Rakine walked over to Karus and helped walk him to the infirmary of the Rebel Base. Mon Mothma nodded to me in approval.
"Thank you, Lord Venison, for returning Captain Karus home to Yavin 4. You've done a very brave thing today." She walked off after Rakine and Karus.
I walked out from the hangar to the council room where Rooda sat alone in a chair in the empty room. I sat down in a chair next to her. She looked up at me and immediately hugged me, a tear of joy falling from her eye down onto my chest. She began giving me quick little kisses on my cheeks and held me tightly.
"I was so worried about you. Everyone kept saying you would die there."
I put one of my metal arms around her to pet her back.
"I'm fine. So is Karus. I saved him." I looked at her face with a small smile.
"I'm so glad you're okay." She looked at me and rubbed the side of my face affectionately.
"I have more news, Roo." I looked around then back to her. "We're staying here."
"What?"
"If we want to remain hidden from the Empire, we should stay here in the rebel base where it's safe."
"No." She stood up. "No. That's a terrible idea."
"Why? Because I got injured on both missions to the Empire?"
"And what about that Force sense thing you do? What if they're cruising the galaxy and find you here by the Force. It could expose us and the whole Rebel Alliance. We need to go where we would actually be safe."
"You're right. But where could we go? Everywhere we've been the Empire has found. Even Zant. Remember they slaughtered our whole village and killed my mother." I look down to the floor. "And the kid she carried." Anger slowly rose in me and I calmed it down, walking to the door.
"We might find some other system Ven. We should go further west into the unknown, past Zant and far away from all of the Empire."
"It might work." I nod and walk out the door with her following. I head to the infirmary and find Karus on a table getting his head iced, to cool his wounds.
"Lord Venison-" he looked up at me.
"Karus, I can't stay here. And for good reason."
"Why can't you stay here with the Rebel Alliance?"
"The Sith are strong in feeling tremors in the Force. They could cruise the galaxy and feel me here on Yavin 4. They could find us and kill the Alliance, and it would be because of me. That's why we can't stay here. We're leaving to a far off system where the Empire can't haunt us."
Rakine stood up and walked over to me.
"Do you have the holographic communicator?"
I nodded and he smirked.
"Good. We will remain in touch. For you two, if you are indeed leaving," he sincerely pat my shoulder, "I wish you the best of luck. Hopefully one day you will rise to power and help the rebel cause."
"It would be something to consider. But we're still on the top of the Empire's hitlist. It would be unwise now."
"True enough." He nodded. "Well good luck out there my friends."
Mon Mothma entered the room.
"I hear you're leaving Yavin to hide from the Sith's presence."
"Yes ma'am. It is dangerous for us to be here. That's why we must go." I held Rooda's hand. "If we stay here we could expose the Rebel Alliance. And we certainly don't want that."
"No we don't want that." Mon Mothma shook her head. "We'll we all wish you good luck on your quest for a new home. I hear Rakine had given you communication for when you leave. Hopefully you will remain in touch."
"Of course we will. Thank you all for helping us feel welcome to the Rebel Alliance, but we must be on our way." I walk out of the infirmary to the hangar and Rooda walked behind me. I turned back and saw Mon Mothma, Karus, and Rakine all waving "goodbye" to us and the doors closed behind us.
I started the Zant's Nightmare and Rooda sat in the chair next to me.
"So Master, where to?"
"I don't know yet," I look to her as the ship picks up off the ground. "I think I would prefer it if you called me Eyt again. If you wish to of course. Just between you and me. I feel like my past self may still be alive inside me. Somewhere."
She nodded and hugged me a the ship left Yavin's atmosphere.
"I thought I had lost your past self forever."
"You haven't." I reassured her. "I am with you always just as I have always been."
She smiled, knowing I was being honest with her.
The Nightmare flew through the empty space and the sails protruded from the walls to help glide the ship to a faraway system.
"Should we find a planet system with a terrain we are familiar to? Like a desert or a canyon?"
She nodded.
"I think it would be perfect. Empty, quiet, it would be just us alone." She looked to me and held one of my metallic hands. "And we survived the desert on Zant. How bad could this new life be?"
I nodded and managed a small smile and I turned on the holographic charts of the galaxy to find the western portion still blank and unmarked.
"Somewhere in there, where it's uncharted. A system that is not even known to exist." I kept flying the ship through the galaxy to find we were about to enter the western territory of the galaxy. We were just passing the border to the outer rim when I found a small dot at the end of one of the galaxy's spiral flares. I zoomed in on the small dot, and it appeared to be a small system beyond the outer rim. I tapped the model of the planet, and it turned out to be a vast, sand-covered desert planet. A large canyon covered the hard surface of the planet, much like a scar.
"Rooda, you still remember the old Zan-Deer language, right? I think this place is empty." I turned to her, knowing she still knew the history of the Zan-Deer. It's traditions, it's cultures, it's old languages, all of it. She knew it all.
"Ikana," she turned to me. "Ikana means "empty" in ancient Zan-Deer. Why do you ask?"
"Because that's where we'll go. That's what we'll call it. Our new home, the empty planet system, Ikana." I started typing away at the charts of the empty system, giving it it's new name. Rooda faced the front and looked on out the front window as the ship glides through space toward the edge of the galaxy. To the Ikana system.
"What other things are there we should know about the Ikana system, Eyt?" She asked me, still facing forward.
"The system has one sun, a big bright red star. There is only one planet, where we will live. And it has no moons." I turned to her as she leaned back, sighing happily as the word slipped off her tongue.
"Ikana," she grinned. "I could get used to that name."
"I'm already used to it," I chuckled as I deactivated the sails of the ship as we neared the newly discovered system. The Nightmare neared Ikana's atmosphere and as we passed through, we stared in see as the red sun set over the large desert. The sky was blood-red and the sand was shining red, reflecting the light of the sun. The sunset of Ikana was a beautiful sight and I watched Rooda as a tear fell from one eye.
"It's the most beautiful thing I have ever seen."
I smiled as the ship landed on the sandy floor of Ikana's surface. The door opened and we ran out onto the hot, soft sand. We looked at each other with a smile each, knowing this would be a prefect home for the two of us. We turned to the red sun as it dropped over the flat horizon, the sky turning a crimson red color. Both I us were mesmerized by the beauty of the sunset, Rooda stood by me and rested her head on my shoulder as we looked on. I put my cybernetic hand on her further shoulder and pulled her closer to me. We both stayed there, watching the red sunset, feeling the soft sand below us, knowing this was where we would live together. We were home.
I looked around as the sun set and turned to the ship.
"Rooda, we need to find a place here we can actually live."
"Yeah. We can't stay on the flat, empty desert." She walked to the ship and I followed behind her. I started the ship and flew it over the surface of Ikana until we came across a large canyon, the vast scar on the surface of the planet. I flew the ship down to the bottom where it seemed to be empty. I opened the door and looked around, igniting my darksaber, walking around cautiously. Rooda's crimson blades ignited and both our weapons served as out light in this dark canyon.
"This place reminds me of Zant already. A large, beautiful, desert and canyon paradise. But after dark, it becomes a dangerous place." Rooda chuckles and I walk slowly into a cave, prepared for any ambush.
"Keep a sharp eye. Anything could live in this cave." I walked slowly through the cave as Rooda followed behind. "Turns out Ikana isn't as empty as we thought."
We reached a large cavern in the wall of the canyon and as I looked up, three large spiders dropped from the ceiling. They were much larger in size than the tickin desert spiders on Zant, possibly a more lethal type of spider. And these ones didn't make any noise when they attacked. But they had a large striped red and black pattern over their legs and abdomens.
"These things look like trouble." Rooda looked at them in some fear.
"Yeah, no question about it." We started slashing at the spiders and all three began to fall dead in seconds. We deactivated our sabers and I pulled out the hologram to ignite the whole cavern. We were in a large, empty, underground area.
"I guess this could be our home to settle in." We kept walking around and looking at this environment. I turned to the spider corpses. "Would those be considered edible?"
"I've no idea. But that skull doesn't look very promising." I walked around the cavern, put the hologram away, and took off my entire Sith robe. I lit one end on fire with my blade and I tossed it on the ground and we watched it light the cavern. I watched as Rooda did the same with her black robe and we watched the flames grow across the black robes on the cavern floor.
I looked down, at my entire cybernetic left arm, and my cybernetic right hand to the wrist. I looked at my body to the Sith outfit that I kept since Lord Sorin's death. I still have the long cloak, ribcage-designed tunic, and the long black pants with combat boots. I felt the flat, rough edge of my antler-sabers where Darth Vader completely severed the emitters, making them completely useless. I looked to Rooda, and she still wore the soft spider leather she crafted on Zant, a bodysuit that ends at the shoulders and hips, covering her torso and abdomen.
"We might be able to survive here." I took one of the spider legs and held it above the fire, roasting it to a hot and crispy state. Rooda took a leg and held it above the fire and I sank my sharp fangs into the leg I held above the fire. I chewed on it's soft meat and finished my bite. I walked over to grab a spider fang and rip it out of its mouth. I split it open to find them empty. Rooda stared at me and I nod.
"It's safe. They shouldn't be poisonous. Look." I showed her the hollow fang, "They don't even have venom."
She nodded and took a bite from her spider leg.
"I think this will do nicely. What about you think, Roo?" I look to her and she nods. I look around the inside of the cavern. "It's big enough to house the both of us." She set her leg down and sat by me as we sat down and watches the fires. We felt them warm us in the cold of night as we stayed alone on the empty planet of Ikana together. I put my arm over her shoulder and we leaned against each other.
We knew what this place would be to us now. This would be our new home and here we would start our own lives. Away from the Empire. Away from the troubles of the galaxy.