"And this one?"

"See Ar Ninety. Easy."

Ethan grinned, pressing the holoprojector's button to change the blue glowing outline of another Corellian Engineering Corporation ship hanging in the air between them. "What about this one?"

Jake narrowed his eyes at the new projection, hesitating briefly as he studied its hull. "Why Tee...Twenty-Four Hundred?"

Ethan beamed with pride, nodding. "Excellent."

Cordira listened to her husband and her son's ongoing test session with a faint smile, silently marveling at the boy's resilience and newfound passion. The two were bonding over the styles and mechanics of the ships Jake suddenly had an insatiable interest in, and it had been some time since she had seen Ethan so excited to share his extensive knowledge. Her mind easily wandered after a few minutes, though, instead focusing on the familiar hum of the Shadow Nova's hyperdrive under her feet as she thought on the recent past.

Losing Koril Rys'tihn, one of the most influential people in her life, had affected her deeply. He had been a second father to her, their two families blended closely together largely out of necessity but also out of love. After her best friend Derek Rys'tihn's death fifteen years prior, though, Koril had nearly completely withdrawn, and he had become a mere shell of his former self, having blamed himself for the way Derek had died. Cordira had blamed herself, too, as Derek had given his life to protect her and her unborn son, and she still struggled daily to manage her own guilt. Though she had initially expected Derek's parents to distance themselves from her, blaming her for the loss of their son as they should have, she and Koril had instead connected even more over their mutual grief.

But the past year hadn't been kind to Koril's physical state. His health had declined sharply, his past torture and injuries finally catching up to him and mercilessly draining any strength he had left to fight. His mind had mostly been locked away in the months leading up to his death, as well, affording his family a gracious amount of time to properly grieve him and process their loss. It had even been months since Cordira had heard his voice...until the final day of his life.

She had received the call directly from Elena herself. Koril's breathing had slowed dramatically, and even though her father Rech had been with the former High Commander for days, keeping him comfortable with the Force as all of his bodily functions were slowing to a halt, Elena was calling all of the Rys'tihns and Natiyrs together for his last moments. The surprising part of his passing wasn't his actual death, but it was the conversation he had just before his last breath with his late son Derek.

That conversation, however, was channeled through her son Jake.

At first Cordira had wondered if Jake had begun speaking to Koril as Derek with the intent to calm him in his final minutes of life, sounding just like the late Rys'tihn to his delirious father. Jake and Koril had shared a special bond for years, after all, for uncertain reasons about which they could only speculate. But the longer the two conversed, the more clear it became that Jake couldn't have known about the grim and personal details he continued to mention. It left no doubt in her mind that her son was the conduit for Derek's words through the Force, comforting Koril and giving him the peace he needed in his heart to finally let go.

That had been nearly two months prior. Of course each of them had processed their grief in their own way and in their own time, but Cordira had been especially sensitive to Jake's recovery. For a then thirteen-year-old boy to have been part of such a deeply emotional and potentially traumatizing experience like that, she worried that it could have left a mental scar that was slowly rising to the surface over time. But, as her husband had reassured her the day before, Jake seemed to be handling the loss well enough, and he even seemed to be in better spirits than ever before. The trip to Corellia would hopefully be a welcome distraction from their heartache, provided nothing gets out of hand...

Distracting her from her musings and sharply snapping her back to the present, Cordira watched Horatio leave the Shadow Nova's cockpit and silently pass through the main hold with a blank expression. He continued on into one of the back cabins, closing the door behind him without breaking eye contact with the durasteel floor. Cordira held her breath briefly, exchanging a worried glance with her husband even as he had continued cycling through ship models with Jake. She interrupted them after a moment, slowly getting to her feet.

"I'm...going to go check on Wil."

As she turned to leave them, Ethan's hand gripped hers at her side and kept her in place temporarily as he lifted her hand to his lips, kissing it gently. It was his unsubtle way of expressing his support for her, and she returned it by brushing the back of her hand against his cheek with a small smile before she left.

She approached the cockpit with soft, careful footsteps, faintly worried that Wil and Horatio had argued again and that it had caused further troubles for her friend. But Wil swiveled in his chair at the controls to face her and wave her in, a noticeable smile on his face under tired eyes.

"Don't worry about me," he preempted her concern as she sat beside him. "All good. I'm sorry if my dad ignored you, he's a little out of it right now. But I sent him to get some rest, so hopefully he'll be alright in a bit."

"You told him about your girls."

Wil nodded and released a slow breath. "I did, and...he took it better than I expected. I'm not sure it's fully sunk in yet, but at least he knows now. One less secret I have to keep from him."

Cordira smiled sympathetically, well familiar herself with holding things back from her own parents. She could certainly relate.

"I'm really glad you've come with us on this trip, Cordira."

Surprised by his candor and swift shift in subject, she could only nod in response as he continued.

"You and Ethan are a good buffer for my dad. He trusts you both, just as much as I do. And you and I didn't get a chance to talk much at the funeral, or much at all recently, really. Is Jake doing okay?"

"He seems to be," she shrugged, "as far as I can tell. I was afraid that he'd have some...difficulty at the Retreat, but unless he's just incredibly adept at hiding it, he doesn't seem to have any lasting effects from what happened. He's just a regular teen boy."

Wil agreed with a nod, a hint of hesitancy in his tone. "I'd even venture to say he seems...happier?"

"He insists that he doesn't remember anything from that day." She paused, letting go of a long, pensive breath. "Small mercy."

Wil studied her a moment, his eyes intense and full of care. "...it really was Derek speaking through Jake, wasn't it?"

She heard her best friend's words in her son's voice all too clearly in her mind as she nodded, and Wil's expression softened even more.

"...but why would Derek use Jake? Why not Kyren, or me? Jake's just a kid. That couldn't have been easy for him."

"...because Derek is the reason that both Jake and I are still alive, and we've had a part of his life force in us ever since."

Not expecting her answer, Wil was silenced with wide eyes, allowing her to explain after a brief hesitation.

"Derek saved our lives. Physically, of course, when he...when his ship took that charge instead of mine, but...I was dying well before those pirates had taken to Paneau skies. Derek knew that. The Force was leaving me, and nothing, not even meditation or healing sessions were working. So, when he passed...he bound the last wisp of his life force to mine, and by extension, to Jake's. They both kept me alive and connected to the Force during the months I spent as Lucidia's captive.

"And I could tell when Derek left us. It was the same moment that Koril breathed his last; they both became one with the Force, free of their pain, and I should have been relieved, but I...I was terrified. Jake collapsed, and I felt weaker, too, and for a fleeting, devastating moment I thought...our luck had run out. We had been on borrowed time all these years, and this was it.

"Jake slept for nearly a full day. I was eventually able to stabilize myself, but it wasn't easy. I still have a hard time shaking that feeling from that moment, even today, so...I apologize in advance if I'm a little overprotective of Jake. You didn't need me on this trip, but, I wanted to be here for my son if he did."

Clearly moved by her struggle, Wil leaned forward to gently grip Cordira's shoulders, holding her gaze. "You don't ever have to apologize for that. You know that I, more than anyone else, understand."

She nodded, giving him a wan smile in appreciation of his support. "I know you do. Thank you."

He gave her shoulders a comforting squeeze before he sat back from her, adopting a more playful grin after a few quiet moments. "I may not need you, but I am still glad you're here. I wouldn't trust anyone else to take over the controls of my ship while I go get a nap myself."

Cordira laughed lightly, shaking her head to send him on his way as she accepted her duty and turned to face the console. "Well, you've more than earned it, letting me talk your ear off. Go rest."

"Don't worry," Wil chuckled as he left the cockpit, calling back to her. "I'll take my turn in a few hours."