was the only thing he had left of him after Exegol. Wedge had arrived in system aboard the Millennium Falcon only seconds after his adopted son was shot down by the Final Order. Minutes from being able to save him.

After Temmin, he’d overseen the formation of squadron after squadron as part of the Resistance his son had fought for. He likewise oversaw the death of pilot after pilot through engagement after engagement. He'd garnered a reputation as a hard master to please, determined to not see hotshot pilots too big for their cockpits to get themselves killed.

So, no, the irony wasn’t lost on General Wedge Antilles that he was leading a so-called final battle over Coruscant in the blood-red Star Destroyer Errant Venture and that it currently housed the rescued children of the Resistance - one of which, he’d been told, might even be his granddaughter by his second marriage to Iella Wessiri.

The cycle only seemed to repeat itself in his second family with Syal and Myri.

Husband, father, estranged husband and father…

He was a man that had spent the better part of his life since Endor training and sending children to their deaths, and now he was tasked with keeping their decedents safe even as he waged war above Coruscant...for the third time.

Both giving and receiving orders as he passed down the bridge's center, Antilles made his way to Booster Terrick by the main transparisteel window - a man himself that he’d thought of an adoptive father. In fact, Booster had basically raised him after his parent’s were murdered. Booster was a businessman, but had also been in this war even longer than Wedge had - though he had found a way to profit it by.

This is General Leia Organa of the Resistance...
The time has come to forge a path to freedom.
The forces of oppression have ruled our galaxy for too long.
We must join together and fight. Send your fastest ships...
All your warriors.
Our voices will not be silenced.
We can no longer live in the shadow of the First Order.
We must step into the light.


These words, uttered by Leia Organa Solo in spite of her death just before the Battle of Exegol, had been carried by what most understood to be an ancient Jedi beacon system from the ancient Sith Wars, back when the HoloNet was destroyed by the Dark Ages.

They signaled that something was going to happen.

Of course, Booster had taken the Errant Venture and immediately sought out the Resistance.

Sought out Wedge.

But he was old, and he'd always thought of Wedge of the son he never had.

And so, it became obvious that, with Mirax and Corran still missing since Kylo Ren slaughtered the New Jedi Order training temple...

... that Wedge should lead.

The crimson Star Destroyer was his, whirling through the battle, as the massive dreadnought that was the Capitol, the source of the Galactic Jamming, rose up, its immense weapons targeting the Resistance and Smuggler Fleet -

And then, the drums in Wedge’s ears seemed to stop, as if the whole galaxy was holding its breath.

He ordered the Errant Venture’s main batteries to target the dreadnought. In the onslaught of flashes that filled the viewport, the Capitol rose slowly even as it rained down destruction on the planet and into the combined Resistance fleet.

It couldn’t happen again. Had they fought a "final battle" yet again, only to see their foe rise at the last second to fight another day? As they had at Endor with the Second Death Star only to be reformed under Thrawn, as they had here on Coruscant with the fall of Isard only to be replaced by countless years of shadow war against the Imperial Remnant, later with the Vong in a four-year war with loss after loss, and more recently at Exegol with the resurrected Emperor himself. The galaxy had fought back, only to have peace removed at the last second time and time again.

But then it happened - the dreadnought Capitol vanished into hyperspace and exploded!

The Galactic Jamming which had silenced the galaxy for most of a decade ended with a crash - the HoloNet was alive, a hundred trillion sentients reaching out for long-lost family, asking for help, calling for rebellion, demanding submission -

The war... was it over?

"Well done my boy!" Booster said to Wedge, even though the Antilles man was old himself!

Wedge’s jaw dropped in spite of himself. He’d felt the heat of the reactor explosion of the Second Death Star. He’d seen a super fleet destroyed over Exegol, and yet his jaw dropped.

Was that it? Was that the end?

It better damn well be, he thought.

The First Order fleet was still above Coruscant, but it began to retreat, or surrender, or disperse.

Wedge turned to Booster, rage filling his burning chest anew. It’d been him holding his breath, he realized. The drums had been the beat of his own heart.

“Order the fighters to concentrate their fire on the remaining capitol ships,” he breathed. “See if we can’t catch the stragglers.”

And…

“Well, done, yourself, Booster,” he said with a smirk. “What are you going to ask for this time? The Eclipse is a gorgeous ship. Red just might be its color.”

"Connix isn't gonna give me a Super Star Destroyer," Booster said, laughing. "What about you? I know you commanded the Mon Mothma, an Imp-class like the Venture, but you used to have a Super Star Destroyer of your own, remember."

He was referencing the Lusankya, the warship that Wedge had commanded at the Battles of Phaeda and Orinda.

"You are a General, bet you could ask for the Eclipse..."

The last of the First Order fleet gave up or fled - there weren't many TIE stragglers like there had been at the Battle of Endor - First Order starfighters had hyperdrives, after all, unlike back under the old Empire. Two whole First Order Star Destroyers were captured, and the Resistance immediately named them Liberator and Emancipator, after two ships captured from the Imperials at Endor all those decades ago. The smaller SSD, the Knife 9, that fled, and Booster did not like that.

"Any one Resurgent-class is enough to turn a tin-pot dictator into a problem. Not many systems could beat an VSD, let alone an ISD..." Booster eyed the Corellian. "You have a plan? A proposal? Or are you finally gunna retire properly?

Wedge grimaced. Deja vu struck him hard in the stomach. It felt like yesterday that Admiral Gial Ackbar had asked him the same thing and Wedge had been lost what to do.

[“There were times I didn't think I was going to live another moment. I don't think I ever let myself dream I might survive this long, to see this sort of victory. This was always a goal, but now that it's here…I never really dared let myself look beyond the next battle, and now, it seems, there might truly be an end to the warfare. I don't know what I'll do with myself,” Wedge said.

“Said like a man contemplating retirement,” Ackbar replied.

“Retirement? I’m not even thirty!”]

“Warfare is an occupation from which you can never retire too young,” Wedge said, quoting Ackbar’s response.

But, how many times had he asked himself that question? How many more times would he have to?

After Jakku, when he and Norra retired to Akiva? After Corellia, when she’d returned and yet refused to fight in the Resistance? After Exegol when Iella went missing?

Wedge had always been in the fight. It had left him bitter. Angry. Skywalker, Han, Leia - he’d lost friends. In Temmin, Norra, Iella, Myri and Syal - he’d lost family. But it went deeper than that. He’d often felt he’d lost himself.

But this was himself.

Wedge had grown up under the Empire, saw first hand the corruption of the New Republic that devolved into the ruin of complacency that allowed the First Order to march onto Coronet City with such ease along with the rest of the galaxy.

This wasn’t the end.

The seeds were always planted for the next war as soon as one was over.

Wedge Antilles wasn’t done fighting. Not now that he had found Myri. Not now that Syal was so close. Perhaps he could be the Father he’d always wanted to be to them. Keep them safe in a way he hadn’t been able to do with Temmin.

It was the beginning, again.

“I think I’ll hang around a little longer. Besides, what’s the fun of being old if you can’t beat up on the youngsters,” he said with a smirk. "Maybe we go into business. Booster and Antilles Luxury Casino, Daycare and Flight School?”

"Daycare and Flight School," Booster snorted. "Sure, you want me to take on the Resistance kids, I know, I know."

He looked old for a second.

"But I am going to be gone soon enough, I've been a smuggler since before the Clone Wars." He smiled slightly at memories gone by. "So why not leave this to you, Wedge?"

A shrug.

"I'd like to put down some roots on Corellia. Mirax, Corran - they're out there somewhere. Not seen them or the grandkids since before Exegol."

His one good eye phased out with thought.

"You want to work on what's coming, on keeping the good fight going?”

Wedge Antilles smirked. He’d tried the whole retirement thing on Akiva. He’d tried to put aside the killing and the fighting. It had a good idea while the New Republic was in charge, but once the First Order came it just felt selfish. Besides, sometimes he wondered if his friends who had burned out fighting had the right of it. Retirement was no easy mission for an old soldier.

He couldn’t imagine Booster anywhere but here. Of course, knowing Booster Terrick “putting down roots” on a planet like Corellia didn’t necessarily have to be legal.

Probably wouldn’t be.

As ever, Booster and the Errant Venture were quick to connect to the galactic network and their informants. Data was coming into the bridge even as the First Order retreated. A transmission of First Order reunification from a self-declared Grand Admiral at Belgaroth. Kuati systems being locked down. The Galactic Warlords putting down rebellions that had been hidden behind the Jamming. The Vice Chancellor of the First Order, Aryan Graul - now of the New Order - declaring itself as ruler of the Expansion Region and heir to the First Order forces retreating from the Core into the Inner Rim -

There was plenty to deal with.

Plenty to do.

Booster listened to the reports being taken down by the bridge crew.

Wedge put his arm around his old friend and squeezed him a side hug.

“Just don’t you get too comfortable on Corellia,” Wedge said. “The galaxy’s geriatrics gotta keep these kids in line. Connix I trust implicitly. Could be the next Chancellor if she wants it. But, can you imagine an Admiral Poe Dameron? Force help us.”

Booster chuckled and then another report came in, and the blood drained from his face.

"Wedge," he looked down at the datapad and passed it over. "The latest out of Akiva."

It was a report about the Knife 9, the Super Star Destroyer that had escaped the battle of Coruscant.

Under the command of the Knights of Ren, it had used its under-carriage cannon to destroy the capital of Akiva. Myrra was entirely gone, and the planetary weapons of a Mandator IV-class were incredibly destructive - as a first step to the miniaturised superlaser technology that the later Xyston-class Star Destroyers had used.

"There's no word from Norra," said Myri, referencing her stepmother and Wedge's ex-wife, as she stepped onto the bridge with her own 'pad to hand. "Good or bad, Dad.”

Wedge felt his legs weaken. He'd lost friends before - nearly fell over when he'd heard the news of Luke Skywalker's death. But, Norra had chosen to stay out of the fight and it may have found her again anyway.

He tasted bile in his mouth. He swallowed. Had she decided to stay on Akiva? He realized he didn't know.

The last time he'd seen Norra, held her, was when he told her about Snap, and that he was going back to the Resistance. She hadn't even tried to stop him, but they'd argued nonetheless. Then communication shut down, and it had been 9 years.

He swallowed again. Maybe she wasn't there.

Yeah, like she hadn't returned to her homeward after her son died!

"When," he asked, composing himself.

"A few days ago," Myri said, moving over and placing a hand on his shoulder. "Did you want us to go?"

"We can take the Venture," Booster said grimly. "I've not got a rank, I can go wherever I want."

He was already beginning to shout orders.

Wedge turned to the viewport. There was mop up still to do. He couldn't be the only person hoping to see their family or reconnect right now.

"Get me, Connix," he said.

Sure he wanted to go. To go now. But, he'd dropped out when the Resistance needed him to rescue Myri. He couldn't do it twice in two days could he?

Connix responded pretty quickly. "Wedge?"

It had taken years to get her to stop calling him General, which had been even stranger the more she dressed like Leia - she had even adopted the hairstyle the woman had preferred around the Battle of Endor, decades ago.

"What's wrong?"

Her eyes immediately realised something was up.

"I thought all the Resistance younglings had already left the Venture -"

True, most of them had been eager to get back to their parents, but it was only after they had left that Wedge would have found out that Syal's daughter was among the shuttles that returned to the crimson Star Destroyer to head back home.

"It's Norra," he said before he realized what he was saying. "Akiva. I'm not sure if she was -"

He paused.

Get it together, Wedge.

"Do you need support, planetside?" he asked.

"No," Connix said, firmly. She knew how bad it had been after Wedge and Norra lost Snap. And for Kare Kun, his wife. "The last of the Brutetroopers are done, dealt with. The Capitol blowing up and the confirmation from Barriss about Hux's death has robbed the ground survivors of the desire to fight, especially as the Knights of Ren fled with the Star Destroyers that were left."

"So double no. Go to Akiva, I couldn't order Booster around if I wanted -"

"Damn right," the old Corellian crowed.

"- and Poe is already talking about leaving to try and trace Rey, so I doubt you'll be the last to connect with family."

Myri shrugged at that, off-camera, as if discarding a thought she didn't care for.

Wedge nodded.

"Very well. We'll be leaving directly. Call me if anything changes," he said reaching to close the channel.

The words felt odd even as he said them. 9 years of no communication between systems, and now, just as suddenly as it went quiet, it was all back on again.

Connix nodded as the line silenced.

The Errant Venture was already lumbering out of orbit, an old ship now, having spent forty years in service as a casino kingdom and Jedi support craft. It creaked almost as much as Booster, and then tunneled into hyperspace.

Myri looked to her father. "Are you okay?”

Wedge nodded. He reached for her hand.

"I'm so glad you're here," he said, holding her hand in both of his.

She squeezed him back, drew him into a hug. The Errant Venture was a quick enough ship for its size, and Coruscant was about as well connected to the hyperlanes as it could be, but there were a dozen things to do and handle at any one time - supplies, repairs, disputes. Before Wedge knew it, they would be at Akiva, and positioned above the former capital city.

It was an immense crater.

There were a few emergency craft in orbit - mainly from nearby Naboo, but there was one from as far off as Svivren and another from Trulalis - but there wasn't much to recover or save. Booster stared at it for a moment, mouth gaping once, twice, before he knuckled down. "Connect us to whoever is in-charge and find out what we can do to help.”

Wedge had a feeling of dread the whole journey. With the Holonet fully operational, Norra would have tried to reach out if she could, even if Temmin they hadn't talked much.

Still...

After Exegol, Norra returned to her home planet, ostensibly to gather Temmin's toys from the spare room. But, the last he'd known, she hadn't left.

He clenched his jaw, a lump forming in his throat.

The crater was starkly empty. No buildings. No rubble. No craft. No bodies. Just a hole where the city used to be. Where Norra used to be.

"I'm going down," he said suddenly to no one in particular.

Myri nodded and accompanied him, as Booster went full into disaster manager mode, making calls to Karrde, to Calrissian, even to Connix, barking demands and expectations and receiving promises as he went. Myri looked back and smiled slightly.

"He's good at taking charge," she murmured.

But otherwise, she set herself up in the co-pilot seat.

"Did Norra and Mum ever figure each other out in the end?"

They'd all been separated for the best part of a decade, after all. It was a pointed question, but all the recriminations seemed so petty.

"Norra..." Wedge said slowly, edging the thrusters, "had a different way about her."

As they left the hanger, he pointed the ship down towards the planet.

"Did they figure each other out? I don't know. Honestly, I put them both in an impossible situation," he said. "But, I feel like they respected each other, for all of their differences."

Wedge had put them in a tough position. After the close of the Galactic Civil War, he'd fallen in love with Norra and they'd married. They'd had the same wounds of war, and found solace together. But, then it had all fallen apart.

He'd liked life on Akiv with Norra, but realized he wasn't done with war as much as he'd thought. His homeward of Corellia decayed after the fall of the Empire. It lost its identity and became home to warlords and to criminals. He came out of retirement and joined the Corellian Military. Norra hadn't understood. He'd formed Phantom Squadron then.

It was in Coronet City that he'd first met Iella. The bombing of Hosnian Prime by the paramilitary group that would ultimately become the fringes of the First Order into the Core had focused things, but not enough. He was happy on Corellia with Iella and their two daughters.

But that moment became a touchstone for each of them.

It drew Iella back into the war. She was the first to join the Resistance.

Wedge wanted to stay out of it.

Then Temmin joined up.

And then Luke had died.

Everyone had died.

Temmin and Norra had come to him at Coronet City, on a mission from Leia to get the list of "Subversives" that the First Order was using to hunt down potential Resistance supporters after Crait.

With Iella gone, he returned to Norra.

And then, they lost Temmin. They lost everything after Exegol. Norra returned home to Akiva and he'd gone full thruster into the Resistance training the next generation of pilots. Somewhere along the line, he lost touch with Iella...then Syal and Myri.

He forced a smile at Myri and cleared his throat.

As they neared the planet, the crater that was the city simply grew. The maw in his belly seemed to match its size. No way Norra had survived it. He directed the ship in a high arc, looking down at the scattered rescue efforts. Up close, there were remnants of what he thought might be a school, the city square, and shops. But it was utterly destroyed. The weapon was powerful.

He pulled out of the spin and directed it toward their homestead on the outskirts of town. A few keedees fluttered around in the dirt, pecking the ground. It wasn't likely these were there's, but it touched him nonetheless.

"It's gone," he said finally.

She was gone. There was no doubt. The Wexleys had not survived the war.

He searched for a place to land. Out here, the houses were merely blasted to bits as opposed to total annihilation by the First Order's weapons - Knife 9's weapons.

Wedge landed the ship near the old property. It was possible he could at least lay Norra to rest.

*****

Wedge knelt before the grave. He'd found Norra in his old study. She had likely been trying to get out, but reports were that there wasn't much time before the blast destroyed the capital city. The explosion had spread far enough to collapse the house. She lay clutching a box of children's toys and a go-bag over her shoulder. She'd packed a flight suit and some assorted clothes.

Maybe she'd seen it as a sign to rejoin the war. Or, maybe she was just trying to escape.

Wedge and Myri had buried her here on the old homestead. In the gravestone, he'd had the highly polished disk that had been the remnants of a B-1 battledroid personality core placed in the center.

"Did I ever tell you the story of that old rust bucket," he asked Myri as he painfully stood up. "Snap, when he was a kid and before I knew him, had been alone for a very long time. He thought both his parents dead, and had got himself a little criminal enterprise on here on Akiva."

He laughed.

"He was terrible at it," he said, rubbing his hand through his eye. "Still, one good thing he'd done was reprogram this old B-1 battle droid from the Clone Wars. Called it 'Mister Bones.' It was terrifying! Singing, dancing, murder-bot. But, it would do anything to protect the Wexleys."

Norra was buried next to her first husband Brentin Lore Wexley and a headstone that had been made for Temmin.

"And, now, at least, they're all together.”

 

IC: Tirran Huxley
Passing the Investment Fields to the Path to Space

Looking over at K'kruhk Tirran bubbled in laughter inside his tank. "Hohohoho!" he burbled in his tiny little environment, letting the simple pleasure wash over him before pausing for a breath to state deadpan "No."

Shaking in his tank Tirran sighed into the moment, "No, I didn't join them. But I also didn't report them. If I joined them I would be known, and I am not a fighter nor someone that likes being known that well. Bad for business, you end up becoming a show piece instead of being of any meaningful life." He bobbed with a shrug as he contemplated pulled out a straw to his formaldehyde to take a sip, but decided against it.

"Why do you ask? Your kind never ask simple questions, do they?" he asked in turn with a narrowing eye at the large hairy mammal Jedi.

TAG: @Sinrebirth

 

Combo with our GM @Sinrebirth Part One of Three

IC: Madelyn Linnett, Asteria Magnus, Mirta Gev
Concord Dawn

Madelyn felt more tired and weary by the passing day. She had moved into a smaller home, had grown slower as she moved, and watched her children and their families grow as time passed. She watched now as Mirta stared down Asteria. She could sense why she was angry, about the darksaber. But Madelyn wasn't angry really. Asteria was a child. She had tried her best.

"Many of the truths you cling to Mirta depend on the point of view." Madelyn said as she approached. She put a hand on Asteria's shoulder and squeezed."The darksaber may have made one Mand'alor before, but it is Eleanor's perseverance and courage that make her one now. You can be mad at Asteria all you want, but the truth of it is you have made mistakes as a child as well; and people do not condemn you for it." She gave her a firm look. "Do not condemn Asteria because she made a mistake, help her grow from it. Learn from it. So she can be a better Mandalorian."

Mirta pursed her lips, and then remembered she didn't have her helmet on, and the expression was visible.

"People should condemn those who fail them," Mirta said. "Especially their leaders. We have to be accountable, to be thrown down by the clans if we screw up. Like my grandfather, when he took that swipe at Caedus, or your husband, when he stuck our neck out for the Rebels. We could have lost a lot more than we have. We did lose a lot."

She stepped closer to the aged Madelyn, fists squeezed into knots.

At this point she was entirely ignoring Asteria.

"You're right in some ways." Madelyn agreed. "That our leaders should be held accountable for their actions. But Asteria is not our leader, not yet." She paused and gave her a calm look. "We lost a lot when we fought the Empire Mirta. Mandalorians have lost a lot for years. But how did you think Paz and I felt when you're grandfather took our husband from us? Should he have been condemned for his actions?" It was a bit of a low blow, Madelyn knew. And she didn't blame Mirta for it of course, but she was trying to make a point.

Mirta had expected to have that thrown at her.

She had for the past decade-plus.

"It was a mercy kill, I heard."

Madelyn nodded. "He was dying already yes. But he still could have tried to help him instead of shooting him." She looked upset at that. "Was it really a mercy to kill him Mirta? To take him away from his spouses? From his children so violently?"

She shook her head, "He was never condemned for his actions. We had every right as Mandalorians to challenge him but we didn't. And killing is far worse then losing an item that's been up in the air between rulers for decades. Fenn did not need the darksaber to rule, and neither will Eleanor. You need to trust her Mirta. I need you to trust this family. You're part of it too now, like it or not."

Mirta didn't immediately respond.

But she did put on her helmet, mainly to conceal her tears before they came.

"And the million Mandalorians I took away from their spouses? From their children? Who I got killed at Coruscant as Brutetroopers?"

"They made their choice and you made yours. You can't change the past Mirta. But you can choose the future you want to live by." Madelyn stepped forward and put a hand on her shoulder, sensing how upset she was. "It's okay."

Mirta shook her head. "How can you... say that..." The tears became sobs, and she placed her hand on Madelyn's lower arm, squeezing it, pained. Her free hand still a fist. Her head bowed.

"Because I understand the burden more then you realise." Madelyn said, her mind drifting to the days when she was an Emperors Hand. She pulled Mirta into a hug, and added, "Shhhh. You're alright now. Just let it out."

Mirta allowed herself to be drawn into the embrace, forgetting Asteria was there. "What do I do now?"

Madelyn looked at Asteria over Mirta's shoulder. "You stay and help us rebuild. Maybe you could even teach Asteria a thing or two. If she was willing, and you threw aside the darksaber talk Mirta." She gently patted her on the shoulder as they hugged.

Asteria looked st Madelyn. "If she wants to help. If she stops treating me like the enemy." She looked back at Mirta, a frown on her lips and her stance unwavering. She wasn't going to back down.

Mirta smiled. "We're all enemies, kid, we're Mandalorians. Nothing worse than another Mandalorian." Her tone was amused, jovial even. A deep breath and she took back off her helmet, re-acquiring some of that Fett grit. "Alright. I can work to make things better. Support the next Manda'lor."

But then... Madelyn felt herself become light headed. Moreso than before, even.

Something had... given way within her.

Had the strain of the Battle of Coruscant finally caught up?

Asteria grinned. "I hear you. And thanks. Mom will be pretty happy to hear that. "

Madelyn tried to smile, but she felt something shift changed. She reached out to grabbed Mirta as she felt herself lose conciousness-

Part Two of Three

IC: Eleanor Magnus
Concord Dawn

Eleanor looked at Kaz and Amaria as she placed the her bags down. Breathed in slowly. She followed their gaze to the bed, and stifled a laugh. It had been ages since she had been home. She was grateful that her mother had let them have the old house, and wondered what memories she would create here with her new family.

"It's big enough for the three of us." Eleanor told them and she wandered past them to look around the room. She had vague memories of this house, her baby room was nearby and she remembered her siblings and parents in various places. But they had moved so much, she had moved so much because of her training. Most memories just came and go. "Or were you worried about something else?"

"I mean we couldn't really speak at the event," Amaria said. "It was a bit... crowded."

Kaz was a bit more neutral; clinical even. "So we have a rota?"

They were talking about the bed.

Eleanor smiled in understanding. "Yes. I mean I'm sleeping in the middle so..." She looked at Amaria and Kaz, before turning around and sitting on the bed. "See it's big enough for all three of us."

They were clearly struggling with this aspect of dating as a trio. Amaria and Kaz weren't attracted to each other; she was his bodyguard long before they were friends. Friendships could be ruined by taking things further. Kaz bypassed the point; again. "Won't you be boiling hot?"

"I mean I come from a desert planet," Amaria reminded. "I can sleep in the middle."

"Or I can sleep in the spare room..."

"... we could divide the days..."

"There are an odd number in a week..."

"... I'm pretty sure Eleanor will want some alone-time..."

"... so then where does one of us sleep?"

They were getting carried away. In a galaxy of varying relationship structures, genders, sexualities and more besides, it was still an unorthodox structure for most, but there were still worlds which opposed certain genders or even sexualities in the Outer Rim. The Core was less bothered about such things; even the old Empire allowed for same-sex couples and they hated women and aliens. But everyone knew about the exceptional females and aliens of the old Empire; Thrawn, Sloane, Iceheart, Daala, those who had risen to become leaders of incredible talent.

But off they went, even as Eleanor stood right there.

Eleanor could sense their worry and anxiety and sighed slightly as they went on for a bit. "I know you two don't like each other that way. But..." She carefully approached them. "...I don't want to sleep alone. If we need private time we can communicate that. But I also won't force either of you to do anything."

Eleanor swallowed hard. "I love both of you. I won't let anyone or anything get in the way of that."

Kaz hesitated, as did Amaria, who went a shade of embarrassed pink. "Yeah, of course," she said.

The Chiss was physically uncapable of rolling his eyes but he would have done so, but then he refocused. "I love you too."

Amaria pursed her lips. "I mean, I think I do. But now I feel pressure to say it!"

Kaz did finally smile. "You're just competitive."

"I really, really am." Amaria stepped over to Eleanor and ran her hand over a lekku; the human equivalent of expressing frustrating by running ones hand through ones hair. "I need a minute."

Managing not to lift an eyebrow, Kaz watched Eleanor to see if she wanted to follow or stay.

Finding their dynamic would take time, and wanting it to be perfect was also something they'd have to learn about.

Eleanor nodded, a little nervous. "Of course." She smiled at Amaria as she left before turning to Kaz. "I think it's best if we give her a minute. Anything longer and I'll go check on her." She moved towards Kaz and looped an arm around him, before drawing him into a hug. "Anything you want to talk to me about?" She said into his shoulder.

"To be honest I just wanted to kiss you," Kaz said, almost sheepishly.

Eleanor laughed and leaned up to kiss Kaz-

He kissed her back, hands softly placed upon her hips, not drawing her closer, simply existing between their lips, in the moment. He was half-leaned down, half-not, absent from his body and only the emotion and feeling involved -

Eleanor smiled into the kiss and let herself be drawn closer, placing a hand on the middle of his back. She kissed Kaz deeper, not really wanting to let go-

His hands became slightly firmer, pulling her closer, pressing himself lightly to her, and her to him, a smile on his lips around his second and third kiss -

Eleanor smiled into the kiss, and responded in kind before she broke away for a moment to catch her breath. "Kaz?" Eleanor said quietly, and she moved backwards, pulling him with her towards the bed-

Kaz nodded. "Definitely."

He followed her to the bed, to their bed, but he wasn't thinking about that, he was thinking about Eleanor...

In more ways than one.

In all ways.

That would be inaccurate; he wasn't thinking, finally.

He was all feeling.

Feeling -

Eleanor watched Kaz carefully as she laid down on their bed, felt his feelings focus; his eyes on her as she smiled at him before she pulled him in for another kiss-

He pulled her on top of him, still kissing, before shifting himself up the bed so he could take off his shirt. Amaria spoke up. “I see how it is.”

“Starting without me?”

Kaz, who was half shirtless, hesitated. “What?”

“Oh grow up, Kaz, and stop thinking about it.” She stepped into the room and, and began to undo her attire. “We can’t think our way through this and I just want to be here with you both. As friends, as lovers, as each other.”

She leaned down and kissed him on the lips, and Kaz kissed her back, surprised at first, but not unhappy. Amaria took a hand to Eleanor’s wrist and pulled her closer so she could kiss her too -

Eleanor had been so focused on Kaz that she hadn't sensed Amaria walk in. She startled away from him as turned to look at her sheepishly. Kneeling back to see what she would do. Watched as she kissed Kaz, and smiled a bit at his reaction. She leaned closer and kissed Amaria when she grabbed her wrist, before pushing on her shoulder gently to break away.

"I can't say I'm really surprised." Eleanor quipped with a grin. She quickly added, "Aren't you happy we have a bed big enough for this-"

Hours later

Their relationship kinks worked out, they had a moment of glow before Kaz and Amaria began to think aloud.

“Jobs?” She said.

“I intended to stay on as the Mandalorian rep to the Resistance,” Kaz said, playing with Eleanor’s hair. “You?”

“Bodyguard job still going?”

“Sure,” he said wryly. “What about you, Eleanor?"

Eleanor was dozing slightly as Kaz played with her hair. She peered up at them when they spoke and smiled a little. "I think I'll be fine with being Mand'alor. But..." She hesitated. "...uh. It's not the only thing I want to do."

Kaz sat up slightly. "Oh?"

"What's that?" Amaria seconded.

Eleanor looked nervous. "I want to have a baby." She admitted, looking away from them.

Kaz's red eyes widened, and Amaria looked as surprised. "I mean -"

The Twi'lek continued the sentence. "Can Chiss and humans, y'know? I know humans and Twi'lek's can -"

"Not that I don't want children," Kaz said, "but Chiss families are very involved in child-rearing, and if our kid was a Sky-Walker -"

"Force sensitive," Amaria translated -

They were at it again.

"I think so." Eleanor admitted. "But it's complicated. The amount of doctor visits would be more then normal." She looked at Kaz, and then Amaria. "I know we have Asteria, and if it would be too much to have another child that's okay."

She paused.

"There's no guarantee the child would be force sensitive. That's rare enough on it's own."

"Yeah, of course," Kaz said, breathless, exhilarated.

Amaria, laying there atop the bed, looked at the ceiling. "Now do I want children."

"Our children," Kaz reminded.

"Good point," she rolled over, teasing. "Also a question; are we exclusive?"

Kaz snorted. "That is a little late to ask, don't you think."

"I mean, are we allowed to see anyone else," she stuck out her tongue, propped herself up on her elbows to peer into Eleanor's eyes. "Do you want to?"

Eleanor shook her head, smiling. Both because she was elated that they wanted to have children and because Amaria was teasing Kaz. "No. I just want it to be us." She admitted. Eleanor smiled at Amaria. "Three is a lucky number after all, don't you think?" She teased back.

"I'm game," Amaria said, moving up to kiss Eleanor on the cheek, leaning over Kaz who was in the middle of them. "Sounds perfect."

Kaz watched as Amaria reached up to turn Eleanor's face so she could kiss her fully. The Chiss smiled at them, and would have picked up where they left off before speaking when the door knocked -

Eleanor looked at them lovenly, before she responded to Amaria's kiss and started to kiss Amaria with earnest, putting one of her hands on Kaz's leg before a knock at the door interrupted them. She broke away and looked at the door, before calling out.

"Who is it?"

"It's me," came Mirta's voice, shouting. "Mirta. Madelyn's been taken ill, I think she overdo it on Coruscant -"

Kaz sat up, as did Amaria, and they began to reach for their clothes -

"It's me," came Mirta's voice, shouting. "Mirta. Madelyn's been taken ill, I think she overdo it on Coruscant -"

Kaz sat up, as did Amaria, and they began to reach for their clothes -

Combo Part Three of Three

IC: Madelyn Linnett, Asteria Magnus, Eleanor Magnus, Kaz, Amaria
Concord Dawn

Mirta was standing there, by Madelyn's bedside, as Kaz and Amaria rushed after Eleanor to keep up. She was a Force user, so Eleanor could be expected to be much faster. But Madelyn would be weak, and she would know. The Force told the aged woman that it was her time.

The Force told Eleanor too.

And so did it tell Asteria.

Madelyn felt more tired then she had ever felt in her life. The force spoke to her in whispers, warning her that her time was so so close. But she wasn't about to leave without saying goodbye.

She reached over and smiled softly at Asteria, who was kneeling by her bedside, tears on her face. Madelyn reached up and brushed a stray piece of hair behind Asteria's ear and her granddaughter cried a little harder.

And Eleanor stumbled a little bit as she came into the room. Walked carefully to her mother and stared down at her, trying not to cry. "Mama?"

"It's alright Eleanor." Madelyn let out an unsteady breath. "The force calls us all one day."

Mirta excused herself from the room, and Kaz and Amaria held back too, before closing the door so that they had their privacy. Mirta was Boba Fett's granddaughter, and the other two had only been around for a week - they didn't want to intrude, but all three would be by the door if they were needed, even if to take Asteria out for a moment.

Eleanor let out an unsteady breath. "I know Mama. I just wish it wasn't so soon."

"Don't go grandma." Asteria whimpered.

Madelyn gave Asteria a sad look and then turned to Eleanor. "There's something I never told you Eleanor. About how the Shysa clan started. It's important, and I need you and Asteria to listen."

A look of confusion flashed on Eleanor's face, but she nodded anyway. "Okay..."

"Fenn's first ancestor was named Shysa Cadera. She was a Jedi at one point....fought Revan. But ultimately chose to be a Mandalorian in the end. She married a Fett I believe." Madelyn swallowed hard and took a breath.

"Cassus Fett gave Shysa a lightsaber crystal...."

Asteria looked at Eleanor. "We're related to the Fett's?!" She said a little too loudly.

Madelyn laughed lightly. "Yes. Shysa married Cassus Fett's daughter; Mheri Fett." She sounded amused, despite the situation. "Cassus Fett was a war criminal from what Fenn told me, but also had a soft spot for Shysa." She looked over towards a holocron on the bedside. "Eleanor, you're father would want you to have it. He gave it to Paz before be died, and then Paz gave it to me."

Eleanor felt the force react, almost like it was singing. She took the holocron in her hand, and glanced at Madelyn who was holding Asteria's hand.

She willed the holocron to open-

And so it did.

There was a kyber crystal within.

A black crystal.

It reached out, and Eleanor would feel an affinity to it almost immediately.

"It's black." Eleanor turned the crystal over in her hands. It felt familiar, like she was always meant to have it. It wasn't the darksaber but...

"Brilliant isn't it?" Madelyn smiled weakly. "You know you're history don't you?"

Eleanor frowned a little. "Well yes. I know you are descended from a Sith Lord named Lana Beniko. She was on the Council of the Sith too I think."

Madelyn nodded. "Yes. It's probably why I made such a good Emperors Hand." She joked a little and Asteria cracked a smile. "She married a Jedi from what I understand."

Eleanor nodded and leaned forward. "So we have pretty powerful ancestors."

"Yes. But power wasn't what made them great. Their choices..." Madelyn paused. "...their choices made them who they were. You're choices will determine the fate of Mandalore."

"No pressure mom." Asteria piped up.

Eleanor looked down at the crystal. "And you want me to do this with a black lightsaber crystal."

"Yes." Madelyn answered. "I do."

The three others stood at the open door, and felt they couldn't wait any longer. Mirta, Amaria and Kaz all came in, slowly, Mirta thanking Madelyn while Amaria and Kaz stood side by side to Eleanor and squeezed a hand each. Madelyn would have the chance to see them all, family, blood and otherwise, all together.

Not everyone was here, but enough were, perhaps.

The others would have to see her later.

After.

Madelyn felt more tired then she had been before and gently smiled up at them. She looked at Mirta first, "Make sure you take care if yourself." She told her gently. Madelyn looked over at Kaz and Amaria." And if you were wondering-"

She looked amused, "-I approve. I hope you find many years of happiness with each other." Madelyn glanced at Eleanor who seemed to sense what was going on. "I don't have much time left. I love you all very much."

"Mama..." Eleanor whispered, grateful that Kaz and Amaria each had a hand. She realised she might fall over without them.

Asteria moved closer to Madelyn and hugged her. Madelyn kissed the top of her head in response, "Asteria, promise me you won't stay from the light."

"I promise grandma." Asteria answeres quietly as she let go of the hug.

Madelyn nodded, looking weak. "I'll be with Fenn and Paz soon."

Tag: @Sinrebirth

 

OOC: Combo with @Sinrebirth

IC: William Aima, TC, Jess Pava
Coruscant, apartment, half a world away from the Imperial Boulevard



This is General Leia Organa of the Resistance...
The time has come to forge a path to freedom.
The forces of oppression have ruled our galaxy for too long.
We must join together and fight. Send your fastest ships...
All your warriors.
Our voices will not be silenced.
We can no longer live in the shadow of the First Order.
We must step into the light.

These words, uttered by Leia Organa Solo in spite of her death just before the Battle of Exegol, had been carried by what most understood to be an ancient Jedi beacon system from the ancient Sith Wars, back when the HoloNet was destroyed by the Dark Ages.

They signaled that something was going to happen.

It began on Coruscant; a Galactic Rebellion against Chancellor Hux and his Mandalorian Brutetrooper army. It ended with the destruction of the Capitol.

The Galactic Jamming which had silenced the galaxy for most of a decade ended with a crash - the HoloNet was alive, a hundred trillion sentients reaching out for long-lost family, asking for help, calling for rebellion, demanding submission -

But it was in the middle of the celebrations and the medals and the ceremony that William Aima, whose home had been untouched by the violence half a world away, would feel the pain.

The certainty.

His son was dead.

He would also realise what he had sensed earlier was indeed Vicrul on-world, distant and muffled by the battle and the violence and chaos, but his death resonated with that same tone.

It had definitely been him, on Coruscant.

Closer than they had been for years.

But now they were further away than ever; separated by the terminator between alive and not.

Now what?

Well, it didn't make an ounce of difference to TC.

It was time to clean the apartment; she had been hired to do so, and the droid would so do so.

She knocked at the door, poorly timed, as ever.

So he had been right after all. He had spent half a decade searching for his son, and it had been even longer than that since he had gone missing.

And now he was dead. For real this time. He pulled out a photo of his wife and son. He was just twelve at the time, two years before he was taken away. They were all smiling, such happy faces. And so he wept, his family now broken and destroyed. He felt the knock at the door, his hands coming up to wipe his eyes.

He went over to open the door for TC, his emotions kept inside of him.

"Hey TC, sorry for the delay,"

He shuffled to the bathroom as he looked at himself in the mirror. He knew despite whatever victory the Resistance had just won that it was not over.

How many more children would be abducted in the weeks, months, years that followed? Was this to be a repeat of Exegol, a victory rang hollow?

And were the Jedi now gone too? Despite him leaving the order all those years ago he had always known they were necessary, that they brought peace to the galaxy, or at least tried to.

He knew he could not stand by as he had done during the time the First Order arose from the ashes of the Empire. And so he decided then and there he would help the Resistance. He was sure he could be of help, to try and stop this madness.

He had to.

For his wife... for his son.

"Delay, what delay? I can compensate for the time I lost, I'm sure." she sounded sarcastic, but was good-natured.

"What stopped ya? Internal waters making noise as they move again?"

She regarded the man. "Or are just super-excited by the end of the war?"

An eye roll.



William over his shoulder to the droid a small soft smile on his face as he responded.

"Oh, somehow I doubt the war is truly over," he stated simply. He wished it was, he truly wished the pain and devastation was over, but he just knew it was not.

"This is probably going to be my last day TC, I'll be off to offer my assistance to the Resistance, or whatever they call themselves now,"

He wondered quietly if he might be able to find the body of his son, they were somewhere on Coruscant after all. Far away but still here.

"To the Resistance," TC said, surprised. "But what can you offer at your age, sir?"

The droid wasn't rude, just worried.

"I do not see noble old man as a Resistance archetype, after all."

She began to show images of various Resistance heroes.

The dashing Poe Dameron.

The warrior Finn.

The resolute Rose Tico.

The Jedi Rey Skywalker.

The dashing Poe Dameron again.

The aged Lando Calrissian.

"Oh, I suppose if you're a good pilot?"

Will smiled sadly at the images that came up. A reminder that his youth was 'wasted' in his adventures and then when he chose to do nothing against the First Order.

"I am a decent pilot, but nothing like Lando," he stated simply his sad smile in contrast to his warm eyes.

"But I am a fighter at heart TC," he spoke withdrawing his lightsaber hilt and holding it softly for the droid to see.

"Luke oversaw us construct them. I can still remember how long it took for my own crystal to call out to me..." he patted the head of the droid, the smile still on his face.

"Do not worry about me, I will be able to take care of myself. And if I am just a foot soldier than so be it, whatever I can do to help,"

"Ah, so you want to be a Jedi..." TC said, reading between the lines but probably swinging and missing.

"That means tracking down that Rey woman or perhaps even Finn, who I hear is pretty adept with a lightsaber, even if he is a turncoat Stormtrooper... I believe I heard a rumour that Jannah woman was Force-sensitive too."

TC wondered aloud. "Did you really attend Luke Skywalker's Jedi Academy before it was destroyed?"

Willaim nodded, going over to sit on his bed as he continued to speak to the droid. It was nice to have a conversation to distract him from the torment on what he had just learned.

"Be a Jedi? Well maybe, at least try to live up to the idea of one. The galaxy needs Jedi that much I know."

He paused, thinking more about what TC had to say.

"Rey, Finn, Jannah, perhaps another old Jedi I am sure there are more out there, as hard as the Sith have tried to wipe them out they always come back... and sadly the same is true for the Sith. But yes I really did attend Skywalker's Academy, for about eight or nine years, it was something else I tell you. I miss those days, as hard as they were everything was... simpler,"

"I mean, civil wars and Sith Lords hardly sounds simpler to a simple droid like me," TC said as she silently sucked up dust. "But sure."

She reached into a compartment. "Here you go."

There was a ticket.

For a shuttle.

Off-world.

"I was going to leave Coruscant, to be honest, so I saved up my pay. Too many other droids here."

The droid inclined her head and would have shrugged her shoulders if they moved.

"Should get you to Modesta, probably by a circuitous route because ongoing war is a thing, but sure."

William chuckled at the droid's comments. It was difficult to explain and so he would not, there was no need to.

He dipped his head in thanks as he accepted the ticket.

"Thank you, friend, I truly appreciate it," he stated, looking down to it, his mind wandering on the path before him. On the fate that lay before him.

The ticket took him to a berth aboard a transport that was taking those off-world that could essentially afford it, though at a subsidy that the Resistance would pay, on the basis you passed a basic security check. Of course, that wasn't what William was doing, but he did have to get through Customs.

A woman in Resistance oranges was evident, clearly drew into the duty she was not ordinarily on.

Her name was Jess Pava.



"Travel documents, please," she said, somewhat bored. The woman did have a blaster, but clearly her sole role was to manage a post that she hadn't precisely expected to be. But the Resistance was low on bureaucrats, and they hadn't expected to take Coruscant this week.

William nodded, reaching into his clothes to provide the correct documents, a soft smile of sympathy on his face as he handed the over.

"Long shift?" he intoned in a friendly tone. He always felt bad for people that worked long, thankless jobs often having to deal with rude, unappreciative people. But such was the way of things it seemed sadly, but well, that was no reason to not at least try he always told himself.

“I was shooting up TIEs a few days ago and here I am now,” Jess said wryly. She took his ticket and began to process it. “Did you and yours manage to stay safe during the battle? We tried to keep it to the Boulevard but First Order Brutetroopers weren’t playing nice.”

Will bobbed his head, a friendly chuckle escaping his lips.

"Yes, well I was quite aways away from the heart of the fighting so I was fine...I thank you for your valiant effort, however thankless it might be," he said softly, his tone gentle and warm as he waited patiently for his papers to be processed.

Jess regarded William. She wasn't too sure about something but the woman couldn't figure out what.

With a small nod, Jess turned over the ticket in her hands one more time. "I hope your journeys take you to safe spaces. I would recommend avoiding the Colonies in the short term, and the Inner Rim in the medium term. We expect the First Order to hang on just because," Jess sounded annoyed. "We beat them once before and the Galactic Jamming gave them a chance to bounce back."

Jess shook her head. "I wasn't at Exegol, but we got them all once - Palpatine, Pryde, even Kylo Ren and his Knights of Ren. Hux was reported dead too." She handed the ticket back. "But next thing we knew, Kylo Ren and Hux were back. What's super-odd is that one of the Knights of Ren survived too. I was following him during the battle, and he seemed to be leading them. A man named Vicrul."

"I can't help but wonder if we're missing something."

The name Vicrul would resonate with William, but a family of Rodian's were already warbling in annoyance that this was taking so long, just loud enough to be overheard, just quite enough to be conceivably quiet muttering, on that borderline between polite and not.

The name struck a chord in William, of course, he had no way of knowing that the man Jess was referring to was the very man he had been searching for all these years. His son.

He gave a nod of his head, sympathizing with the plight of the young woman.

"Ah yes well I appreciate your advice," he spoke genuinely, although he had little intention to follow it.

"May the Force be with you," he stated, nodding his head with a smile as he proceeded through. Ready to do what he could, to help where he was needed.

TAG: @Sinrebirth