Author's Notes: This was a very fun chapter to write, and while putting it together, I began to learn more about just who these two strangers were. Their interactions in this chapter changed entirely from what I had thought the original concept would be, and I am so glad this chapter turned out the way it did. It slowly begins the gentle bloom of the fairy tale that is underlying in this Assassin's Creed story. With that said, I am very appreciative of any interest that comes about from this little concoction. As I noted previously, I can only hope that others enjoy reading about the lives of these characters as much as I enjoy continuing to tell the tale they wish to have told.

As always, I hope I have captured the spirit of Assassin's Creed and Star Wars, and that I have done justice to weave an enchanting fairy tale with these worlds.

Disclaimer: I make no money from this hobby, but I don't let that discourage my imagination.

Chapter 3 – A Case of Bad Freight

Sweet Halcyon
Hyperspace

Kaelyn held her hands over her mouth, trying to stifle the sound of her breathing. The crate was dark, but it had just enough seams in it that she wouldn't suffocate. She had felt the pallet move, and then long moments later, her stomach plummeted from a sensation she had never known before. It felt like she was being pulled back and stretched while her head grew increasingly dizzy. After a few moments, it dissipated, and everything felt normal once again. However, she was still afraid to move, as she didn't know how to announce her presence to whoever this pilot was. She wondered if she could stay hidden the entire trip and hoped it would not be very long because she was starting to feel the effects of hunger set in as well.

Gavan stepped silently into the cargo hold, flexing his fingers over the trigger of his blaster and focusing his awareness to everything around him. He noticed that the crate hadn't changed position, and that the lid hadn't shifted from what he observed earlier. Maybe he was just being paranoid, but he wasn't about to take that chance. As he stepped closer to the crate, he heard the slight movement of material shifting. Silent curses filled his head, and he prepared for the worst. Grabbing the lid with one hand, he flung it open as quickly as he could, hoping he could startle whoever was in the crate, and he could overtake them before they caused any damage or harm.

"Come out slowly. Arms raised." Gavan said with a deadly tone in his soft voice, standing over the crate.

Kaelyn nearly screamed with alarm when she saw the barrel of the blaster aimed at her chest, but her voice came out as a choked gasp instead. Instinctively raising her hands before her, she did as she was instructed. She sat up slowly from the crate, feeling her heart pounding, and watching her hands shaking before her. She realized that her stupid idea really was the stupidest thing she had ever thought about doing. She couldn't blame this hooded man for trying to protect his ship and his resources, but she needed to protect herself as well.

"I can pay you for giving me passage off Blyne," Kaelyn told him in a voice that matched her shaking hands as she stood from the crate and stepped out of it onto the floor. She glanced at her satchel in the crate, but decided to leave it for now. She hoped he would be reasonable enough to let her bargain for a safe trip, and she briefly wondered how much he would want from the credit chips she carried. "I just needed to leave right away and couldn't wait until morning for a public transport."

Gavan nearly cursed out loud at the sight of this young stowaway, fighting against the need to roll his eyes in frustration because the galaxy had yet another surprise up its sleeve for him. The girl in his crate stood nearly six inches shorter than he did, and her young features had him guessing she was in her very early twenties. Her light brown hair was braided in the back, with the braid resting over her left shoulder, the length extending down towards her feminine curves that he promptly forced himself away from noticing, as this was not the time or place to consider such pleasantries. Her light blue eyes looked to him with confusion, and he could see that she was both regretful and angry with herself. Her face was more round than shapely, but with a unique simplicity that gave off her own wholesome attractiveness.

Still, Gavan could not take any chances. Since the Empire could not contain him through its regular methods, he had no reason to think they wouldn't try something as devious as setting him up with a seemingly innocent young woman who was bred to be her own type of assassin. And, as he thought that, he wondered if the barmaid on Blyne could have also been a set-up. He realized that the barmaid had seemed a little too eager for his attention, considering that she hadn't fully seen his face. Either way, he was out of that situation and instead in a very different one.

"Hold out your arms," Gavan instructed.

Kaelyn brought her hands before her and held them out, waiting for the hooded man to shackle them and then imprison her to sell her to the highest slave trader. She felt so stupid for choosing this ship based on…what she had no idea. It just seemed like it was the easiest way to get out of that docking port and off Blyne. Now, she feared that she didn't find a decent pilot. She found a pirate who would use her in ways she didn't even want to even imagine.

"No," Gavan said, not lowering the blaster an inch. "Out to your sides."

Taking a startled breath, Kaelyn tried to push aside the vulnerability that she had felt. Still, she slowly brought her outstretched arms to her sides and watched him, wondering if she would have any hope of taking him off guard. But, as she watched him move, there was something in his body language that told her, he could easily kill her if she gave him a reason.

Gavan moved the blaster back to his holster, confident now that he could handle this stowaway in close combat if he needed. Besides, he didn't like the idea of putting blaster holes in his freight or his cargo bay, and the last thing he needed was an air leak that could damage his ship or suck him out into space.

Stepping behind her and setting himself slightly off-center, he moved in close to the young woman, readying himself for a fight in case she knew close-quarter combat. He grasped her right wrist in his right hand and slid his free hand up her arm before doing a similar maneuver on her left, slightly surprised when she only flinched at his touch and didn't attempt an attack.

Kaelyn swallowed with a dry throat as his touch moved about her. She felt the strength in his hand as he took hold of her right wrist as though expecting to find something there. He kept her grasped while his other hand glided more lightly over the length of her arm, and she realized he was looking for something. Her head spun as to why he would dare put his hands on her the way he had, and after a moment, she finally pieced together that he was inspecting her for weapons.

"I promise I have nothing to harm you," she told him quietly, hoping he would end his search.

Staying behind the young woman, Gavan now touched one hand to her back and one on her waist, continuing his inspection. "You hid on my ship. I need to make sure you're not dangerous."

Kaelyn closed her eyes in humiliation as this man stayed behind her, and his hands touched the outside of her legs, sliding them towards the inside. She was grateful for the long tunic now, very aware of how close he was to her body and how he could have so easily been inappropriately looking at her backside. And, again, she regretted choosing this ship and his stack of cargo to hide within. Had she known she would receive this kind of treatment, she would have stayed in the docking port for a little longer looking for another ship.

Gavan detected nothing on her – no holsters or blasters and certainly not any kind of hidden weapons. The stiffness in her stance told him that she had never been inspected for any kind of contraband before, and he suspected she was more naïve than he originally thought. Pushing back his hood he now moved before her to study her reactions and body language to try and get a better grasp on just who she was.

Feeling the man's hands no longer touching her, Kaelyn opened her eyes to see him before her. It was the first time she saw his face, and she was surprised by what was there. He was not as old as she would have thought – perhaps in his late twenties to very early thirties. His face was not strongly sculpted and perfect, but he had a uniquely handsome charm about him, despite his rugged demeanor. His dark hair was pulled from his face in a thin, leather band that she noticed when he turned his head. Some of the shorter ends didn't quite reach to the back of his head, where they fell by his ears, and some of the strands from the front of his head brushed over his forehead. His eyes were a dark brown with a spark within them that she couldn't quite place. He had a thin, faded scar over his left cheek, and it was only visible when he moved his head in the light in a certain direction.

"What's your name?" Gavan asked as he folded his arms before him and watched her carefully.

Kaelyn lowered her arms to her sides while she studied this piratical pilot, realizing that he didn't demand she keep them raised any longer. Not about to question that, she decided to answer his inquiry instead. Quietly she told him, "Kaelyn."

"Kaelyn…what?" he pressed. Just because she was naïve it didn't mean that he was ready to trust her. He would take whatever information she would provide him and do his own investigations into who she was. It could have been just dumb luck that she landed on his ship without any weapons or a solidly thought-out plan, but he wasn't taking the chance that's all it was.

Chewing on her lip for a moment, Kaelyn tried to think of a fake name, but her mind had gone entirely blank. She was scared about what this man would do to her, and she was so angry with herself for her foolishness that she could only squeeze her fists by her sides to keep her fingers from visibly shaking. Believing that this man would eventually get his answers through whatever methods he wanted to try on her, she decided to give him some of the information he wanted up front to avoid the torture he would surely employ if she lied.

"Kaelyn Wynsridge," she answered softly, taking a heavy breath.

Nodding in silence for the main piece of information he required, Gavan turned from her and reached his hand into one of the small boxes. He would conduct his silent interrogation with her unknowing cooperation now to make sure she truly was nothing more than a lost girl mistakenly stowing away on the one ship she probably should have avoided.

Kaelyn was waiting for the pirate to turn around with a set of wrist cuffs so he could hold her prisoner until he was ready to either enjoy her or sell her to slavers…or both. Instead, his question took her entirely by surprise.

"Are you hungry?" Gavan asked, as he pulled out a pair of ration bars.

Confused by the sudden change in this man, she wondered how he could go from practically humiliating her with his groping for a weapon she clearly did not have to asking if she was hungry in less than the short time she knew him. Sucking in a breath, she was trying to understand just what he was doing to her, but she also couldn't deny that she had worked up a tremendous appetite with the adrenaline rush she had undertaken in the last couple hours.

Stumbling on her reply, she finally managed, "What? Um…yes."

Gavan turned around and offered her a packaged ration bar that she took in her trembling hands. He watched this Kaelyn open the package carefully and take small bites, chewing with almost painful appropriateness. He opened his own package and took a full bite, glad to get some kind of sustenance in him again. It had been hours since he last ate, and sharing such a meal with a stowaway was not how he expected his mission on Blyne would have ended.

Continuing with his act of goodwill and silent interrogation, Gavan gave her a bottle of water, as he downed a good mouthful from his own. Just observing her in these few minutes, he had concluded that she was definitely from a well-to-do household, if not some kind of nobility. Her name alone sounded of highbred society, and he honestly didn't know too many people who ate a ration bar like it was a high-priced nerf steak. While his instincts told him that she was harmless, there was something about this Kaelyn Wynsridge that bristled at him, warning him to be wary.

"You know my name, but how should I address you?" she now asked shyly after having eaten nearly half of the ration bar, watching how he stood in complete comfort while she felt her heart racing with the fear that he would still harm her in some way.

He silently raised an eyebrow at her proper speech, referring to him with expectations of a title rather than just a name. Gavan continued to watch her for any other hints beyond what she had unknowingly offered so far, but there was nothing notable. He would conduct his database investigations once he had a chance to get into the specialized databases he had access to using.

In the meantime, he would answer her question and try to pull more information from her. "People close to me call me Gavan. Those that aren't don't get to know my name."

Kaelyn swallowed hard on another mouthful of her ration bar, her eyes searching him for what exactly that might mean. It wasn't really an answer to her question because she wasn't close to him, which meant she couldn't call him his name, but it also meant that she had nothing to reference him.

She decided to try neutrality instead, hoping he would see that she was sincere and not intending any trouble for him. "Thank you, Sir, for these."

Gavan felt a lopsided grin snag at his mouth. She was scared of him, and that was good. It meant they could maintain their distance and not feel obligated to each other. "It's quite a curious thing to me that a young woman like yourself would want to leave Blyne under the cover of night in a cargo ship with a complete stranger. What brought you to that outcome?"

Kaelyn stiffened at the question, not sure she really wanted to divulge so much of her reasons with this man she didn't know. Looking down to the provisions in her hands that he offered her, she felt a twinge of guilt that she didn't understand because after all he had done to humiliate her, he still was thoughtful enough to know she was starving.

Trying to think of some way to tell this Gavan something to satiate him without giving away any details, she kept her answer cryptic. "It's not a life I want to live anymore."

Gavan caught the conflict in her eyes, the subtle hint that there was more to her story than she wanted to say, but she was holding back. She was trying to keep her air of mystery, but he liked the challenge of this interrogation. It was definitely more refreshing than running through an Imperial stronghold, trying to remove a cargo blockade.

Pushing for more, he kept his eyes on hers and asked, "Let me guess…abusive boyfriend? Daddy issues? Stalker?"

Sucking in a breath, Kaelyn was certain that he had caught the surprise on her face. "No, I…" she paused and then decided she needed to finally get off her chest the aspects of her life that made her need freedom, and he would have no choice but to listen since he obviously wasn't making any attempts to open the ramp and send her on her way at the moment. However, she also didn't want to tell him every personal detail, as she still didn't trust him. Instead, she offered cryptically, "My marriage has been arranged since I was eleven years old, but I don't want that life."

Gavan took another long drink of his water, and chalked up a mental mark in his win column that he was probably right about her being of noble descent. There weren't too many societies that arranged marriages for those born under common status.

Leaning an elbow on the crate from where he pulled the provisions and unable to stop himself, he laughed. "Well, now that's complicated. Are you running away because he is ugly?"

Kaelyn took an involuntary step back from him and felt that all-too familiar pain swell within her at someone ridiculing her. How dare he think that she wanted to leave her awaiting arrangement, based solely on looks? That was the farthest from the truth as it could be, and she was not so superficial that she would run away simply because the man chosen for her might have been ugly. Torace Rhouse was incredibly handsome and sophisticated, but she couldn't live a life that was empty and devoid of any passion, and that's what she would continue to have with Torace.

Her voice came out soft and modest, not with the conviction that she had hoped it would carry. "No, it's not like that. I'm not like that."

Gavan set his bottle down along with his empty wrapper and folded his arms before him while he stayed in his leaning position. "Well, if you're not being abused, stalked, dealing with parental issues, or being arranged into a marriage with an ugly gent, it sounds to me like you shouldn't have left your home."

Kaelyn realized now that no one would ever understand. She was not satisfied with living a life that had been entirely planned out for her. She was never offered choices – at least nothing of any significance in her life. She wasn't allowed to attend – or even visit – the elite school where her older brothers had gone. Her advanced schooling had ended abruptly by her tenth birthday, and she was reduced to standard learning because she was told that her scores never stayed good enough for the advanced classes. She was also removed from her self-defense and physical training at the same time, her instructor citing that she was just not able to keep up with the other students. And when the news came on her eleventh birthday that her parents had chosen an appropriate suitor for her, it was nothing short of a death sentence as the years moved by slowly, each day a reminder that she was experiencing less freedom than she had before her tenth year. She knew there had to be more to life than the walls she was forced to live within, and she wanted that opportunity to know what else existed in the galaxy.

Mortified now that this dark-cloaked stranger would dare laugh at her and tell her she had no reason to leave her home when he knew nothing about her, Kaelyn felt that imaginary ache within her chest. It was the reminder of the echoes she had been told by everyone around her after her tenth year. It was everyone in her life telling her that her path had become clear, and it had been chosen by those who knew best for her.

Closing her eyes, she slowly folded onto the floor, her voice so soft it was near tears that she fought against because she would not allow this stranger that satisfaction. "It's nothing like that, and you can't possibly understand."

Gavan looked to his stowaway's small form and realized that she was quite the fragile creature. In a strange way, he pitied her, even if he still didn't understand her reasons for wanting to leave her home with the fervor that she had demonstrated. He unfolded his arms and stepped closer to her. He knelt on one knee before her, crossing his arms over his knee and feeling his long coat spread out around him as it lay on the floor like an obedient pet curled at the back of his legs.

He decided it was time to offer her some truth of his own. "I apologize for taking your situation and making light of it, but it truly is the most benign thing I've come across on this really long and really bad day I've had. I meant no harm."

Kaelyn studied his face at his apology. She saw that he really did not mean to make her upset, but at the same time she could see that there was truth in his eyes when he said his day was long and bad. She couldn't imagine what he had gone through, and she was too afraid to ask. For all she knew he truly was a pirate or a slave trader, and the deal he had planned didn't work out. Still, he actually apologized to her, and that was something she was not accustomed to hearing.

"Just take me away from Blyne," she said quietly. "Like I said, I'll pay you accordingly."

There was no mistaking the sadness in her eyes and the way she had so easily resigned to having no self-worth at his attempt to provide humor. Gavan sensed it would be a mistake to just drop her off at the nearest port and let her figure out what to do from there. Even though she had managed to get herself as far as she had in the galaxy tonight, he sensed she would not get much further on her own. For all he was capable of doing to an enemy to survive, he lacked the ability to be cruel to an innocent.

Before he could stop himself, he had already made his question sound like an offer. "How far do you want to go?"

Kaelyn studied his face, her eyes moving from that nearly invisible scar on his cheek to the honesty in his dark eyes. For the first time since meeting this mysterious man, she saw that he had no intentions to harm her, and she dared say that she found she trusted him.

Finding her voice less scared and finally more confident, she told him, "I want to go far enough away so that I can't be found, Sir."

"Not Sir. Gavan…Duvellin," he told her, not entirely certain why. It wasn't like she had earned the right to know his name, but he just felt he didn't want to be completely anonymous with her either. He had no idea how long he would tolerate this stowaway, but he also didn't like the idea of being the one to drop her off in the middle of nowhere to fend for herself. All he knew was that he also needed to find somewhere to go for a while and not be found. He just wasn't sure if this young woman was the kind of company he wanted. Being responsible for others was something he believed was not in his genetic coding, however, his words fell free with an assured tone, despite his internal protests.

"I'll at least find some kind of safe port for you," Gavan offered, "But, only on the condition that you understand this is my ship, and I have complete control over what goes on here."

The way she looked at him now led Gavan to believe that she was accustomed to being told what to do and that she had somehow expected such a request of him. However, instead of an argument, she quietly nodded her head, accepting his conditions.