Rogue Wolf
Location: Naboo - Parrlay
Time was a flat circle. The last time Ace had done this, he'd arrived unannounced and furious, ready to rip someone's head off. Now wasn't much different.
The circumstances had changed, obviously. Except last time, he'd come concerned for Sibylla. This time, his anger was directed squarely at the man who owned the fucking place, and somehow, that felt a little more righteous.
Shiraya's Sanctuary replayed through his mind in broken pieces. Especially Lorn. He could still feel Lorn's rage, see him descending on Her, and could still remember closing the distance and catching Lorn's wrist before another blow landed.
Funny. Ace had managed to keep his own head when everyone else's seemed to be falling off. He'd stayed focused because someone had to. Whatever else happened, whatever grievances waited until afterward, they needed to finish the mission and get the hell out.
Now the mission was finished and Ace was fucking furious. Because however many individual choices had been made inside Shiraya's Sanctuary, however much blame belonged to Lorn, Her, himself, or anyone else who had walked into that courtyard, Ace could trace the reason they'd been there at all back to one conversation.
Aurelian Veruna had found D'Qar and then he'd put it over their heads. That violation of agency alone would have been enough to drive him up the fucking wall. Everything that followed? Ala and Colette getting hurt. Lorn nearly losing himself. Freeing Her.
No. Veruna didn't get to sit comfortably in his ivory tower while everyone else dealt with the consequences of his decisions.
So while Lorn and the others made their way back toward D'Qar, Ace made what he would later, perhaps generously, describe as an impulsive decision. He stayed on Naboo, and Parrlay appeared beneath him in a blur as the small vessel screamed through the atmosphere. Technically, the ship wasn't his. Commandeer was probably the polite word for what he'd done.
The vessel came down hard enough to make the landing gear shriek against the pad before the ship finally lurched to a stop several meters beyond where any remotely sane pilot would've put it.
Ace was already climbing out before the canopy had fully opened. Royal security poured onto the landing pad ahead of him, weapons already raised. Someone shouted an order for him to stop. Another demanded that he place his hands where they could see them.
Ace's left hand twitched and every weapon left its owner's grasp at once. Blaster rifles and pistols ripped upward as startled hands closed around empty air. Ace flicked his fingers apart without breaking stride and the weapons dismantled themselves. Screws, plates, triggers and circuitry suspended briefly in the air before raining harmlessly across the landing pad.
Apparently, that wasn't enough. Several guards reached for secondary weapons. Others simply moved to intercept him physically.
The Force erupted outward and a repulse burst from Ace in every direction, throwing bodies backward and clearing the path ahead of him as Ace continued forward without so much as slowing.
His pulse thundered in his ears as the estate rose ahead. Ace had just walked out of a courtyard that resembled a small warzone, and here everything was immaculate. Peaceful. Sunlight washed over grounds like nothing terrible had happened anywhere in the galaxy. Like the man living here hadn't sent others to do his dirty work.
Ace could feel the anger building with every step. He'd spent enough time drowning in the dark side to recognize the sensation creeping beneath his skin. That seductive clarity. He knew he should have stopped, but somewhere beneath his own thoughts something whispered.
He's a threat.
Threats need to be removed.
You've killed for less.
He knew where this went, but the thought wasn't some spirit whispering into his ear. It was him. That was what made it worse. It didn't need to invent anything, just take what was already there and give it permission.
Veruna had threatened D'Qar. Lorn. Everyone who followed him there, who trusted that patch of jungle to keep them hidden. Safe. And he'd done it because he knew they couldn't afford to call his bluff.
Make sure he never abuses his power again.
For one ugly moment, Ace imagined doing exactly that. Wrapping the Force around Veruna's throat and squeezing until all that royal authority, all that confidence, all that fucking arrogance meant absolutely nothing.
Ace swallowed hard. No, he wasn't here to kill Aurelian. Ace reached the approach to the estate, dark eyes fixed ahead as his presence burned through the Force like a warning flare. He doubted he'd need to knock. The King would know he was here soon enough.
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