"You're absolutely certain you don't want me to come with you?"

Though everything in Cordira's tone and expression was serious and overwrought with genuine concern, Wil couldn't help but laugh as he patted Bex's grimy orange dome beside him.

"Yes, I'm sure. Dad and I will be fine. Once we get Bex to Max's friend, we'll meet back up with you. It shouldn't take us too long."

Despite his reassurances and an additional cheerful whistle from Bex, Cordira remained worried. "Where exactly are you going? I want to know every part of your plan."

A bit taken aback by her sudden and intense interest, Wil was struggling to keep his own worry at bay. "We're meeting the repair tech Noto at a cantina near the center of Coronet City. Bex says he'll leave with Noto from there, since the repair shop is in Kor Vella, but I'm sure my dad will come up with some crazy scheme to go with him, or at least follow him."

Cordira's eyes had narrowed. "A cantina. Your father doesn't exactly have the greatest record when it comes to cantinas."

Bex's stifled chirping beside him sounded almost like a digital snicker. Wil couldn't outright disagree himself, but he shrugged. "I wouldn't be here if he had avoided them. And neither would you."

Releasing a slow breath, Cordira relaxed her taut expression. "Very true, you've got me there. Still, I can't shake the feeling that I need to stay close to both of you."

Wil's stomach sank to his feet, sensing her anxiety more acutely through the Force. "What aren't you saying? Do you know something I don't?"

She struggled to answer as she shook her head, seemingly reluctant to worry him further. "I can't really say anything specific, just that...something feels...off, about all of this. I don't think it's our wisest choice to split up right now."

Pausing a moment to think, Wil sighed, making his decision. "If you're only worried about us, we'll be fine. Dad wouldn't let you come with us, anyway. He wants Liaa to be safe, and if he can't ensure that himself, he's trusting you and Ethan to act in his stead. I know he wouldn't want you to endanger your son, either. We'll be careful, and I'll make sure he doesn't do anything...well, him."

Cordira was only somewhat placated, still concerned but unwilling to argue further or disrespect his wishes. She nodded after a moment and embraced him tightly, which he returned in kind. As she stepped back from him, though, she held his gaze intently. "Please be careful, and let me know the moment anything starts to feel...wrong."

Wil agreed and sent her on her way with a small smile, and Bex beeped a few cheery messages to her, too. She rejoined her husband and son by the Shadow Nova's loading ramp while Liaa and Horatio said brief goodbyes, and it wasn't long until the two groups parted ways, leaving Coronet Spaceport behind for their tasks.

Bex's grinding servos and gears served as the only surrounding noise as Wil and Horatio slowly walked side by side behind the droid through Coronet City's streets. Even others they passed were eerily silent as they went about their day, as though the heavy, cold air that blanketed the overcast city muffled its usual bustling soundscape completely. Perhaps Wil was simply more sensitive to it, after Cordira's nonspecific warning, but he was beginning to feel the gazes of more bystanders lingering on them, keeping his senses on high alert. If Cordira had felt the need to help them, worried enough to have told him as much, was there some kind of threat following them here on Corellia that she had sensed? Surely Max wasn't intentionally leading them straight into a trap, was he?

"Bex," Horatio spoke up gruffly for the first time since their departure more than an hour ago, "how much further to this cantina?"

Bex beeped and chirped a much longer response than a mere distance estimate, leading Horatio to jump in front of the droid to stop him.

"What! What do you mean, you don't know?"

Bex managed to turn his dome back and forth with sharp scraping noises as he gave another long beeping answer that irritated Horatio even further.

"No, I don't want to 'wander the city' until he picks a place! Get us a location, now."

Wil stepped up beside his father, gripping his shoulder to calm him before they drew more attention to themselves in the middle of the street. "Dad..."

Bex whistled apologetically and rolled back from the Sheridan men, hesitating a moment before continuing with another message. Horatio refused his suggestion with an intense but quiet tone.

"There are a number of reasons I don't come back to Corellia unless I absolutely have to. Max asked me to help you, so I am doing this for him, but I am not going any further until we have a direction. You either tell this repair tech that we're meeting him here, or we're going to come find him in Kor Vella. There is no other choice."

Bex remained silent and motionless against Horatio's demands, but it was another voice from the street that spoke up in his place.

"Max said you weren't the trusting type."

Wil looked up from Bex to see a Nikto man slowly stepping towards them through the crowds from a nearby alley. He was unarmed and cautious, clad in a dark jumpsuit with a pair of goggles pushed up from his face onto the horns on his head, a number of tools and droid callers jingling as they hung from his gray utility belt, and grease and grime covering every exposed surface of his clawed hands. He looked every bit the part of a droid repair tech, but simply repeating Max's name that he had likely overheard wasn't enough evidence. Bex had to positively identify him, too.

"I'm not fond of being followed, either," Horatio bit back sharply, his hand already on his blaster holstered at his side.

"Understandable," the Nikto agreed casually, keeping his movements slow and calculated. "But you have to appreciate my perspective, too. I'd need to vet you, as well. Make sure you won't threaten me in my own shop."

"No one's threatening anyone," Wil interjected, hoping to ease tensions as he glanced back and forth between the two men before returning to the droid. "Bex, is this Noto?"

Though he struggled to make the turn to face the Nikto, Bex whooped positively, even rocking back and forth on his feet excitedly.

"It's good to see you again, too, Bex," Noto answered him with a faint grin, though his gaze quickly returned to Horatio.

"How long will his upgrades take?"

"Two days."

"That's a long time to replace some gears and upgrade his star charts."

Noto hesitated briefly, calculating his response with an air of confusion. "You're...not required to wait on him. Your only responsibility was bringing him to me, you're free to leave now."

Horatio blinked, unable to find his voice for a long moment. "...my nephew asked me to help him. I brought you his droid, and I'm going to take it back to him."

Suddenly weary, Noto sighed. "Bex won't let you. I'm sorry."

"Then make me a copy of his memory core so I can find Max on my own! I'll pay you double what Max is paying you to fix him!"

Wil gripped Horatio's arm again, desperate to keep him calm. "Dad, don't."

Noto remained surprisingly sympathetic against Horatio's anger. "Max also said you'd demand a way to find him, and he told me to tell you to trust him. He'll find you when he can. And he asked you to trust me, too. I'm going to get Bex into the best shape he's ever been in so he can be the most help to Max. In the meantime, I'd advise you to...take some time. Relax a bit. Just...don't follow us."

Horatio's only response was an empty stare as Noto and Bex left them, Bex whistling a quiet but affectionate goodbye as they disappeared into the connecting street. Wil could again feel just how much his father's emotional distress made him tremble under his grip, but the elder Sheridan remained silent and motionless in his place. Wil's heart ached for his.

"I'm sorry, Dad. I know you wanted to do more. Max knew you would, too."

Finally seeming to breathe for the first time since Bex had left, Horatio's shoulders sagged with defeat, his eyes, unfocused, cast to the ground. A loud crash further up the street seemed to startle him out of his daze, though, bringing him back to their busy surroundings as his trembling instantly stopped. He hesitated only a moment more to take in the crowd passing about them before he met Wil's gaze with sharp acuity, nodding in the direction Noto and Bex had gone.

"Dad, we can't follow them, Noto said - "

"I need to think."

Without hearing Wil's further protests, Horatio continued up the street, maneuvering himself through the crowd with little hesitation and making it difficult for Wil to keep up with him. Wil swore under his breath as he struggled, angry at himself for not being prepared enough for his father's reaction and frustrated at how quickly the surrounding traffic had increased. Just as he was about to call out to his father over the crowd, he watched Horatio duck into a modest and mostly empty diner and quickly take a seat at a booth close to the back, facing the rear. Wil swiftly joined him, facing the windows and sitting opposite him while both bewildered and thankful.

"If you were hungry," he mused with a grin, "you could have just said so."

Horatio's gaze was fixed just above Wil's head, silent as though he hadn't even heard him. Wil had come to expect his father to be unpredictable when Max was involved, but he couldn't even begin to explain what had just happened. How could he get Horatio to open up to him?

"We should get some drinks, don't you think?"

Wil began to look around for the diner's waiter, but Horatio earned his attention once more.

"...we're being followed."