AN: Hello There! I am back…again...for real this time…
I love this story, and I love all the support I have gotten, and I want to take a sec to apologize for the long delay. It's been a crazy year for me to say the least, but I hope to once again get back on track. About time, too! I've got winter break here soon, so I will at least have Chapter 9 out by the end of the year!
Anyone feeling artsy? I need a cover image for the story and was wondering if any artists out there might be willing to create a likeness of the OC. The image would only be used for this story and the artist will get a shout-out in every chapter. If this is something you'd be interested in, please message me!
If you like this story, please favorite, review, and follow it. If you dislike it, please review it and let me know specifically what you did and did not like. I'm not a perfect writer, but I will use your feedback to improve as much as I can. Thanks for taking the time to read this, and I hope you enjoy it!
Aboard the Ghost
Near Garel
After a week of being bedridden in the Ghost's small medbay, Aeron was overjoyed when the medical droid told him his wounds were healed enough that he no longer needed to stay there. The ship's captain, a green-skinned Twi'lek he had come to know as Hera, had brought in clothes for him.
"You can thank Ezra for those when you meet him." She had said as she left.
Aeron supposed he would, as the clothes fit surprisingly well. He changed in the small medbay refresher and gave himself a quick once-over using the mirror. The light tan shirt fit well, tucking in nicely with the dark grey pants, which conformed to his legs comfortably. On his feet went a pair of brown, ankle-high boots. These, like everything else, are comfortable, flexible, and sturdy. Nothing fancy, he thought, but a definite upgrade from his scratchy prison jumpsuit. As he was about to open the refresher door, he felt the ship jolt lightly underneath him. After a pause, he continued, the little jolts had been happening ever since he had arrived.
As he left, the droid gave him directions to the cockpit, and instructions to go find Hera.
Aeron knew something was going on the moment the medbay door closed. The very air felt charged. His uneasiness grew as he turned right and headed down the hallway. So far, the ship seemed empty. Suddenly there was a bang and another jolt, harder this time. Aeron had to catch himself to keep from smacking into the bulkhead. From down the hall, he heard someone utter a loud curse. Still walking, Aeron stopped and looked up a hole in the ceiling through which a small ladder went up. He was rewarded by the sight of two, large, purple feet.
"Kriffing bucketheads, EAT LASER!", yelled the being in the turret above him.
The sound of an opening door and footsteps caused Aeron to turn away. The girl who had been in the medbay when he had first woke up was jogging down the hallway towards him. She stopped just short of him. Just as she opened her mouth to speak, the ship jolted even harder than before. Neither Aeron nor the girl was prepared for it. Aeron fell onto his back, his head banging into the floor and giving him a healthy dose of whiplash. The girl fell forward on top of him, only managing to catch herself with her hands. For two, very awkward seconds they were like that. Their eyes met and their faces hovered uncomfortably close. Then from directly above them, they heard deep, rolling laughter. The being in the turret was looking down at them, his yellow eyes bright with mirth and mischief.
He looked away and said loudly into a comm panel on the side of the turret. "Hera! Call me crazy, but I think Sabine might be boy crazy for someone!"
"You're crazy Zeb, and if you keep it up, I will paint every surface in your room the ugliest shade of pink I can come up with!" Sabine shouted back. She quickly got up, with Aeron following suit. Her face was slightly flushed, whether it was with embarrassment or annoyance was a mystery to him. Without another word, she turned and started back down the hallway.
"Come on newbie...unless you want to spend more time with laser brains!" she yelled back to him as she went.
Aeron quickly fell in behind her, trying his best to both physically and mentally distance himself from the very awkward and embarrassing moment that had just transpired.
They quickly crossed the distance from the turret to the cockpit door. As Aeron entered the cockpit itself, he was astonished and almost immediately overwhelmed by what he saw through the forward viewport.
He had heard descriptions of massive ships called "Star Destroyers" while he was in prison. The ship he saw directly ahead certainly matched up with what he had heard. But as Aeron took in the scene before him, he realized the sheer size and presence of the warship was something that could only be truly understood when seen in person. The ship sliced through space like a massive grey-white dagger. It would have been almost serene if not for the stream of green turbolaser fire coming off its starboard side and directly towards them.
.
"Sabine, forward turret, now!" Hera's quick and urgent order snapped Aeron out of his momentary trance. Sabine quickly slid down the ladder to the lower turret, and Aeron quickly hopped into the copilot seat and strapped himself in. As he did, he felt himself being pushed back and to the side as one Heras maneuvers temporarily overwhelmed the ship's inertial dampers.
"Great timing kid, looks like it's going to be an initiation by fire for you." The ship was suddenly jolted around, and from the comms panel next to Hera, the gruff voice of Zeb uttered a curse.
"This one's persistent! He's coming to you, Sabine!" Zeb called through the panel. Right on cue, the tie fighter that had struck them screamed into view, heading away, then turning as the pilot tried to evade a counterattack from the Ghost's forward weapons. Two bursts of crimson bolts the lower turret cut through the void, shredding the fighter's wings and punching through the main fuselage. Sabine let loose a triumphant yell as the Tie burst into a bright orange fireball, both machine and pilot disintegrating in the flames. Suddenly Aeron was overcome by a peculiar twinge of emotion. It was as if part of his current surroundings was torn away. He gasped, surprising himself and earning a quick glance from Hera, her eyes holding both question and concern.
Hera took no time to voice either as continued turbolaser fire forced her to swing the Ghost into another complex set of maneuvers. Aeron tried his best to pinpoint the subtle and now fleeting feeling to no success. After a moment he gave up, writing it off as nerves and doing his best to focus on the present. Fighters were still attacking them, and the steady stream of fire from the destroyer was not helping matters. The ship shook as a bolt from the Star Destroyer glanced off their shields, and several warning lights popped up on Heras displays.
The twi'lek muttered a curse under her breath, her brown brows furrowing as her grip on the controls tightened.
"Blast! If the others don't show up soon, this rendezvous is going to turn into a rescue mission...for us." Hera said aloud.
"Or body recovery!" Sabine called from her turret, her tone full of grim humor. Aeron cracked a smile despite the circumstances.
"Not helping!", Hera replied as she banked the ship to avoid a fresh volley of emerald energy.
Suddenly a proximity alarm sounded from the control panel.
Zeb's voice boomed from the comms panel. "I've got a visual Hera! The Phantom just jumped in!"
Another voice then chimed in. "I can't even leave for an hour without you getting into trouble can I?"
The voice was a light baritone that Aeron recognized as belonging to the man who had questioned him when he had first awoken aboard the Ghost. While he had not yet been formally introduced, Aeron had been told the man's name, Kanan.
Hera rolled her eyes at Kanan's teasing tone. "If you were on time we wouldn't be in so much trouble! Get docked so I can make the jump out of here!"
Keeping a keen eye on the display showing the view from the rear of the ship, Hera kept up her maneuvers until the Phantom got closer. As soon as it was, Hera let the ship fly straight, the smaller ship was docked within seconds. The docking indicators lit up green and Hera tore into another set of evasive movements.
Suddenly he felt it. A dark presence was reaching out towards him. The air seemed to become heavier, almost toxic. Aeron gasped as he felt the presence reaching out to touch his mind, poking and prodding at his very psyche. It was like a curious predator toying with a type of prey that it had never seen before. As he tried to mentally ward off the dark interloper, Aeron felt his head erupt into an excruciating headache. What was happening around him now only registered vaguely in his head as he fought to keep the dark presence at bay.
"Calculations are complete, but I can't jump without an opening!" Hera shouted.
Sabine's voice called out again. "Got one for you Hera!" At the same time, a burst of red laser fire lanced out, vaporizing two fighters that had been vectoring to intercept them. With a deft motion born of years of experience, Hera leveled the ship and threw the hyperdrive lever.
For a brief second, the stars stretched and spiraled, then the viewport was filled with the blue and white miasma of hyperspace.
Aeron gasped for breath as if he had been drowning, the presence having been ripped away the moment the ship had jumped. Dazed and light-headed Aeron laid back into the seat, catching his breath as he wondered just what had happened.
Aboard the ISD Relentless
Near Garel
The Seventh Sister watched as the small white speck that was the Ghost disappeared as it jumped into hyperspace. The Tie fighters were now making their way back to the Relentless. Each pilot was no doubt in envy of their dead comrades in some small way. The dead would not face reprimand for their incompetence
"No", she thought to herself. "Their weakness is rewarded by death." It was a fate she had to restrain herself from exacting upon the entire crew. She maintained her stare for a second longer. If the heat of her gaze were made physical, it would melt straight through the transparisteel viewport. She turned abruptly, making her way back down the command walkway of the Relentless. She could feel the fear of the bridge crew wafting up from the command pits on either side of her. It was especially potent at the gunner stations.
"As it should be." she thought. Their lack of performance had been almost as bad as the pilots'. At the end of the walkway, and to the side stood Admiral Konstantine, the commanding officer of the Star Destroyer.
"Under me", she thought to herself smugly. He had his back to her as he spoke with an aide. She could feel his fear as well. He turned when he heard her approaching. It was only then that she let her anger and contempt truly show as a physical expression.
"When I decided to use the Relentless in my hunt for the Jedi, I thought that it would be useful to have a Star Destroyer at my disposal! But after today's performance, I realized that a Tattoine sandcrawler would be more effective! What is the point of all this…" She gestured to the whole of the Star Destroyer in general. "...if you can't destroy one tiny light freighter?"
Konstantine's face fell, and he opened his mouth to speak. "Inquisitor, I-I-I can assure you that my men-"
"No!", she cut him off. "I don't have time for your excuses." She took another step forward, getting in his face. "Do you know what I do, what the Emperor does, to useless things?" she asked, rhetorically.
"They are discarded, destroyed, and left behind." the fear was intoxicating, but she kept the enjoyment she was getting from tainting her expression.
"Do not fail me again, Admiral", she said before brushing past him, heading for her personal quarters. The trip was a blur, she was too caught up in thought. Just before the Ghost had escaped, she had reached out with her senses. Instead of three bright force presences, each indicating a force sensitive being, she had sensed four.
"Could they have found another force sensitive child?" she wondered. It would not be pleasing to her masters if that were the case. She would need to find and kill them all before it could be trained.
Yet, the fourth presence bothered her beyond this. When she had reached out to it, what she had felt was an aura that was both familiar and stranger to her. It was something she couldn't quite place…
She stopped dead in her tracks, the corridor she was in was completely empty. It was a good thing too, for the spike of rage that overcame her would have left her lashing out at anyone nearby. Her eyes widened at the realization she had just had.
The Boy was alive.