Corso wandered the shoreline; directionless, rudderless, lost in the hell of his own imagination. Her lifeless body on some distant world he'd never find. Ky, lying on a bed, smiling up at a tattooed face, a face he despised. Round and round the images whirled and the masks of his personas created a color-wheel of emotions ranging from crippling despair to jealous rage.
He loved her and hated her and loved her again, on and on until he thought his skull would crack. The beast demanded its due and turned to the tree he'd been leaning on, striking it repeatedly while howling its madness at the sky. Skin broke and bled, knuckles swelled and popped, until he crumbled to his knees, too hoarse to scream, too empty to cry.
'Get up!' Gameface said. 'Move your ass. She's gone. Deal with it. You know where you have to go.'
Devoid of fear, anger, and regret, Gameface came to the forefront, and Corso surrendered to that part of himself that would best serve him now. He rose and dusted the sand from his knees and hands and headed back toward the inn. His visage blank and implacable, he had one goal; to pack and secure passage before the rain came again and melted his resolve away.
Akaavi turned from where she stood looking out of the open balcony doors to greet him. "Thought you might need these." She pointed to his rifle and vibrosword propped against the front of the dresser.
Corso's eyes flitted around the room, the crumpled sheets the only sign that anyone had been there at all. He almost yielded to the grief of her absence, wanting nothing more than to collapse on the bed and bury his face in the pillow that had cradled her head the night before.
'If you do that, you'll never get up,' admonished Gameface.
"Thanks, Akaavi," he said and began to gather his belongings, tossing them haphazardly into his duffel, ignoring the throbbing, biting pain in his hand.
"Where will you go?" asked the Zabrak.
"I dunno, Coruscant, I guess. Rona's the only family I got left."
"We can take you," she offered.
He stopped mid-stride, staring at a gap in the floor, wishing it would swallow him. "I can't stand to be here, and I couldn't bear to be on the ship." His brows drew together in lines so deep his forehead began to ache. "Damn her stubbornness! That bastard's going to get her killed, and I'm not waiting around to see it happen."
"Distance won't ease the misery," she said. "You did not see her face after you left. The decision was not easy for her. She did this to free us all. You may want to consider that before you question her motives or judge her too harshly."
"I never wanted to be free," Corso whispered.
Akaavi nodded knowingly and tapped him on the shoulder with her fist. "Take care, vod. Call if you need us."
"Yeah," he slung the rifle and blade across his back, picked up the duffel and walked away.
Ky stood between the pilot and navigator seats, staring at the galaxy map Skavak had brought up on the screen. They'd left orbit and jumped to hyperspace shortly after she boarded and he was now explaining their route.
"We'll skirt the edge of the Utegetu Nebula, here," he drew his finger across the screen, "and enter the Eidolon, here." His index finger tapped lightly to indicate the area.
"Unknown space. Lovely," said Ky and leaned forward to circle a blank spot with no indicators. "And what's in this sector?"
"The Promena Nebula that remains largely untraveled. They say it's the spatial effects of this region that created the Eidolon. Time distortion, gravitational eddies, dimensional rifts, radiation that affects not only instrumentation but also the brain. A nasty soup nobody's stirred for centuries."
Skavak shrugged, skimming her ribs and the side of her breast with his shoulder, reminding her of their close proximity. She righted herself abruptly, catching the twitch of his lips from the corner of her eye. Smug or smile was all the same on that face.
"I don't bite, Captain," he said in a tone a little too sultry for her liking.
"Not without teeth, anyway," Ky shot back.
"Temper, temper," he teased.
Damn, the man is insufferable.
"Enough, Skavak," said Beryl. "Show her the rest."
Skavak removed his datapad from an inside pocket of his vest. "This is a partial transmission, supposedly from inside the Eidolon."
"Supposedly? I thought this was a sure thing," scoffed Ky.
"As sure as we can be until we get there to know for sure," he replied.
"Your circular logic gives me a headache. Get on with it," grumbled Ky.
"I had it translated from Cheunh into Basic years ago by a Chiss acquaintance. He'll be our contact when we pull this off." A short sniggering huff escaped his lips. "Huh. Even the high and mighty Chiss have those who walk on the seamier side of life. I find it rather refreshing."
"Just play the damned thing," growled Ky.
Skavak frowned and pressed the button. Intermittent words, distorted by static, emerged from the datapad in a language Ky couldn't understand. The same string of sentences repeated in a loop, until someone speaking Basic replaced the gibberish coming from the device. It was a recorded warning.
'This is Nan'Patha'Rommi warning any who can hear to stay away. The temple is in ruins, the settlement gone, the ground shakes night and day. Nothing remains. There is no escape. There is nothing here but death.'
Ky leaned against the back of Beryl's seat. "So, let me get this straight. I'm supposed to fly through the Ghost to a planet that may not even exist anymore? Good plan, Skavak."
"The plan is sound. Take a look." He brought up a grainy spherical image on his datapad. "The Chiss Expansionary Defense Force has bombarded that region with various sensors for decades. About fifty years ago, one signal bounced back from the Eidolon—only one, and this is it."
"Exactly how old is that recording?"
"A couple hundred years, give or take," Skavak replied. "A little over three hundred years ago a faction of the Chiss Ascendency broke away taking relics and other items of great value. They hoped to establish their own colony and fled into the Redoubt. How they made it through the Eidolon is anyone's guess. The Ascendency sent ships after the traitors, none returned. Being a logical and pragmatic people, the Chiss know when it's time to fold. The legend of the Rommi treasure was born, and here we are."
"What about the Empire? Aren't they allied with the Chiss?"
Skavak cast a side-long glance at Ky. "This was an internal affair, and the Empire may be allies, but they're not welcome in Chiss space except on diplomatic missions. It's rumored that the Ghost wreaks havoc with Force users, so I doubt the Sith would have been of value even had they become involved. The occasional spacer or pirate has ventured into the Eidolon, may have even made it to the planet, but nobody ever came back."
Skavak turned off the datapad and shifted his position in the seat so he could view Ky's face. "I know who hunts you and who hunts me and Beryl's on her last legs financially. Things don't look too rosy for any of us, so what do we have to lose? If we succeed, it solves a whole lot of problems, if we die, it solves a whole lot of problems. Either way, I'm placing my bets on you, Captain. Right now, fifty-fifty don't look so bad."
Ky met his gaze. "I doubt even a Hutt would give those odds."
Beryl and Skavak continued the conversation which faded into background noise. The confines of the cockpit closed around Ky like a tightening fist, and she had the sudden, overwhelming urge to be alone. "Thanks for the rundown. I need to think for a while. I'll be in my quarters."
By the time she reached her room and locked the door panel behind her, the disquiet had been replaced by that odd numbness that had surrounded her on the walk from the inn to Beryl's ship. The room was stark and bare, no warmth to be found, and the chilled barrenness soaked into her marrow. She skimmed off her boots and clothes and turned the water on in the shower, so much like rain, but not. There were no promises here.
The glass enclosure filled with steam and she stepped inside under the steady torrent. Corso's words pummeled her with every drop that struck her skin; 'I'd be on my knees, beg you to stay, leave me in peace.'
She stumbled into the corner and slid down the wall to sit huddled like a child, her legs tucked beneath and face pressed against the dripping tile. Hands clutched tightly over her mouth and eyelids scrunched together, she fought to keep the tears inside. Her shoulders trembled with the effort and sobs forced their way through fingers that dimpled her flesh.
With a shuddering cry, she relinquished control, and the tears flowed unchecked, streaking their way down her cheeks and chest to be whisked away by the cascading water. With only her misery for company, she shattered and questioned if she'd ever be whole again, and worse, didn't know if she cared.
Her chattering teeth and shivering body pulled her back to a reality she had no desire to face. The steam was gone, and the water ran icy cold when she forced herself off the floor, turned the water off and exited the shower. After doing a half-assed job of drying off, she climbed into bed, lying cross-wise with the headboard at her back, the place Corso used to occupy. She cocooned herself in the sheet and blanket, fell into an exhausted sleep and dreamed of thunder.
The next two days she spent sheltered in her room, answering the door only for R0-0K, Beryl's droid who delivered caf and meals that went mostly untouched. She shuffled, half aware, between sleep and fretful wakefulness, muffled her keening sorrow in the blanched knuckles she held against her lips. Emptiness engulfed her like an old friend, but she found no solace. He was gone, and there was no turning back.
Self-pity was a place she could wallow in for a time but not take up permanent residence. Her crew was counting on her, and, by stars, she didn't intend to let them down.
By early morning of the third day, the tiny room became claustrophobic, and Corso's absence had dulled to an ache she carried in her bones. Drowning her woes was never her style, but she could use a drink or two.
The hum of the hyperdrive and faint wheeze of circulating air followed her down the passageway and into the galley where she flicked on the lights and went to the cupboard. She removed a glass and bottle then sat on one of the stools and eye-balled a two-shot measure of amber liquid into the tumbler.
She'd just taken a sip when a male voice floated from the doorway. "Mind if I join you?"
"Help yourself, but get your own glass," she replied.
"Can't sleep?" Skavak asked, pouring a goodly bit and settling back against the workspace adjacent to the counter.
"Spacer's internal chrono keeps lousy time," she answered with a shrug.
"I know the feeling." He took a sip and fixed her with a narrow gaze.
"So, you and Beryl, huh?" Ky inquired. "How the hell did she ever team up with you? I thought she was smarter than to let you in."
"Into her head or into her pants?" His lips curled into a maddening smirk.
"Either," she smirked back.
"Sadly, she's more likely to crawl into your bed than mine. And what about you, Captain? After that steamy kiss on Port Nowhere, don't tell me you've never thought about it. I know I have. You were soft in all the right places, too bad Corso walked in on us."
Her eyes raked down his torso and back to his face. "And you were hard in all the right places, too bad you tranqed me and stole my cargo. Funny how a little thing like that can change attraction into loathing."
His crooked smile mocked her. "Surely the lady protests too much."
"Hardly. Besides, I already have more man than I need."
"The farm boy?" he sneered. "Oh, I'm sure he makes sweet, sweet love to you but I think a woman like you needs a little more. A little danger. In fact, I'd say you crave it."
She pinned him with a stony glare, her voice gritty and low. "A woman like me? What could you possibly know about a woman like me? What would you use for comparison? The cantina whores? The brainless bimbos who eat up your dubious charm? The high-brow bitches looking for a little strange from the seedier side? You don't know me at all, and the only thing I crave is for this job to be done and to be away from you."
His gaze over the rim of the glass was sharp as a scalpel cautiously peeling back the layers. He swallowed and licked the corner of his mouth. "I know you're hurting."
"You're boring me, Skavak. I'm not interested in this worthless conversation, and I'm not interested in you. Oh, and something else for you to chew on for a while. You might want to reconsider who's using who. You've already served one purpose."
She slammed back the rest of the whiskey, rose from the stool and sauntered out of the room.
Skavak raised his glass in a toast to her retreating back. "Oh, sweetheart, we're going to be on this ship for a long, long time. I can wait."