"Let me get this straight," Ben said, once he had listened to all that Nellith had to say. "You found the Star Maps of Revan while you were the Hand of the Empress. You want to find out what happened to them, and retrieve them if you can. You then want to get a crew of Jedi, with your own ship, and go looking for them separate to what Allana's doing right now?"

"Yes." Nellith didn't hesitate, planting her hands on her hips. "I want to help. I know that most of the Jedi think I've made up for what happened during the past three years when I volunteered to rescue Jacen— but I feel like I need to do more than that. Whatever I did to help Nellith— I want to undo as much as possible."

"You don't have to do this," Jacen said, brandy-brown eyes darting from his father to Nellith, and back again. "I've never blamed you for what happened, anyone would tell you that she had you under a trance—"

"Service to evil is still evil," Nellith reminded him. "And it's not about you or anyone else. It's about me, and what I have to do. You and Jaina felt it, when you were younger. Mum always said your blood was screaming to save the stars."

"I think that was more Anakin than Jaina and I," Jacen said. "But I remember, I guess, the kind of thing you're talking about."

"Yes," Nellith enunciated carefully. "I have to do this. I'm the only one who found them in the last thousand years— no one else could tell you for sure if they're gone, or what was in the Star-Maps. It has to be me."

"Then let me go with you," Jacen begged.

"I'm not sure that's a good idea." Ben shook his head.

"I'm not exactly fragile." Jacen rolled his eyes. "And sitting here and sleeping and resting isn't going to help me. That won't make the nightmares or the last three years go away."

"That's not why—"

"I've been trying to prove that I can keep it together!" Jacen gestured wildly, furiously.

Ben placed his hand over his son's shoulder. "Son, that's exactly why I don't want you going, not yet. Facades aren't easy to keep up, and the longer you keep it up, the bigger the mess will be when you finally lose control."

Jacen lowered his arm, and stepped out of his father's grasp.

"I want to help." He echoed Nellith's words, looking straight at her.

She understood in a heartbeat, remembering how she felt after coming out of the box she'd been frozen in. Then again, when the feelings finally did crash down on her, it resulted in her getting captured.

But she couldn't deny Jacen the same chances she'd been begging for just a week ago.

"Only if Tahiri comes with us."

"Did someone say Tahiri Veila?" The blonde Jedi peeked around the corner of the doorway precipice.

"We're going on a mission to find the lost Star-Maps of Revan," Nellith explained. "We're building a crew. Do you want to come?"

Tahiri glanced at Jacen, before her eyes returned to Nellith. "We've been apart so long, it wouldn't be fair for me to say no."

Jacen smiled at her— as brilliantly as he did three year ago, before everything became awful. For a moment, that smile let Nellith pretend that everything was okay and that Jaina and Anakin were alive that Rey was here and Thea never turned to the dark side.

But all too soon, Nellith returned to the present.

She could hear her mother's voice, encouraging her with a bit of wisdom she'd learned from her hard life on Jakku, on another desert far from this one.

"We must do what we can, with the time that is given to us."

Nellith nodded, more to herself than anyone else, and thought to who else she wanted to invite.

"Is Tionne still with us?" Nellith asked.

"She and Kam are needed here, to help rebuild the Praxeum." Ben shook his head. "Tionne's main priority is to care for the younglings. Some of our Jedi have returned with bigger families than before. However, her apprentice might be willing to come."

"Tash." Nellith nodded her approval. While she'd always been closer to Carren than most of the other Jedi her age, Tash had been one of the ones she'd liked the most. The descendant of an Alderaanian Jedi line had been an expert slicer and dedicated historian, which had made Tionne Soulsar come begging Ben and Rey for the girl to be made her apprentice.

"I'll go ask her," Tahiri said. She then paused. "Is there anyone else we want to bring?"

"If Mirax and Corran will allow it, Jysella would be a good addition," Ben added. "She never got apprenticed, but she has the chance to be a great Jedi, like the rest of her family, if given the chance."

While Jysella had been closer to her twin growing up, Nellith couldn't disagree. She'd always seen her as a bit of a stick-in-the-mud, just like her brother. Then again, having a lightsaber with some special crystal that meant you had to be pure of heart to wield it didn't exactly help that image.

"Anyone else?" Tahiri pressed.

"Kyp Durron." Nellith spoke the words before she lost her courage and took them back. "Actually, tell him first. I need help finding a ship of our own."

Tahiri grinned. "You have my word. I'll go look into that."

Nellith gave her a thumbs-up, and the barefoot Jedi slipped away. She then looked to her father.

"Thank you."

Ben nodded curtly. "We'll leave you to get ready— I'll give you one of the HoloChips with some credits programmed into it."

"Thank you so much, Dad." Nellith was about to turn away and look to the small wardrobe she'd re-accumulated after her capture. "I love you."

"I love you, too."

With that, she was left alone.

She'd just finished lacing her boots and pulling on the leather jacket that once belonged to Jaina that they'd found in one of the old storage units when she heard a knock at the door.

"Just a moment." She pulled her hair back into the three loops her mother once wore, and later put her daughters' hair into. "Come on in, it's not locked."

Kyp Durron swaggered in. "Master Solo gave me the chip. Apparently we're buying a ship and you need me on the crew?"

"You're the only one who I'd trust to fly any ship of mine and not wreck it," Nellith informed him with a snobby air— she was imitating her older sisters.

"I guess I'll take that honor," Kyp said. "I'm not letting you drive my landspeeder, though."

Nellith rolled her eyes. "Fine."

She then summoned her lightsaber to her hand, and clipped it on the holster that went over the simpler of Hapan gowns, right above her blaster rifle.

"Come on, we'd better go while there's still sunlight."

After a ride into town that involved Nellith enjoying holding onto Kyp's waist a little more than she liked to admit, she ended up in the junkyard's collection of old ships.

She ignored the dealer that was describing all of the ships to her. Nellith knew that he was just a slime ball that was making it all up off the top of his head anyway.

She recognized all of the models, and thanks to her mother and father constantly repairing and upgrading the Falcon, she knew on sight what kind of maintenance she might be signing up for.

"This one's actually pretty new, from the Angel Blue series, from some new warship designer on Canto Bight—"

Just as Nellith was about to follow Kyp and the dealer onto whatever death trap was secretly the shiny that had somehow ended up in Mos Eisley of all places, she felt something call out to her, in the Force.

She spotted, deep in the rows and rows of ships, one that she'd never seen anymore.

Without another word, she went after it, weaving between parts and heaps of scrap until—

Ah, it was an Ugly. Made from parts of other ships, highly modified. And it was physically ugly, made from so much old and dented scrap— it looked to be a miracle that it would hold together at all.

But she saw the structure behind it— originally a Firefly-class vehicle. Filled with all sorts of nooks and crannies, like the Falcon.

These were preferred by smugglers' crews— and there was a famous legend about a pirate crew formed during the earliest days of the Old Republic.

Of course, it wasn't probably an actual Firefly, but the story of Serenity still persisted.

"Serenity." Nellith spoke the name as she held a hand to the cold metal. It felt right— it felt like home, more than Tatooine, did, even.

There was a sense of destiny.

"Oh, there you are, Nellith—"

"Oh, you don't want that, love." Slimeball pushed Kyp aside. "It's a heap of junk."

"Then you won't mind letting me peek inside?" Nellith raised an eyebrow.

"Against our policy." Slimeball's voice was flat.

"Doesn't matter, we'll take it."

Kyp tugged her sleeve. "Are you crazy? That's ancient—"

"And it's perfect, I can feel it." Nellith pried Kyp's fingers off of the leather. "Do you trust me?"

Kyp stared into her eyes with his dark green ones. For a moment, she feared that she was wrong to want him as her co-pilot.

Then he nodded. "I always do."

Nellith turned back to the dealer. "We're taking Serenity."

AN: Is this really a fic of mine if it doesn't have a blatant and slightly out-of-place reference to another fandom I'm in?