38: Heirlooms.
Arielle held her breath as she watched Theron's face, inspecting it closely for any hint as to how he felt but he gave away nothing and she could feel herself growing more insecure.
"Please, say something, anything. Get mad if that's what you're feeling…" she finally sighed after minutes of silence.
He clasped her hand and led her down a small and obscured path leading towards the shore and sat down on one of the boulders by the waterside.
"I'm not mad. At least not with you and I'm not surprised either Ari—Eliza. I'm worried." Theron said at last as he invited her to sit beside him "The Empire is no joke and if Satele's deception hurt you this bad, how will you survive among the Sith who do nothing but lie and manipulate?"
"It's different."
Arielle removed her tricorn hat and ran her hands through her hair to get some volume back into her locks "With the Sith I can pretty much count on it, I know that but Satele? I looked up to her, I wanted to be just like her, she once meant a lot to me and for a long time she was the closest thing I had to a parent…"
"To be betrayed by someone like that, someone you've trusted all your life, who you'd trust with your life… that's what hurts and what makes it different. You know?"
Theron nodded as his expression turned into a sad frown "It's an odd thing for me but I'm going to miss you."
"Why is that odd?" Arielle gave him a quizzical look.
"I'm a loner and workaholic. I don't do friendships normally… I have one best friend and that's it. And you're…"
She giggled at the way he fumbled with his words suddenly "A pain in your as.s?"
"No" Theron chuckled "No it's just, we haven't known each other for that long but…"
"That hardly matters" she shrugged "at least not to me. I know I tend to cling on to people quickly but with you it's like…"
"Yes?"
Arielle playfully nudged his arm with her fist "Well I've just felt at ease with you from the start and I consider you my friend… heck in a way you're almost like a brother to me."
Theron gave her an awkward laugh "Right, yeah no of course that's, that's exactly what I meant to say too."
"I just didn't want to sound presumptuous or anything…" he rubbed his forehead and fiddled with his implants.
"Don't be silly" her smile was genuine as she gave him a sideways glance "So you really don't have any other friends? What about you and Lana, you must have been close over the past few weeks?"
"Too close for comfort at times" he snorted "I mean no offense but at the end of the day she's still Sith and I sleep with one eye open."
"Sensible I suppose, I can't say I fully trust her either…" Arielle pondered her train of thoughts "Well what about women then? Or men perhaps. You know, someone special? Surely there's been someone in your life at one point or another, you're not exactly bad looking. No damsels in distress during some super spy mission?"
Theron laughed loudly and shook his head "Women, but no I leave the damsels to my best friend. I'm not really the dating and relationship sort… had a few dates here and there in the past but nothing serious and this job does complicate things."
"Ah well" Arielle rose to her feet and put her hat back on "Maybe some day you know? I'm sure out there in the galaxy there's at least one woman who's perfect for you and when you meet her, none of the other stuff like work will even matter."
"Maybe." he stared up at the twinkle in her eyes.
"I mean, I used to think relationships were fine for others but never for me and then… well Scourge came along and now look at me. I couldn't be happier."
"Right." Theron got up and looked away back towards the path they'd walked earlier "Speaking of which, we should probably head back to the safehouse."
Arielle linked her arm with his and beamed as she squinted against the sunlight "You know, maybe we can set up a secure channel to keep in touch when all this is over? I don't know how it would work in the long run but…"
"We can try." Theron agreed.
"So you're really not mad or hating me right now?"
"I'm just going to miss you… and don't take this the wrong way but I'm also going to make sure I have a rescue plan ready for you incase things don't work out in the Empire."
Arielle grinned "I can accept that."
—
"They seem close. That doesn't make you uncomfortable?" Quinn inclined his head towards Arielle and Theron in the distance as he appeared next to Lord Scourge.
"I trust her."
"Yeah," Me'ghan joined them as well "but do you trust him?"
"Never." Lord Scourge smirked "But I trust in his desire to stay alive."
He turned back inside the safehouse and eyed the large dufflebag Quinn had brought "Is that the stuff you brought for Eliza? There's some serious dark power emanating from whatever's inside."
"Me'ghan said the same… I should still give it to her though, right? Do you think she can handle it?"
"She'll be fine. She's been doing a lot better, almost as though making a choice was the key to balance."
"So how exactly will she be joining the Empire? Last I heard the Council wanted her dead and Scourge is considered a traitor, no offense." Lana smiled as she overheard their conversation and couldn't help her curiosity.
"We don't know yet. Eliza said she wants to focus on this business with the Revanites first but I've considered speaking to the Council on her behalf…" Me'ghan admitted.
"Vowrawn wouldn't be too happy though, at first but I think he's smart enough to understand her value." she added.
"Whose value?" Arielle asked as she and Theron walked in.
"Yours, to the Empire once the time is right."
"Well they can either accept me or I'll just burn the place to the ground." Arielle joked but she was met with serious frowns instead "Kidding. Mostly. It's always an unintentional possibility."
"Speaking of which, maybe this will help." Quinn pulled the dufflebag he'd brought up onto the table.
The locked chest they pulled from the bag opened the moment Arielle's fingertips touched the lid and it sprung up to reveal the treasures hidden inside.
In the left back corner sat a small cube which radiated a red glow and had an unfamiliar design carved into its sides while in front of the cube there sat a stack of leather bound journals with yellowing pages. The box itself was lined with a purple crisp velvet and filling out the rest of its contents were two ornate lightsaber hilts—both golden with intricate etchings of rising fires along the handle while on the upper ring they held a single flame gem.
Me'ghan let out a low whistle "Those look fancy and expensive."
"They're his…" Arielle took both hilts into her hands and ignited the blades.
A vibrant humming sounded as the energy from the crystals within released and emitted two long and fierce looking blades, red at their core with a orange like outer glow.
"They're beautiful."
"How do they feel to you?" Lord Scourge frowned curiously.
"Perfect, almost as if they're a natural part of me."
Theron, feeling like the odd one out as all the Force users and even Quinn seemed fully captivated by the sabers, sat back with furrowed brows and glanced down at the other objects within the chest "Is that a holocron?"
"I believe so, yes." Lana felt tempted to reach out and pick it up but decided against it as a strong sense of darkness oozed from the cube.
Arielle disengaged the blades and clipped them onto her belt, replacing her old ones which she stuffed into the dufflebag and then she reached for the cube as well. She was about to pick it up when Lord Scourge snatched her wrist and shook his head at her.
"Don't. We have no idea what it contains or what you might unleash."
"True. You should probably read through the journals first, see what they have to say." Me'ghan nodded.
"Right" Arielle shook her head slightly as if trying to shake the connection she felt to the item and quickly closed the lid of the chest again "Well that's going to have to wait then."
"Theron, why don't you tell us what you have in mind for our next move here against the Nova Blades?"
Both Lana and Theron divulged the rest of their plan to first solidify the Red Hulls' claim as a rival gang to the Nova Blades by disrupting several of their holdings, including a nearby supply cache and once they'd worked out the finer details, Arielle, Lord Scourge, Me'ghan and Quinn set on their way to cause further chaos and mayhem for the Revanites' business partners.
While Jakarro and Deefour waited in their Freighter above the planet, Arielle and the others were to mark several supply crates for them to bomb, all the while fighting off any Nova Blade that patrolled the camp.
"Duck!" Arielle hollered at Lord Scourge who crouched down immediately as two lightsabers flew over his head slicing up the pirate that had come up behind him before circling straight back into her hands.
"Proceed!"
He briefly smirked at her overly enthused behavior before head butting the scrawny pirate that had been pummeling his fists against Lord Scourge's chest for the past minute.
"Really?" he sighed as the little man dropped to the ground instantly.
"Alright I think that's all of them." Me'ghan noted as she joined them and sheathed her lightsabers.
"Light 'em up boys!" she contacted Jakarro via her comms as the four of them dove for cover.
Arielle just barely hid behind a set of rocks as they watched the camp go up in flames, causing any remaining Nova Blade to run out of hiding and make their quick escape.
"Time to call home and see what else they've got planned."
Lord Scourge watched her quietly as she called in to Lana and Theron who urged them to visit one of the nearby slave camps and free as many people as they could.
"All in a day's work for a noble former Jedi, yes?" Lana teased before disconnecting.
Arielle groaned at the quip and shook her head "Alright guys, one more stop I guess before we call it a day."