Lyra kept her hands steady as Silas and Cooper entered the cockpit. "You two okay back there?" she asked, unable to keep her protective instincts from showing in her tone.
"Never better," Silas quickly answered, his blaster slipping from his fingers as he slumped into the nearest chair. "That Jedi hunter nearly gave us a run for our credits, though."
"Then we need to get moving before he catches up to us," Lyra spoke up. "Did you guys find something down there?"
"A fuel log," Silas explained, fanning his hand in front of his face. "It leads to Raxus. My best guess is that this Jedi, Thornton, was hiding on Raxus, and she was forced to flee to Utapau."
The slicer's eyes narrowed in confusion. "Raxus? The Separatist capitol?" She turned to face Cooper. "You think your Jedi friend's hiding there?"
"Probably not…but she might've left clues there as to where she was going," Cooper said, too busy taking in breath after breath to say more.
Lyra nodded her head in confirmation, quickly typing the coordinates into the navicomputer. "Well, Raxus it is then." Lyra announced, reaching for the hyperdrive lever. "Coordinates locked. Prepare for lightspeed." She pulled the lever, and the distorting stars signaled the freighter's successful entry into hyperspace.
"At this rate, we should get there in a few hours," Lyra said, her nimble fingers quickly engaging the autopilot. She looked over her shoulder at her husband and friend. Cooper leaned on the co-pilot's chair, his eyes drooping as he struggled to keep them open. Silas wiped away the sweat from his brow, his eyes mirroring the same exhaustion as Cooper's.
"Go ahead and take a moment to rest, guys," Lyra suggested, her motherly instincts easily catching on to her companions' states. "I'll let you know when we're ready to land."
Cooper tried to say something in reply, before a heavy yawn escaped his mouth. "Yeah, I'm gonna go lie down for a bit," Cooper started, his tired voice reflecting the stress of the past few hours. "Knock if you need me for something."
Lyra watched with concerned eyes as the young clone trudged off to the nearest cabin. Can't say I blame him for feeling tired. It's been that way for all of us lately. She could barely remember the last time she and Silas had both had a proper good night's rest.
A hand on her shoulder snapped Lyra out of her worried thoughts. She turned to face her husband, the tiredness gradually fading from his eyes. "Need any help?" he asked.
"Other than the occasional navicomputer check, I'll be fine," she answered, as she slowly got up to leave. "I'm gonna grab a drink. You want one?"
Silas nodded, and followed the slicer to the lounge. Lyra tried her best to keep her emotions in check as she searched the cabinets for something to drink. While the idea of drinking some of Taddeo's cheap whisky didn't completely appeal to her, she held hope that it would keep her mind from wandering back to the clone. Her fingers laced around a whisky bottle and pulled it out, while Silas reached for a pair of bar glasses. Lyra carefully poured the drinks and tried to ignore the way her hands shook.
It was only after the first taste of bitter alcohol reached her lips that Silas broke the silence. "Thanks for lending us a hand back there."
Lyra nodded her head in response, casting a concerned glance to Silas' bandaged leg. "How are you feeling?"
Silas shrugged his shoulders. "Tired. Leg's a bit sore, but I'll live."
Lyra crossed her arms over her chest and raised an unconvinced eyebrow. "Be honest. When was the last time you changed that ban—"
"Lyra," Silas cut her off with a nonchalant wave of his hand. "You don't need to worry about me. Believe me, I'm more concerned about you than myself, given the circumstances."
The slicer took a sip from her glass, mentally preparing herself for how her husband would react to what she would say next. "Was that before or after I found out how your parents were treating you?"
Silas' muscles tensed, letting Lyra know she had struck a nerve. I get why he's sensitive about this topic, but I've got a right to be worried. She'd had a right to be worried ever since the frantic knocking on her father's door had woken her up that stormy night. She'd been worried the moment she'd found Silas standing outside, his eyes drooping with exhaustion and his clothes and hair soaked through to the bone.
Lyra's father had taken Silas inside, changed the boy into some dry clothes and tucked him into a warm bed. The slicer could still recall the grim look on her dad's face as he made the call to Silas' parents, asking if they knew where he was.
Silas had told her the next morning that his parents hadn't known where he was. Nor had they cared, for that matter.
"Both," Silas replies, taking a long drink from his own glass. "You know you mean more to me than they ever did. Why else do you think I took up your last name?"
The slicer kept her lips pursed, dodging her husband's attempts to change the subject. Lyra remembered making a silent promise all those years ago, a promise to give Silas a better chance at life than what he had received. And now, as she cast a worried glance toward her husband and best friend's leg, she couldn't help but wonder how well that promise was holding up.
"Can I tell you something?" Lyra asked.
Silas' raised eyebrow suggested he was taken aback by the question. "Sure."
Lyra took a deep breath, mentally preparing herself for whatever response her husband had to offer. "I can't remember the last time we had a chance to…I dunno, take in the scenery," she started, taking a long sip from her glass.
"You remember when we planned to take a ship like this, and just…I dunno, explore?" Silas recalled, leaning on the counter.
Lyra nodded. "Yeah. I miss those moments."
Her mind flashed back to when they had first thought of the idea, back when they were still teenagers without a care. How Silas had tried to save up on time and credits to fix a run-down shuttle he had found in some junkyard. How Lyra had begun to listen more to her father's piloting lessons. How both of them had made a list of all the planets and star systems they wanted to visit.
She also remembered when a simple pregnancy test had thrown a wrench into their plans.
Routines changed quickly after Torvald came along. All of the money the two had saved for their planned trip, they instead used to support themselves and their son. In place of those plans, Lyra had instead gained new memories. She often found herself reminiscing the time when Torvald had found a rusty pit droid in the jungle, and had begged his parents to let him keep it. Or the time when Lyra had built a blanket fort with her son after he had woken up crying from a nightmare. I wish the memories weren't all I have left.
"I know Torvald would've loved that idea," Lyra spoke again, pausing to sit down on one of the bar stools. "I just can't believe we actually went through with it after all these years."
"And?" Silas urged her to continue, his arm laced around her shoulder. "Is this everything you asked for?"
The woman turned to face him, a sly smile spreading across her face. "Well, the kid travelling with us certainly isn't Torvald, but…yeah." There was no doubt that Cooper reminded Lyra all too much of her son, and of the reason he was gone. The clone's face briefly appeared in the slicer's mind, and she clenched her hands together in an attempt to alleviate her stress. That boy's just as stubborn as Silas. It's only a matter of time before he gets himself hurt or worse because of it.
"Speaking of the kid, I'm gonna go check on him," Lyra said, standing up and reluctantly brushing her husband's arm off her shoulder. "I'll be right back." She turned, leaving the brief moment of calm behind as she made her way to the cabin Cooper was sleeping in.
The clone's fingers fiddled with the datapad that had sent them all on this suicide mission to begin with. Cooper wasn't normally one to avoid sleeping after a stressful day. He couldn't recall the number of times he'd looked forward to climbing into his sleeping pod after training exercises. No matter how hard he tried, however, sleep seemed to avoid him, like a defective clone that no one else wanted to be around.
Letting out a stress-filled sigh, Cooper rolled onto his back. His hands fumbled around for his compass, and the coolness of the object calmed him as he finally grasped it. He smiled as he opened up the device. He let his mind flash back briefly to when he had found the compass. Sawyer had sent the cadets on a recon exercise that day, instructing each of them to retrieve one item from the supply shipment that had arrived earlier that week. Cooper recalled how he had found the compass in a box full of scrap, the way his hands had trembled with excitement as he showed his find to Commander Thornton.
There was no point in using the compass for its intended purpose. It wasn't in the best shape, for one. The cracked lodestone and aged metal proved that much. In addition, the ship's navicomputer was just a short walk away. Nevertheless, the young clone felt lost without it, perhaps as lost as the Commander he was currently looking for.
The sound of the door opening pulled Cooper out of his thoughts. He turned to face Lyra, her silhouette acting as a stark contrast to the light pouring into the quarters. "Thought you were sleeping," the slicer snidely remarked, taking a seat in the single chair in the room.
"I'm trying to," Cooper mumbled, stifling a yawn as he sat up. Despite Lyra's abrupt entry, the clone couldn't help but feel a little grateful for the downtime. With everything that he had gone through in the past few days, a chance to rest seemed to be a luxury he could barely afford.
"What'cha got there?" Lyra inquired, her tone unable to hide her curiosity as she gazed at the datapad.
"Oh, just some holophotos I took while back on Kamino," the teen mused, cracking a smile as he scrolled through the photos. One photo showed Cooper and Jackal holding up the battered remains of a training droid, the boys' enthusiasm shining on their faces. Sawyer had taken that photo after a particularly successful live fire exercise. Satisfied with the first image, Cooper scrolled to the next one. This one showed Cooper and Harlow, the clone's fingers held up above the Commander's head in a crude imitation of bunny ears.
Caught up in his own nostalgia, the boy barely noticed Lyra's head glancing over his shoulder. "Just how did you two become friends, anyway?"
"Let's just say I got picked on a lot before the Jedi showed up," Cooper responded, turning his gaze away from Lyra. His mind recalled the angry faces of the cadets who had hog-tied him, the way the ropes and the gag left marks on his skin. It had taken little time for Sawyer to report a missing cadet, and even less time for Harlow to stumble upon the young clone.
"I get it," the slicer replied, her sympathy making itself known through her voice. "I met Silas in a similar situation."
"What happened to you?" Cooper asked, urging her to continue.
"Well…some scumbag had the nerve to harass me constantly at school," Lyra recalled, her eyes downcast as she narrated. "One day, he snuck up behind me and tried to grab at my, um…well, you know."
The boy didn't need her to describe it. If he'd had a credit for each time a clone catcalled General Shaak Ti or Commander Thornton, he would've been drowning in riches.
"It was unexpected, and I just knew he was gonna do something bad, so I turned around, broke his nose, and got sent to the office," Lyra continued. "Silas was in there at the time, and I figured I had nothing better to do while I waited for Dad to come pick me up. So I introduced myself, and before I knew what was happening, we were friends. And then we became more than that."
"You ever get the feeling that Silas…I don't know…doesn't care?" Cooper carefully asked, hoping his choice of words wouldn't make his friend angry.
To his surprise, Lyra nodded her head. "Don't get me wrong, he's a great guy, and I couldn't have asked for a better husband. But if the number of times he spends in the shed doesn't tell you how stubborn he can get, I don't know what will."
Cooper let his gaze fall to the bedsheets, his thoughts refusing to let him ignore how Lyra had a point. He had seen it in the way Silas handled himself back on Utapau, gunning down droids without breaking a sweat. The clone shuddered. It reminded him too much of Third Brother.
The former cadet must have allowed his worry for Harlow to reach the surface. Next thing he knew, he was flinching at the painful touch of Lyra's hand on his healing shoulder. "I know you're afraid for your friend, Cooper," Lyra voiced, her warm voice slightly alleviating Cooper's fears. "I can't guarantee anything, but I want you to know we're doing what we can to help."
"We'll find her," the teen retorted, scooting away from her touch. "Either she's on Raxus, or someone there'll point us in her direction."
"I get that you want to help her, but it's a shot in the dark," the slicer concernedly said. "That fuel log could mean anything. We don't know the full story—"
"I don't care!" he snapped, the sharp tone causing his companion to flinch. Cooper turned his head toward Lyra, his stoic gaze softening as he caught on to the Tethan's shocked look. "I'm sorry, it's just…I have to warn her at least, about that psycho Jedi hunter. After all she's done for me, I owe her that much."
The alert on Lyra's commlink caused her to flinch. She briefly turned her attention back to Cooper, giving the clone a pat on the arm. "Okay," she replied, standing up to leave. "We're approaching Raxus. I better get back to piloting."
Cooper waved as the slicer left the room, and turned his attention back to the datapad. Lyra might have a point. Maybe taking a short nap might take my mind off things.
The Tethan pursed her lips as she made her way up to the cockpit. Maybe Cooper might find what he's looking for here…but at what cost? Lyra still shuddered as she thought of that Jedi hunter, converging on her husband and the clone. They had gotten off Utapau by the skin of their teeth. They had escaped the Empire by the skin of their teeth. How many more close calls are we going to have?
And then there was the tone with which Cooper had spoken to her just moments before. It reminded Lyra too much of her son, of how he had gotten obsessed with spice, of how he had pushed away everything and everyone while going after his obsession. In a way, she guessed Cooper was becoming obsessed himself. How far is the kid willing to go to save one Jedi?
The slicer shook her thoughts from her head, and kept her pace steady as she entered the cockpit. Sooner I drop the ship out of hyperspace, the better. Her eyes landed on the hyperdrive lever as she entered the cockpit, and Lyra quickly strolled over and pulled it. The distorted stars signaled the Ravaged Huntsman's exit from hyperspace. Lyra kept her hands steady on the controls as the ship lurched with the sudden drop in speed. She turned her gaze ahead, eager to see the world that lay beyond the ship's viewport.
Lyra's eyes widened. She wasted no time scrambling for her commlink. "Guys, you better hurry up. We've got a situation here." She turned her gaze back to the alarming sight.
Dozens upon dozens of Venator-class star destroyers gathered vigilantly around Raxus' atmosphere. Numerous Imperial starfighter squadrons accompanied the conga line of destroyers, the fighters flying as one as they ran through their patrols.
Just what the hell did we miss?