Making Connections

"Speech"

"Radio or calls"

'Thoughts'

Engine Room of the Vagabond

With the crew splitting up to spend the remainder of the day, Feldt and Setsuna made their way to the engine room. The ship as a whole was empty, only the Miraluka, Kiffar and Allelujah on it. The room hummed with a steady beat, and was surprisingly cool, though Setsuna realized it was probably because the ship was running on low power mode, so the engine wasn't putting out a lot of heat.

Feldt looked at him, a nervous expression as she spoke, "I don't think anyone will bother us here." The click of the engine was keeping her calm, the familiar sounds quiet enough to not be disruptive.

Setsuna nodded, knowing Lyle would trust Feldt as the engineer over him. He looked at her curiously, "So earlier we talked about my force sensitivity. And you might have an idea. What do you have in mind?"

Feldt looked at him, realizing at this moment she's the teacher, despite having very little practical experience herself. It felt a little good admittedly, but she didn't know if this would even work. 'But it's worth a shot.' She took a deep breath, "When I was growing up, my parents had me meditate and connect to the force, a calm mind being able to…connect to your abilities. Maybe you just need that to help you?"

Setsuna took in her words. He was used to being patient, his missions sometimes asking him to hide for good chunks of time, but he had never done this, "Are you sure I can manifest it? This could just be a fluke or I'm not that powerful."

Feldt shook her head, a hint of desperation in her voice, "No. I sensed a strong core in you." She looked down at the ground, her voice quiet, "I just want to find someone who can understand me."

Guilt settled in Setsuna's gut, realizing she was opening up to him, showing her vulnerable side. He wasn't used to that himself, but this woman brought the emotion out of him. He put a hand on her shoulder, smiling at her, "Alright, I'm up for trying. But before we do, I'm curious how you see. I've never seen a member of your people before, especially someone cute like you."

Feldt blushed at the compliment, "Oh…thank you. My people lost our eyes long ago, but we can see through the force. It's hard to explain, but being able to able to see through it is…illuminating. Maybe I can show you once both of us get control?" She had no idea if it was possible, but she had no idea what was and wasn't, so it could be worth a shot.

Setsuna nodded at her, "So how do I start?" He wanted to know what was inside him, to control this power that had saved him countless times before.

Feldt guided him to sit down and cross his legs. Her tone was even, her shakiness disappearing, "Close your eyes and sense around the room." Setsuna closed his eyes, the rhythm of the engine becoming more apparent. Feldt's voice echoed in the room, "The force is in everyone, but not everyone can sense it. It binds everyone, connects all life, like a background buzz. Focus on that buzz, that static and grasp at it, take control of it. Expand your senses."

Setsuna furrowed his brow, the words going into his mind. He had never heard them before, but they rung as true, like a truth about existence was being revealed to him. His mind struggled to relax, and the Miraluka could sense Setsuna was having issues, her mind already picking up the currents of the force. Her voice was calming and ethereal, "Just relax your mind. Let it do the work for you. If you can sense the force, then your mind will find it."

Setsuna took a deep breath, following her words. His mind emptied of all thoughts, letting him relax. Steady breathing filled the room, the man and woman almost syncing up to the rhythm of the engines. A mass of energy began to coalesce around the pair, filling their senses as Setsuna felt for the first time that sensation he always felt in the back of his mind when he unconsciously used his powers, but several fold more powerful.

It was like the wind from his homeworld, Dantooine. Like when he played in the plains with his friends, watching the crops blow in the wind on his family farm. The room disappeared, his surroundings becoming that old childhood tree he always climbed in when he got cold. A large, gnarled tree sat on top of a hill, standing strong against the strong winds. But unlike when he was a kid, there was no coldness to it. It was like the summer breeze, filling his thoughts with memories and a warmth that filled his soul.

Everything had become clear. This was a part of him. This force was surrounding him, pulsing through him. He felt…whole, like a part of him that had always been there was awakened. He could sense the woman across from him, a string attached to her. He could feel her nervousness, her curiosity, her happiness and affection deep in her soul at finding someone like her and he wondered if she was reading him the same way. A wave of affection moved through him, and he knew instinctively it was from him. This woman had woken up a part of him, and he didn't know how to thank her. He basked in the feeling, enjoying this moment of peace.

While Setsuna was discovering a part of himself, Feldt had found herself following a different path; meditation was normal for her, so she easily found herself in her comfort place. The world around her disappeared and she was in the middle of a spider web, lines tracing through the ship. These lines correlated to the ship crew, and the one that drew her attention the most was the bright line connecting to Setsuna.

Focusing on it, she began to trace it, no walls stopping her. She pushed into Setsuna's mind, the simple ball of force energy expanding into a web that made up who he is. She knew vaguely that a force user could put up walls to stop people from getting into their mind, but both of them were too inexperienced to do that at the moment. She could sense his amazement, his happiness from his awakening, his core glowing brighter than ever. She smiled at the sight, blushing when she sensed his affection for her. 'Maybe there is something more?' She could think on that later.

Her travels brought her through his memories, the full range of emotions drifting off them. The strongest feeling she could sense was loss and the sensation of combat, a frown coming to her face. 'How much war had this man seen? How long had he been fighting?'

She pursed her lips, not knowing how to fully feel. She had met plenty of people who had dark pasts, but she felt more connected to him. Maybe it was because of her helping awaken him, or just she caught up in the sensation of meeting someone like him. But her mind begged her to travel further, to discover more.

And so, she went deeper and deeper in, feeling the call of a memory, subconsciously following it, a glow getting brighter and brighter as she got closer and closer. 'This must be important if the force is guiding me.' As she found the glowing thread, one of many that made up of Setsuna, she reached out for it, fingers grazing it. A memory suddenly filled her mind, a sense of dread in the back of her mind.

Around her, a grassy plain with a large warehouse appeared, the bodies of a large patrol of stormtroopers littering the ground. It was fairly plain, looking like a basic industrial setup, window high up, right below the corrugated metal roof. She looked at herself, appearing ghostly, and movement caught her eye. She narrowed in on it, and noticed what looked to be a younger version of Setsuna, no older than fourteen or fifteen, planting explosives on the outside of the building. He looked like he had a similar outfit he had now, but with an armored vest over it, multiple tools on his belt.

He looked so young, and his eyes showed determination, but a nervousness at the same time. She quietly approached, not knowing if she could be seen, and could hear him talk over a call, though she couldn't hear the other side. His voice was clear and calm, "Explosives placed. Are you sure I don't need to see what's inside?"

He clearly got a response, but Feldt could only really make out that it was an older man with a deep voice as she crept closer, feet now on concrete and resting behind a barrel. There was a tenseness in Setsuna, the Kiffar balling his fists, "Understood. I'll wait for your orders." He looked over in her direction, and she instinctively hid, his eyes passing over her.

Setsuna then took a cylinder off his belt and aimed it at the roof overhang, his surface thoughts entering his head, 'This seems too easy. Why would an armory be so unguarded?' He paused for a second in thought, 'And why don't I need to go inside?' A metal claw shot out of it, attaching itself to the roof, and he slowly raised himself to the windows near the top.

She moved to get a better look, and Feldt could see a look of shock and horror as he lowered himself down, angrily calling to whoever his contact was, "Ali! There are hostages in there! We have to abort the operation!" His eyes were wide, anger flowing off him. Feldt was equally horrified, on edge wondering what happens. She couldn't change anything, but she would rush in there if she was in this situation.

She heard the voice on the other side, distorted and crackling, but she swore she recognized it, "I told you not to check kid. I'm sorry it had to come to this, but I'll make sure your friends get as quick a death as you do."

Setsuna's widened, the clicking sound of arming explosives. A heavy sense of betrayal filled him, Feldt sensing it as clear as day. She could sense the force fill him, making him faster as the explosives went off behind him, Feldt looking away as she heard the screams and felt the life force of all the hostages be snuffed out, the building's roof blowing into the sky, a conflagration going off. She looked over to see Setsuna against a barrel, his eyes closed.

Her worry peaked and she instinctively broke the connection, falling back as her eyes shot open, the engine room filling her vision. Tears streaked down her face, her entire body shaking, words not coming out of her mouth. Not only had she seen that horrible memory, but she had violated Setsuna's privacy.

The raven-haired man looked at her with immense concern, "Feldt, what happened? I sensed you were in my mind, but what happened?" He had the vague sense she looked through his mind, but her connection to him was almost torn when she broke it, and he sensed a heavy sense of distress.

Without a thought, she tackled him to the ground, wrapping her arms around him, "I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" Tears streaked down her face as he wrapped his arms around her. Not knowing what to do, he reflected on Feldt's words. He tentatively reached out with the force, trying to comfort her, and Feldt couldn't help but reciprocate. She knew she did something she shouldn't have, but in her distress, she wanted to reach out to anything that could comfort her. She could sense a small connection between them, one that hadn't broken when she broke out of the meditation, and wondered if that was important. But right now, that fell into the back of her mind, her violation of Setsuna's memories on the forefront of her mind.

"I don't know what you saw. Please tell me what you saw." He got no response, so realized he would have to comfort her till she was ready. He held her as she cried, her tears soaking his shirt. Her hood had fallen off and he ran a hand through her hair, loving the feeling of her soft, pink-hair

Minutes passed and Feldt finally calmed down, Setsuna physical and force presence being a major boon to that. She looked him in the eyes, and she gave him a bittersweet smile, "You shouldn't have comforted me, not after when I breached your privacy."

"What did you do?"

She hesitantly explained what she saw, the memory still vivid in her mind, and as she finished, Setsuna ran a hand through his hair, letting out a deep sigh as his initial anger deflated, trying to maintain a stoic face as she explained. He should have felt a keen sense of intrusion at that, but her reaction to doing it put out any fires in him, her body language making it clear she was ashamed.

He sat up, pulling her with him, putting a hand on her knee as she leaned into him, "You opened up a part of me that I hadn't sensed before. And you were exploring something you couldn't have done before. I don't think either of us know what we are doing." He frowned, "I wish you didn't have to see that. I'm sorry you did."

She looked at him with wide eyes, hope in her heart, "So you aren't mad at me? You don't hate me?"

He nodded, "I won't lie and say I'm not annoyed, but you made a mistake and didn't know what you are doing. We can set ground rules now that both of us are more aware of our capabilities." He then smiled at her, "But I don't hate you. We just need more practice."

Feldt blushed once again, his smiling making him look handsome, "Do you want to do more now? We have time." A delayed wave of exhaustion hit her, and she rested more weight on him. Regret still flowed through him and no matter what he said, she couldn't help but blame herself. 'I'll make it up to him. Somehow.'

He shook his head, "I think both of us need rest." He certainly was a bit tired, and good nap and some food would be good. He began to stand up, pulling her up with him, "Why don't I tell you about some happier memories of my past while we get some food? I have some fun stories."

She nodded her head, happy Setsuna wasn't mad at her. She had a friend she could trust and rely on. 'And maybe more.' She was curious about the memory she saw, but she didn't want to push him right now. She would hate if someone tried to do the same with her. And some food sounded good. 'And learning how to block our minds from the outside sounds like a good idea to train.'

Vagabond's Bridge

After spending a good chunk of the day off the ship, Lyle was putting his feet up on a deactivated console, leaning back in the pilot chair. It had been nice to hang out and get some food at the market place. Scum and villainy were his people, his career before he joined the rebellion, and he was surprised the rebels allowed them to operate out of a port technically controlled by them. 'But then again, I wouldn't have won a thousand credits gambling.'

It was almost a good time, relaxing in the bridge of his ship, but that was ruined by Tieria working on one of the consoles to his right, going over the ship systems for the sixth time. He had no idea what Tieria had against him other than Lyle being in charge, but he was already getting sick of the glares he was getting. Turning his head towards the man, Lyle called out to him, "Tieria, can we talk about this glaring and arguing thing? It does not fill me with confidence that a member of my team doesn't seem to trust me. What the hell did I do to you?"

Tieria did not look up, his voice strangely even, "You want to know why?" Tieria's eyes were hard as he looked over at Lyle, adjusting his glasses, "Because I read your record. You regularly go beyond mission objectives, drawing more attention to yourself. Like in the last mission. Setsuna blew up the imperial equipment storage, when all he was asked to do was gather intel and leave."

Lyle looked at him, "So what if I went a little overboard? It's not like anyone got hurt. It was hurting the imperials regardless." He let out a breath, "And you act like I can control Setsuna fully. He has a pattern of doing his own little things on missions, so if you let him do that, you won't have issues."

Tieria became more riled up, "And that's another reason why. You would allow your subordinates to potentially go against the plan, risking all our lives." A good plan was one you followed to the letter, like his last commander said.

Lyle's ire began to grow, "What was your last team?"

Tieria gave him a confused look, "I was part of a multi-squad strike team."

Lyle nodded at that pointing between the two of them, "Do you see us with several squads? With a lot of reinforcements?" Tieria gave him a hard look, but shook his head, Lyle continuing with an annoyed tone, "We have exactly six people on this ship. And only four of us are really capable of combat. So we have to be flexible. We can't afford to take losses. Do you understand?"

Tieria nodded, "Yes, but just letting people go beyond their objectives is too far. Who knows if we can make it worse."

Lyle huffed, pursing his lips, "You may not be wrong, but yelling and insulting people over stuff like that won't help, especially with Setsuna." Lyle sent a pleading look at the purple-haired man, "Can I trust you to stay in control and follow my orders? And to trust my judgement?" A last thought came to his mind, "And the glaring needs to stop."

Tieria gave him a thoughtful look, before letting out a grunt, looking back to his console, "Fine. I can follow your orders. I am willing to give you a chance, but your judgement is still suspect." He looked back at Lyle, his eyes sharp, "And as far as I'm concerned, this is a temporary team. After a few months, I'll be off this team and on a new one. So don't expect me to bond with anyone."

Lyle rolled his eyes, "You know, a little team spirit wouldn't hurt. We are going to be living together for the next good chunk of time."

Tieria just scoffed, and Lyle realized that he wasn't going to get much more from the man. 'At least he'll stop glaring at me.' Tieria may be an experienced soldier, but he had a lot to learn. Granted Lyle wasn't the most comfortable leading a team, so he would try to work on himself. Hopefully Tieria was willing to give good advice.

Lyle leaned back in his chair again, closing his eyes. He would take advantage of the rest time he had now, because for a long while he really wouldn't have that. The only think that would make this better would be a woman in his bed, but he didn't want Christina to try to invite herself in again, even if she meant it as a joke.

He cracked his eye open and was surprised by the sight. Tieria was looking at him again, but this wasn't his normal glare or even look. It was the look of someone full of regret, like they are seeing a ghost of the past. Tieria's face had softened, a weak frown on his face. 'He looks so…normal.' This triggered intense curiosity in the Corellian, this new man under his command. 'What happened to him?'

But as quickly as it appeared, it was gone, Tieria back to his even look, focusing on the display in front of him, the system scan running again. But as Tieria started focusing again, one word went through his mind. 'Neil.'

Vagabond Equipment Room

A disassembled blaster rifle in front of him, Allelujah relaxed, muscle memory guiding him as he instinctively cleaning and worked on the weapon in front of him. It was well maintained, but Allelujah needed to do something with his hands, and this was as good as anything. He took a deep breath and looked around the room, taking stock of the weapons.

He glanced over the generic blasters and grenades, happy they had a backup pile of weapons. He had no doubt they would lose some over missions, and some of these weapons look collected from the battlefield, either for use or for parts. He never really preferred a specific weapon, generally wanting to be more adaptable on the battlefield if possible. 'Someone has to be.'

The more custom weapon storage was more interesting. He did admit it was certainly odd for Setsuna to use a sword, but he had never seen the Kiffar operate in combat, so he would have to wait. Most enemies he saw tended to prefer ranged, especially imperials, so Setsuna would have to be fast or quiet. It was a nice design, well balanced. It reminded him of one he would see an imperial officer would have, a fancy handle on the end. 'He must have taken it from someone.'

The next set he saw was certainly more substantial, the name Tieria above them. There were two main weapons in them, one a Z-6 Rotary Cannon, clearly modified. From a quick visual look, he could tell it probably ran hot, but no doubt hit hard. Tieria certainly didn't look like the most muscular guy, but for all he knows it could be hidden.

The other weapon was a rocket launcher, fairly basic but was very intimidating. Tieria certainly was their explosives expert, at least when it came to big weapons. 'Can't imagine those are super useful in a stealth mission. Also how does he manage to lift that.'

As he went back to tinkering, the door opened and Christina looked at the man hunched over the workbench, his eyes intently focused. She smiled, seeing for the first time the hetero-chromatic man relaxed and not on edge. She knocked on the wall, getting Allelujah's attention, "Hey there! Just wanted to see how you are settling in." She just smiled as she saw his eyes look at her chest, before looking away again, "It's ok if you want to look. I wouldn't wear this if I didn't want you to."

Allelujah just blushed, nervousness flooding back into him, "Sorry. I just didn't expect anyone to come in here."

The Zeltron took a few steps in the room, "I didn't want you to be alone. We need to be a team so I thought it would be a good idea to at least casually talk." She chuckled, "Though I don't think Lyle and Tieria are exactly having friendly conversations."

Allelujah turned his chair to face her, "I just find being alone with weapons…relaxing. People aren't my specialty."

"It might be a good time to try." She walked over to him, putting a hand on his shoulder, and Alle shivered, which she could feel was not a happy one. She immediately moved her hand off of him, "I'm sorry. I should have asked!"

Allelujah shook his head, getting his bearings, "It's alright. I'm just not used to people touching me outside of military situations, so no harm." Being alone for a few years had not done him any favors since the fall of the republic. The look on Christina's face after he shivered bothered him, a weight in his chest.

Christina, wanting to change the topic, looked at the weapon on the table, "You like guns?"

He shrugged, "I won't say I am a blaster nut. But I had to use a variety of weapons over the years, so I like to see how they tick." He started to put together the gun he had taken apart.

Christina laughed silently, "Seems like a smart idea. How alone were you before you joined the rebellion."

Allelujah stopped after he clicked a part back onto the gun, looking down at the table in front of him, his voice low, "Let's just say the imperials weren't a big fan of me. Had to jump from port to port. Once a rebel recruiter found me, I jumped at the chance."

"I'm sorry you had to go through that." Christina nodded and spoke softly, "You should give the crew a chance. Most of us probably don't have a fun history, so you might be able to relate to them."

Allelujah's voice was low, "No, not like me." His voice raised back up, a grateful tone in it, "Thank you for coming to talk to me. I just need a bit of time is all."

Christina nodded once again, "No problem." She sighed and smiled, "Feel free to talk to me if you have any issues. I am the closest thing on the ship to a therapist."

"I will." Christina left the room, worry going through her mind. There was a deep darkness and pain in this man, and she didn't know what to do. 'It's not your responsibility, no matter how much you want to help.' Maybe she could help out with Feldt and Setsuna. They might be more open to her help.

Alle was left in the room, the mood dropping. He hated that he was so standoffish, but it was hard to fight it. A glint of metal in a small satchel next to him caught his eye, reminding him why that was. He resisted the memories, not wanting to feel them again. 'I can't. Not now, not ever.'

A strange sensation crossed his mind, coming from the engine room. He narrowed his eyes, nostalgia filling his mind. 'There are two of them now. Interesting.'

Author Note

And that's chapter 4! We continue to progress and we see some bonding. Hopefully Tieria loosens up and of course we have Feldt and Setsuna cuteness. Thank you for reading and please review and comment!