Gacen felt tremors through his hand as he piloted the ship into the nebulous space, Ash was confident this was it this was where Risha was all the searching leading here to this moment. Did he even know if he wanted to see her? what if she didn't want to see him? he felt a tightness in his throat as he gripped the controls tight he thought he'd put these worries to bed. He thought he'd come to a good conclusion that it was better to find out than worry like this but now that it was happening he wasn't so sure. Had he made a mistake? Should they just have stayed doing small time jobs what if he messed this all up again he couldn't let her down twice not again what would he do, this was a mistake it had to be it was just a…
He heard a voice shouting at him and he snapped back to reality "hey hey Gacen snap out of it it's gonna be fine" he exhaled coming out of the panic to see Ash staring at him
He turned to Ash "sorry I uh I got inside my own head, what were you saying?" Ash looked at him concerned but didn't press him
Ash pointed to the console "look the tracker has stopped that's where we need to go" Gacen nodded adjusting his course to head towards the planet "I'm turning shields to the front just in case" Gacen nodded it was a given Risha would be paranoid it's just how paranoid
Gacen plotted a course "alright here we come Gabredor prime" he smiled deciding to just ignore and push through the nervousness until it was done
Ash narrowed her eyes "prime is so pretentious it's just Gabredor I" Gacen chuckled pretentiousness was best
Gacen snickered "well when your wife discovers a secret planet you can call it what you want" Ash's eyebrows raised "potentially"
Ash folded her arms "I mean your wife would certainly go for the pretentious option" Gacen did a comically over the top gasp
Gacen joked "how dare you we may be upper class pompous criminals but we're anything but pretentious we were like the fashionable criminals" Ash just scoffed at him hiding a smile
Soon the gas of the nebula began to dissipate and a green jungle planet came into view, Ash used the console to do a quick scan "wow that's fascinating it's atmosphere has a layer of chemicals that convert all this noxious gas into harmless oxygen" Gacen had no idea what she was talking about
Gacen nodded "oh yes of course that old thing" Ash turned to him his lie clearly not convincing
Ash sighed dumbing down her explanation "the planet makes the gas breathable like a shield deflecting bolts of energy" Gacen's eyes widened as he thought about it "you got it now?"
Gacen held his chin "totally lost" Ash just sighed and turned the scanner off, Gacen tried his best to stealthily land the ship. As they entered the atmosphere they saw the thick canopy covering most of the planet and Gacen landed in the first clearing he could find, Ash scanned for life signs.
"Ok so there is a ton of life on this planet but only two sentient life signs" Ash smiled as she spoke clearly pleased their detective work had paid off
Gacen swallowed hard "so you think they're?" he trailed off
Ash frowned "of course I think it's them Gacen it doesn't take a genius to work that out dummy" Gacen nodded grabbing the sides of his chair hard
Gacen took a deep breath "it's gonna be fine it's gonna…" Ash got up and waited for him to follow
Ash raised her eyebrow "buddy it's too late to go back now either you follow me or I'm carrying you over there and you know I can" Gacen let out a slight chuckle conceding and getting up
He gritted his teeth and exhaled "alright we can do this I'm ready" Ash nodded and made her way to out the ship, they got to the bottom of the ramp and Gacen felt a sharp nervous feeling and leaned up against the landing ramp "I can't do this" he gripped his stomach tight and slid down to the floor as his breathing became heavier and his thoughts became overwhelming.
Ash turned around and sighed sitting down next to him "so uh what now we wait here?" Gacen felt tears well up in his eyes but he kept them at bay
Gacen gritted his teeth "I'm sorry I know I just need a minute just a… just…" he tried to finish the sentence but his breathing was too rapid
Ash took his hand "well I'll be right here I promise" Gacen nodded trying his best to find his composure
He took a deep breath "alright I'm as good as I'm going to be you need to push me to do this" Ash nodded lifting him up by his hand
She led him away from the ship and into the jungle and after about 5 minutes he was walking on his own again "I'm uh sorry about that it's just…" Ash interrupted before he could finish
Ash smiled "it's fine you don't need to explain to me" Gacen smiled before he pulled Ash into a surprise hug "woah woah what the heck is this, why?" she struggled awkwardly clearly not a hugger
Gacen took a deep breath "just a thanks, thanks for being here whenever I was having trouble you never left you always were here for me you're the best friend a person could ask for" he couldn't see Ash's face but he could tell she was smiling
She stopped struggling "well uh I just wanted to help you know" Gacen nodded releasing her from the hug
Gacen smiled "now let's stop being so sappy by the force I feel like a fucking jedi" Ash smiled as they continued to walk
"Yeah I mean jeez what dweebs" they laughed and continued forward.
They followed the life signatures for about an hour before they came upon a reservoir with a rather well constructed wooden bridge on it. Gacen frowned "well that is certainly is the first man made thing we've seen" he paused "or maybe droid made" Ash nodded gesturing to proceed with caution
They made their way forward up to the start of the bridge but as they did something jumped out of the trees, suddenly they saw the familiar form of the ranger roll in front of them. Now in view Gacne could see what seemed to be a modified protocol droid with rather advanced modifications at that, they spoke in a robotic but still gruff voice "Identify yerself now" they held an impressive blaster pistol, Gacen thought better of starting a fight and put his hands up
Gacen responded "hello um we mean no harm this is Ash'shen'tor an…" the ranger interrupted them
They shook their head "not to me idiot to him" he gestured to a hooded figure who walked out of the bushes, Gacen frowned, the head was rather large that didn't seem normal.
The figure began to speak "leave this place traveler ther…" Gacen interrupted him come on that wasn't even subtle
Gacen chuckled "Guss? Is that you" the figure stammered confused before removing the hood to reveal the mon cal Guss Tuno
Guss blinked quickly "Gacen? Gacen is that you? I uh I couldn't see you under the hood" he quickly ran to him and pulled him into a tight hug "oh Gacen I've missed you so much have you missed me?"
Gacen chuckled always the cheerful one "uh yeah sure" the ranger looked between them confused
The rangers tone changed completely to a more common protocol droid voice "master Tuno I'm confused should I stop the facade
Guss looked to him "oh yes Mask you can stop this is my old captain Gacen Zandar" Gacen did his best to wave while still tightly in Guss' grip
Mask nodded "ah I see the one married to Mistress Drayen? My name is M4-SK I was an actor until Mistress Drayen recruited me for the ultimate role" Gacen nodded an actor droid what next
Gacen focussed turning to Guss "wait Drayen? Is Risha here?" Guss seemed to come out a daze
He let Gacen go finally "oh yes of course she'll be thrilled to see you surely, she's just over the bridge in our base" Gacen couldn't help but smile but that smile was accompanied by a nervous pit in his stomach
Ash pushed him forward "let's so see her then" Gacen appreciated the push he would just have stopped without the push
Guss folded his arms "I'm Guss, Gacen's Best Friend, who may you be?" he shook Ash's hand very vigorously
Ash looked at him confused "Ash, we've actually met before I'm the former leader of havoc squad" Guss' eyes widened as he realised
He nodded "my apologies it's been a long time since I've seen others, anyway why were you traveling with my Best Friend Gacen" Ash didn't seem to appreciate the third degree Gacen should save her from Guss' best friend jealousy
Gacen spoke up "well Guss you should probably notify Risha of our arrival right?" Guss gasped and then immediately fumbled for a comlink
Guss held it to his ear? Gacen assumed that's what it was "hello boss? Yes I know sorry I got a little caught up we have some guests" paranoia was definitely present on that call "Yes I know you said no guests but you'll like these guests. No I promise you will, I know I know what you said but I followed all your protocols it's no one bad I promise, ok ok fine" Guss looked to each of them a little flustered "there's like a 70% chance she may have a gun when you arrive" Gacen couldn't help but laugh
Gacen joked "well it wouldn't be the first time she'd shot me" Guss laughed awkwardly clearly remembering the occasion
They began walking towards whatever base they had setup, Guss was his chatty self as always "so how did you get here we were so careful" Gacen smiled he'd missed Guss' constant questions
Gacen explained "well those Dubrillion thugs were like 'help us we're a bunch of jags' and we were like 'you can shove it dickweed' but they did give us a lead on a bounty hunter who knew your last location. From there it was actually because of you due to a few little clues around the far more memorable mon cal former jedi than human woman and that led me to more and more clues and eventually we ended up here" Guss nodded listening intently
Guss looked away "can you uh leave the part out about me being the clues to Risha" Gacen chuckled Guss always wanted to please people
Gacen nodded "sure thing bud but the big question is what the heck is all this about" Guss held his chin clearly trying to put it all together
Guss took a deep breath "well I know some of it, uh after we gave up looking for you, sorry but we really looked everywhere I promise" Gacen nodded that was fine they were pretty well hidden "well Risha wanted to take a crack at Dubrillion and they just kept sending assassins and trying to impede our progress, that Actavarus would destroy cities just to stop us." Gacen hated that bald cockmuncher "so Risha said we needed to be more subtle and work from the shadows, so uh we found this place near Dubrillion and built a base using droids and Mask for supplies" Guss looked around "that's the really short version Risha knows all the details" Gacen smiled he knew Risha would never give up on Dubrillion
Ash cut in "well I mean you certainly were well hidden we've been searching for a long time" Guss smiled clearly proud he hadn't given too much away
Gacen nodded "well Rish was always thorough" they reached the end of the bridge now and the base began to come into view, a large red base came into view looking more like a holiday home than a base of operations, Gacen chuckled even when Risha was hiding out she was doing it in style. He noticed the colours kinda matched his style, he smiled maybe Risha was more sentimental than he thought.
Guss was fidgeting with excitement "Oh this is going to be great I love reunions I've missed us three so much, Gacen I just I can't it's bee…" Ash grabbed the mon cal covering his mouth and moved him back.
Gacen appreciated that he was beyond nervous, he took a long deep breath and walked up to the door, there was no knocker so he went to knock on the metal but as he did the door sprung open and he saw the familiar form of Risha in the doorway holding a blaster carbine ready. She hadn't aged a day, her eyes still dark and beautiful wearing the exact same pale jacket she always did, but her hair was much longer going down to her shoulders and curled at the end Gacen really liked it.
Gacen smiled trying to keep his composure as she met his gaze she dropped the carbine to the ground "hey Rish long time" her mouth was agape overwhelmed in surprise
Risha smiled "Gacen? Is that?" she walked up to him putting her hand on his face, it was weird suddenly all his worries were gone now he was here.
Still Gacen was so overwhelmed he didn't know what to say "I uh I like your hair" Risha smiled averting her gaze
She played with the end of her hair "thanks I uh wanted to be as conspicuous as possible so hair change is less identifiable" she mumbled, Gacen nodded putting his hand on hers
Gacen chuckled "it looks good it builds character" Risha frowned at him he probably hadn't used that correctly oh well.
Risha's face softened "I like yours too" she chuckled "it's exactly the same" Gacen raised his eyebrows at her with a grin
He smiled "of course you can't mess with the hawk" Risha chuckled grinning like he'd never seen, she pulled him into a tender embrace kissing him for a long second but what at first seemed to be just a kiss quickly turned more and more passionate as they began making out stumbling back into the house, the door closing behind them leaving Guss and Ash outside
Guss looked around "we may wanna give them an hour" he paused "or five"...