Private Rebel Path

[Resh]

Late Afternoon - New Plympto
Acier Moonbound ​

The planet of New Plympto has traded hands many times throughout galactic history. Though its era of economic dominance had long since faded, the native Nosaurians now found themselves walking a precarious geopolitical tightrope. New Plympto marked the edge of Imperial space; A recent regime change that began just as strained as it had with the Empire of old. The system remained flanked by Alliance holdouts on either side, still exerting pressure on the southern Core in hopes to reclaim what was lost.

Though the Empire dare not let itself be encircled by the Alliance entirely, their focus was undoubtedly given to more strategically critical worlds, and thus New Plympto became a hotspot for those hoping to find a way out of Imperial space before they manage to fortify the borders.

Resh had fought imperials of a different kind before, on Lazerian. It didn't go very well. But he was older now. More capable, or at least he hoped. Perhaps this time it would be different. As much as Resh feared what might happen, he resolved that the only way to help himself would be to help others. Others who might be even more afraid than him. Others who couldn't help themselves.

That had to be worth something, right?

---

Resh's mission started simple enough. All he had to do was escort a band of refugees to a rendezvous point with the Knight-Errant, a Jedi vessel that would extract them from New Plympto to more democratically-inclined territory. Imperial activity was supposed to be quiet in this corner of the world. They weren't supposed to meet any resistance.

But before Resh and the refugees had even left their encampment, a squadron of scouts had descended upon them. Military bikes and other hovercraft zoomed back and forth, corralling their targets like lambs to slaughter. A few of the more militant refugees tried to fight back; Even fewer managed to get off more than a shot or two. Resh drew his lightsaber with shaking hands, the indigo blade immediately drawing the attention of nearly every imperial scout present.

Thankfully for Resh, the imperials weren't the only ones keeping an eye on this encampment.

 

[Acier Moonbound]

Location: New Plympto

Equipment:
Training Jumpsuit | Lightsaber | Modified DL-27 | Tic

From the tree line, Ace had been watching. Hidden Path scouts had flagged Imperial movement near New Plympto, but he wasn't here on anyone's orders. The council would've said "observe, report, wait." Ace was tired of waiting, analyzing, being cautious. If he saw people about to get crushed, he wasn't going to sit on his hands.

Perched between his shoulders, Tic gave a low, anxious chirp, photoreceptor flickering as it leaned forward against his back plating. Ace smirked faintly, patting his little friend reassuringly.

The skeletal hilt slapped into his palm, the red ignition stud flaring. A pale-blue blade snapped to life, cutting a line through the late-afternoon haze.
He hit the slope in a rush, boots churning dirt, cloak snapping behind him. Blasterfire found him almost instantly, streaks lancing through the haze. His lightsaber worked hard, a blur of angled parries and tight deflections that forced him to twist and shift with every shot.

Ace didn't slow. He shouldered into the first scout, slamming the rider off his speeder before pivoting to cut the barrel off another trooper's rifle. A boot slammed into his hip, he staggered back, teeth bared, then came up swinging, lightsaber carving a wide arc that sent the next attacker reeling. On his back, Tic squealed and clamped down tighter as the fight pressed close.

It wasn't clean. It wasn't calculated. But that was the point, he thrived in the chaos, every heartbeat syncing with the clash around him.

Out of the corner of his eye, he caught some Pureblood. Lightsaber lit, hands trembling, holding ground between the refugees and the ring of Imperials. The unique thing about him though? He felt ancient in the Force, like... it clung to him, but didn't belong to him.

Unexpected. But it meant he wasn't the only one standing in the way.

Resh​

 

[Resh]

New Plympto
Acier Moonbound
​

A surging presence in the Force revealed itself to Resh before the lightsaber did. The owner of both rushed onto the scene with experienced efficiency. He knew what was happening, and he knew what to do about it. Already troopers were turning their focus to the clearly bigger threat, leaving Resh a moment to lag. He wished he had the sense to slap himself back into action, but he was stunned by the danger, and the fortuitous turn of fate that followed. It wasn't until the other Jedi looked his way that Resh seemed to re-inhabit his own body. The look on the stranger's face was difficult to parse. Resh had gotten plenty of looks from his peers, after all Sith Purebloods didn't exactly have a reputation as adherents of the Light. But this look didn't seem particularly distasteful, just... uncertain. Resh supposed he could live with that for a change.

The crescendoing whine of a speeder engine got Resh to turn around. The rider was charging toward Acier to intercept, coming just past Resh in the process. In an instance of quick thinking, Resh raised his lightsaber, and swung downward, cleaving through the front of the bike just as it zoomed by. The rest of the machine flipped forward, launching the scout several yards into the air and into a tree. The speeder tumbled, ignited, and blew up in a shower of sparks and flame, causing a few other troopers to go scrambling in the process. Resh couldn't help but grin. That went better than he thought it would.

 

[Acier Moonbound]

Location: New Plympto

Equipment:
Training Jumpsuit | Lightsaber | Modified DL-27 | Tic

The speeder's explosion lit the treeline, the shockwave snapping at Ace's white locs as he planted his boots hard against the dirt. He spared the Pureblood a glance, just enough to catch the grin tugging at his mouth after the strike.

Ace's own expression didn't mirror it. His eyes were sharp, more measuring than scowling. The Jedi wasn't useless, that much was clear., but the way the Force clung to him, heavy and old, kept Ace's gut uneasy.

Tic shifted on Ace's back, giving a sharp trill that snapped him forward again. More stormtroopers regrouped past the fireball, speeder bikes weaving into a staggered line to cut the refugees off.

Ace's eyes tracked one as it screamed past him. He lunged, lightsaber flashing out and the bike veered, clipping his shoulder hard enough to spin him half around. Gritting his teeth, he caught the edge of the chassis with his off-hand. The trooper shouted, jabbing an elbow back into his ribs. Ace answered by slamming his forehead into the man's bucket, dazing them both. But it was enough, he ripped the rider loose and dumped him hard into the dirt.

Clambering up was ugly, Tic screeched in panic as the bike bucked beneath them. Ace was able to wrestl into the seat, throttle under his hand.

The speeder screamed as he tore back toward the line, blaster bolts snapping at his flank. Ahead, the Imperials shifted formation, half their rifles swinging toward the Pureblood holding the refugees' line.

Ace cut across their path, blade raised high, and barked over the roar of the engines:

"Watch out!"

Resh​

 

[Resh]

New Plympto
Acier Moonbound ​

The scene had quickly spiraled into chaos. Resh's focused turned to regrouping the refugees in the few moments he could spare. Some had panicked and run, others could do little more than huddle in a meager attempt at self-preservation. Resh tried to-

"Watch out!"

Spinning around, he saw that the imperials had regrouped, most of them targeting him now. Resh felt fear plunge into his stomach, but swallowed the sensation and stood tall. What he saw in front of him brought flashbacks to Lazerian IV. The moment he nearly died. The moment he lost control...

Blaster bolts rang out. But the troopers hadn't fired yet. Resh glanced back once more to see some of the refugees fighting back again on his behalf. A few troopers fell to the ground. The rest took their turn. Determined to keep the others safe, Resh rushed between as many shots as he could, his lightsaber moving in precise, tight motions. Bolts were deflected without any rhyme or reason, simply flying skyward or hitting the dirt. It was all he could do to keep them from hitting the refugees. He made a sharp turn, and in the process, found himself struck in the upper leg. Resh fell onto a knee, unable to stop the next bolt, which hit one of the civilians.

Indignation flashed in his eyes. Anger, like that he'd felt back on Lazerian. But it wasn't for his own sake now. It was for those he was supposed to protect. This time, he kept that anger in control, redirecting it not in a wild surge of energy, but a precise counter attack. The padawan raised his hand, launching several of the imperials back with a telekinetic wave. Those who weren't knocked unconscious by the concussive force were left disoriented and reeling, giving Acier a useful advantage to exploit.

 

[Acier Moonbound]

Location: New Plympto

Equipment:
Training Jumpsuit | Lightsaber | Modified DL-27 | Tic

The shockwave of Resh’s push rippled through the line, scattering the stormtroopers. Helmets cracked against duracrete, rifles spun out of reach, formation broken.​

​

Ace didn’t waste the opening. He tore the throttle wide, the commandeered speeder howled as it surged straight into the staggered squad. Blasterfire snapped past him as his blade carved a bright arc across one trooper's in reach, the next clipped hard by the speeder’s nose before Ace kicked free of the saddle. The bike spun riderless into the fray and detonated against a line of troopers in a fireball.​

​

He hit the dirt hard, rolled with the impact, and came up low. His lightsaber snapped up just in time to catch a wild bolt, the parry carrying into a brutal backhand that dropped its shooter flat. Tic chattered on his back, shrill and excited, as Ace pressed forward into the chaos.​

​

And then he felt it. It rolled past him in the Force, shoving air and dirt in its wake. But it wasn’t just kinetic. It carried a sharp, simmering anger braided into the current itself. It struck him in the chest like more than wind, and for a heartbeat, he couldn’t tell if it was Resh’s fury or his own.​

​

His lungs clenched. Tessk’s face flickered - sparks, the smell of char, the lightsaber carving his chest because he hadn’t pulled back. Because in that moment, he didn't want to. Ace’s jaw locked as he forced a lungful of air through his teeth. Resh hadn’t lost control. Not yet. He’d bent that fury, channeled it into something tighter, sharper, and turned it outward.​

​

Ace barreled forward again, cutting down another trooper but more were pouring in, rifles leveled, forcing him to retreat a half-step. He felt the weight of numbers closing in, the strain building in his arms with every deflection. His gaze snapped toward Resh, lightsaber still lit, leg bleeding, but standing.​

​

"On me!" Ace barked, voice low but edged, as another volley slammed into his guard. A flicker of teeth, half-grimace, half-dare. "Or we're both dead."​

​

Resh ​

 

[Resh]

Resh was always impressed watching more experienced Jedi in action. Not just the power, but the control, the precision. It was what separated them from the Sith. There was restraint, but not out of weakness or fear. It was a mastery of oneself. Acier was a little different from most he'd seen. His attacks were ferocious and intense, but not untamed. That wasn't completely alien to Resh either; His best friend Eloise fought with similar vigor. And evidently, Resh had just done so himself.

"On me! Or we're both dead."

Resh pushed through his pain, leaping to meet Acier in the line of fire. He stumbled on the landing, but reignited his saber in time to deflect another close shot. "Okay!" He panted, "Do you have a plan?" He deflected a second shot, this time ricocheting it back at the shooter. Another thing the padawan had struggled to master in the past. Maybe he really was getting better.

Acier Moonbound​

 

[Acier Moonbound]

Location: New Plympto

Equipment:
Training Jumpsuit | Lightsaber | Modified DL-27 | Tic

Blasterfire lit the air as Resh dropped in beside him, their lightsabers flashing in tandem. Ace caught a bolt high, sparks spitting off his blade as another hissed past close enough to sear his skin. For a heartbeat, the two of them held the line together.

"Plan?" Ace's teeth flashed, a grin quick and humorless as he twisted another bolt down into the dirt. "Stay up. Hit what I don't."

Another volley shrieked in, forcing him to press close, shoulder to shoulder with Resh. Tic screeched on his back, claws digging as the droid ducked its head against the sparks showering over them.

One of the speeder bikes peeled off from the regroup, circling wide with its blaster cannon spooling up. Ace jerked his chin toward it without looking.

"That one's yours. Think you can handle it?"

The speeder's cannon whined higher, targeting reticle fixed on the cluster of refugees. Ace didn't wait to see if Resh answered. He stepped into the next line of fire, lightsaber blurring as he battered a volley down into the dirt, sparks spitting back against his arms.

"Move!" Ace barked at the refugees, jerking his shoulder to drive them further behind cover.

Another trooper lunged in, rifle half-raised, and Ace met him head-on. The clash was brutal and close, his lightsaber sheared through the stock as his free hand drove into the trooper's chestplate, slamming him flat to the ground. He barely had time to pivot before another squad filled the gap, rifles snapping into line.

The cannon's whine reached a pitch that made his teeth ache. Ace's eyes cut sideways toward Resh, chin tilted toward the encircling threat.

Now's your shot.

Resh ​

 

[Resh]

Resh gritted his teeth, and simply nodded. There was little time to deliberate; They needed to act. He kept his focus on the incoming blaster fire, the two Jedi forming a barrier of flashing light between the troopers and the refugees. But their enemy didn't wait long to reposition, and before long another speeder was attempting to harry them.

"That one's yours. Think you can handle it?"

The weight of responsibility was on Resh's shoulders. If he failed, it could be the death of many, or all of the innocents. So failing was not an option. That conviction lit a spark within Resh's soul, igniting his nerves and muscles with the will to do. There was no dallying. That was a weakness. Weakness would kill these people. Their deaths were failure.

Resh stared at the bike with some invisible purpose. He raised a hand, and clenched the fist. The engine of the machine exploded in another fireball, and the only thing that emerged from the wreckage was the rolling helmet of its driver. Resh seemed to snapped out of his fugue at the sight, and made himself turn away to see how Acier was faring.

Acier Moonbound​

 

[Acier Moonbound]

Location: New Plympto

Equipment:
Training Jumpsuit | Lightsaber | Modified DL-27 | Tic

Ace didn't need to look to know Resh had pulled it off, he felt it. The Force rippled with the Padawan's conviction, and the roar of the fireball painted his periphery in orange. The wrecked speeder tumbled into silence, the smell of scorched metal flooding the air.

He didn't have the luxury of stopping. Another squad pressed the gap, rifles snapping up. Ace batted the first volley wide, but the weight of fire was crushing, every shot hammering against his guard. A bolt seared across his side, ripping fabric and skin - he hissed, teeth bared, and rammed his boot into the chestplate of the nearest trooper, knocking him into his comrades.

For a heartbeat, Ace's eyes flicked sideways. He caught Resh watching him. Ace's breath was ragged, shoulders rolling with the strain, but there was a flash of something in his expression that wasn't all grim.

"Not bad." he growled, voice low between clenched teeth, before twisting back into the fight. "Now keep it up."

Ace twisted another bolt down into the dirt, but the weight of fire kept pressing in. They were holding, barely, and it was only going to get worse.

"They're sitting kriffing ducks here." Ace growled, voice cutting low between clenched teeth.

Another volley screamed in; he swatted two aside and let the third crack past his shoulder. He stepped into the gap, lightsaber flashing as he carved a path clear long enough to snap a glance toward the cluster of huddled civilians.

"Move!" he barked, jerking his chin toward the ridge where the brush thinned into open scrub. "Go. Now!"

The first few broke from cover, stumbling in the direction he'd pointed. Others followed, spurred by the command, but their pace was ragged and hesitant under the chaos of blasterfire. Ace pressed forward with them, keeping his blade up to swat aside the worst of it.

Tic shrilled sharply on his back as a cannon bolt slammed close enough to toss dirt across their faces. Ace staggered,, then rammed his guard high again, buying another step.

He jerked his chin at Resh, breath ragged. "Keep them moving!"

Another squad broke through the treeline, rifles snapping into line. Ace planted his boots and met the first volley head-on, holding the Imperials long enough for the civilians to break further into the open.

They weren't safe. Not yet. But the evacuation had started.

Resh​

 

[Resh]

Resh still hadn't screwed up. This was working. It was barely working, but working nonetheless. He buried his search for validation, committing himself to the cause until this fight was over. Acier was still holding the line, but for as long as they just stood here, it would only be a matter of time before things went downhill. He tried to get the refugees moving, and told Resh to do the same.

The boy nodded, running toward the civilians and blocking more stray blaster fire that came their way. As Resh himself was now furhter out of range from Imperial attacks, he took the opportunity to activate his commlink, "Gulo?" He said, referring to the pilot of the Jedi shuttle which would be picking up these people, "We've been found out by the Empire. They're hitting us hard. We need an emergency pickup."

Gulo grumbled on the other line, but confirmed. The Knight Errant would be heading over to meet them. With most of the refugees heading for cover, Resh broke off to intercept, "Keep them busy!" He called to Acier before disappearing in the treeline. With most of the imperials focused on the Jedi they could see, Resh closed the distance, emerging a minute later to attack the troopers up close, thus freeing up Acier and catching them out of their element.

Acier Moonbound​

 

[Acier Moonbound]

Location: New Plympto

Equipment:
Training Jumpsuit | Lightsaber | Modified DL-27 | Tic

Blasterfire thickened as the Imperials poured their weight at him alone. Every volley slammed into his guard, arms jolting with the strain, shoulders burning with each impact. His blade blurred in tight arcs, sparks spitting against his skin as bolts seared too close.

Tic screeched on his back as Ace planted his boots and shoved another shot wide. The refugees were moving, scrambling, but they were moving. That was what mattered.

Still, the line was breaking. His side throbbed where a glancing shot had scored him earlier, sweat stinging his eyes as he forced himself forward into the fire. Then it shifted. Troopers suddenly buckled sideways, their fire scattering as one after another was cut down from the flank. Resh burst from the treeline, lightsaber flashing, the Imperials caught between two fronts.

Ace's lips curled back, half-snarl, half-grin. He didn't waste the chance. Ace's lightsaber swept in a brutal arc, carving through the troopers that turned his way. He pressed hard into the chaos, letting Resh's strike fracture the line while he drove the break wide open.

The evacuation was in motion, but the Imperials weren't finished yet. Ace sucked in a breath, chest heaving. His side burned with every inhale, but the noise of battle was already giving way to something else - the shuffle of feet, the panicked cries of civilians pushing further toward safety.

He dragged his gaze up, catching sight of Resh in the churn of smoke and muzzle-flash. The Pureblood was still moving, lightsaber lit, driving the Imperials back with a ferocity that matched his own. Together, they'd cracked the line wide enough for the refugees to slip through.

Overhead, faint but growing, came the low hum of repulsors. The sound threaded through the smoke and panic, the evac shuttle was on its way. Ace turned back, cutting down the last trooper that staggered into range.

Resh​

 

[Resh]

Resh pushed himself to act on instinct. He couldn't stop and think, just act. Troopers in range were given a quick, simple cut. Maybe taking just a limb if they were lucky, others taking a plasma blade to their center mass. A few stray shots came the Palawan's way. Most missed, a few he deflected, and probably one hit him, but the adrenaline kept him from reacting. The troopers eventually began to crumble from the combined attacks of both Jedi. The evacuation shuttle came into view, getting ready to land in range of the escaping refugees. Before committing to boarding, the shuttle fired its front facing cannons, hitting one of the spare squadron of Imperials and leaving behind a shallow crater.

"Is... that it?" Resh said, looking around as the battlefield seemed to clear. Some of the remaining troops were finally cutting their losses and making an escape. Most of the others were dead, or incapacitated. Very quickly, Resh crumpled into a seated position, unable to put any more weight on his injured leg. He looked down, and saw another shot had pierced his waist, "That's not good, right?" The boy was in a bit of a daze. He had been hurt before, even shot before, but this one left him feeling a bit more woozy than most.

Acier Moonbound​

 

[Acier Moonbound]

Location: New Plympto

Equipment:
Training Jumpsuit | Lightsaber | Modified DL-27 | Tic

Ace's lightsaber stayed pointed up, his breathing was ragged and he was beginning to feel his injuries. But he needed to make sure they were gone before letting himself breathe. Once it was clear, and the Force was no longer screaming danger iat all of his senses and neurons, he finally lowered his blade, extinguishing it.

A deep exhale, followed by a hiss of pain, left his lips. Sweat ran into his eyes, and when he swiped it away he found his knuckles bloody too. Noticing this, Tic emitted a concerned warble.

The whine of engines overhead cut through the haze, and for the first time since the fight began, his jaw eased. The shuttle dropped low, front cannons chewing through the last knot of armor before banking in to land near the evacuees. Refugees broke into a ragged run, spurred on by the sight of salvation finally within reach.

Ace turned, catching sight of Resh slumping into the dirt, crimson spreading down his leg and waist. The kid's dazed voice carried just enough to reach him. The ashen haired rebel's eyes, normally hardened, conveyed a flicker of concern as he realized the young Jedi had taken a bad hit.

Clutching at his side, Ace staggered over to the boy. Kneeling beside him, he grabbed the Pureblood's arm and threw it over his shoulder before hoisting them both up to their feet.

"Come on. You need some medical attention." He muttered, Tic echoing the same sentiment as he scurried up to Ace's shoulder.

As he led them toward the shuttle ramp, his face slightly turned toward the Pureblood - dirt and ash smeared across his freckled features. His lips curled into a faint, pursed grin.

"Name's Acier. You did good out there. Probably would've been overwhelmed without you." Then his gaze flicked toward the refugees, some still boarding "And we would've lost a lot of them, too."

Resh ​

 

[Resh]

Resh blinked slowly, and looked up as the silhouette of his new ally overtook the beams of sunlight hanging low in the sky. He let Acier hoist him up, although the motion caused pain to surge through his side. The padawan exhaled hoarsely, but bore the sensation without complaint, "Yeah. I think you're right."

With the chaos over, the fellow Jedi saw it fit to make proper introductions, "Resh. Like the letter," He replied in turn. Acier's praise gave him a swell of pride, but the pureblood remained humble, "You kidding? We didn't even know you were going to be here. Without your backup, I don't know if we would have gotten anyone out alright."

"What are you doing out here anyway? You are a Jedi, right?"

Acier Moonbound​

 

[Acier Moonbound]

Location: New Plympto

Equipment:
Training Jumpsuit | Lightsaber | Modified DL-27 | Tic

Ace adjusted his grip under Resh's arm as they staggered toward the shuttle, every step sent fire through his own side. Tic clambered higher onto his shoulder, trilling low like a fretful heartbeat.

"Resh, huh?" Ace muttered, eyes forward, focus on the ramp through the haze.

The kid's words about backup pulled the faintest twitch of a grin from him, though it didn't last long. "Wasn't actually authorized to be here. Glad I stuck with my gut though." His breath hissed as his ribs flared with pain.

Resh's next question cut through the noise, and Ace's gaze flicked sideways, dirt-streaked, sweat-soaked, freckles masked by ash. If Ace had a credit for every time someone assumed he was a Jedi, he'd probably be able to retire to Coruscant... he wasn't about to call it the Imperial Center.

"Nah." His voice carried the faintest rasp of a laugh. His grip on Resh's arm firmed as he hauled them both another step closer. "I just wanna use what I've got to actually make a difference."

Ace hauled Resh forward, muscles screaming, until their boots hit durasteel. He half-dragged, half-lifted the boy inside, guiding him to one of the bulkhead benches before finally bracing his own shoulder against the wall. Tic hopped down to the deck, chittering anxiously as the ramp thudded shut.

Ace exhaled hard, chest rising and falling with the strain. For the first time, the noise of blasterfire was gone. His dark eyes flicked to Resh, scanning the kid's scarlet features. For a moment, he pondered asking what he was thinking before eventually deciding to come out with it.

"You a Pureblood? Never seen a Pureblood before. Let alone a Jedi one."

Resh ​

 

[Resh]

"You weren't?" Maybe a weird sticking point for Resh, but he always so used to playing by the rules. He felt like he was walking on eggshells among his fellow Jedi. One wrong move, and he'd be gone.

Which probably wasn't true— after all, he'd already screwed up once and not gotten expelled— but he wasn't going to take any chances of his own free will.

Hearing that Acier wasn't a Jedi surprised him even more. He had the skills of a Jedi, the lightsaber of a Jedi, but he didn't consider himself an adherent. The galaxy was just full of nuances that made Resh all the more confused.

With a final surge of effort, the two of them made it aboard the ship. Some of the refugees were already celebrating their escape, reuniting with loved ones now that the chaos was behind them. The pilot was trying to get people sorted so he could take off, while a medical droid was already going around checking for anyone who needs help. Resh tried to wave the machine over, and caught Acier looking at him in the moment. The look already told him everything. Resh had seen it a hundred times before.

"I get that a lot." He answered quickly, "Usually the person asking has more of a sneer on their face, though." The pureblood smirked, finding a rare sense of levity regarding his condition. It helped that Ace hadn't reacted with an icy attitude. "I wasn't always a Jedi. Probably never would have been, if I hadn't been rescued. It's a long story."

Acier Moonbound​

 

[Acier Moonbound]

Location: New Plympto

Equipment:
Training Jumpsuit | Lightsaber | Modified DL-27 | Tic

Ace leaned back against the bulkhead, one hand still clamped over his ribs. The ache was deep now that the adrenaline had burned off, every breath a reminder. Tic hopped down to the deck plates, warbling low as he fussed with his boots like he could do something about the wound.

Resh's quick reply drew his eyes back. The kid's smirk wasn't what Ace expected, not with blood still soaking his robes, but he respected it.

"Yeah." Ace said, voice low, rough with fatigue. "Figure you've had your share of stares." His gaze lingered for a moment, not with judgment, just steady curiosity. "Don't care what you are or where you're from. Only thing that matters is if you stand your ground when it counts."

Ace reflected on his own background - a Sith Lord father, Dathomiri mother. The Final Weave. Even if he didn't have all that baggage, his background as a street rat from Bonadan would've earned him a few sideways looks too. So, the ashen-haired rebel all but sympathised with Resh's struggles.

The Pureblood's admission - of not always having been a Jedi - it tugged a faint grin out of him. Tired, but knowing.

"Same." Ace muttered. "Didn't grow up with robes and Masters breathing down my neck... and my training was less than traditional." His shoulders rolled against the wall, eyes half-lidding for a moment as the shuttle rumbled under their feet. "'S why I don't buy into the whole title thing. Jedi, not Jedi. Doesn't matter to me. What you do's what sticks."

His shoulders rolled against the wall, eyes tracking the droid as it finally angled their way, metal digits already prodding for injuries. Ace shoved its arm aside with a grunt and jerked his chin toward Resh. He needed attention more than Ace right now.

The droid whirred in acknowledgment and shifted to the Pureblood's side. Ace exhaled, then let himself sink down onto the deck beside Resh, back pressed to the bulkhead. Then, a sidelong glance.

"Long story? We've got time. And nothing else to do."

Resh ​

 

[Resh]

"Well, thanks," Resh muttered. By now the medical droid had approached, multitasking triage for the both of them. It started a bioscan, then poked and prodded for evaluation.

Ace's views on actions over affiliations made sense in theory, but Resh was nonetheless surprised by it. The people around him often seemed obsessed with titles. The cult was very black and white, you were either one of them, or you weren't. Even when it came to the Jedi, Resh knew the only reason he was allowed to be who he was and do what he did, was because he could call himself a member. If it weren't for that, he'd probably subject to even more suspicion. But Resh liked the idea of a world where that didn't matter.

"Long story? We've got time. And nothing else to do."

Resh winced as the droid jabbed a mechanical appendage at one of his injuries, eyeing it with dissatisfaction for a moment before continuing, "Yeah, I guess you're right. Well…" He adjusted in his seat, letting the droid spray on some bacta as he composed his thoughts, "I'm a clone. I was one of a whole bunch of clones created from the DNA of an ancient Sith Lord. There was this group, deep underground on Coruscant, that wanted to bring him back. We were how they planned to do that."

"For a long time I thought I was the one and only. They revered me like a… a god, almost. Sought to make me the successor to the name. But when it became clear that I wasn't cut out to be who they wanted me to be, I was expendable. I found out they had a whole lab full of test tubes just waiting to grow a new me. I guess all the ones that came before were failures too, for some reason or another." There were at least 23 before him. They were named alphabetically. Hence 'Resh'.

"I learned all this when a group of Jedi tracked the cult down. They dismantled the whole thing, but spared me to come along. So I've been a Jedi ever since. They gave me a new path forward. The things the cult did, what they asked of me… I never wanted any of it."

Acier Moonbound​

 

[Acier Moonbound]

Location: New Plympto

Equipment:
Training Jumpsuit | Lightsaber | Modified DL-27 | Tic

Ace let the droid fuss with Resh's wounds, his own side screaming every time he breathed too deep. He stayed quiet, listening as the kid laid it all out. Clone of a Sith Lord. Raised like a god until he was called a failure and replaced. The words landed heavier than Resh could've known.​

​

"It became clear that I wasn't cut out to be who they wanted me to be"

​

Ace's jaw tightened. His mind flickered back to his mother's journal, the one he'd read cover to cover in stolen silence. The prophecy of a daughter. A Final Weave not meant to be him. Orryn writing of the moment he was born, and how her clan turned on them instantly, ready to kill him before he could take a breath. Not because of what he'd done, but because he wasn't what the prophecy had promised. He hadn't lived it, but the words were enough. They weighed on him the way memory did.​

​

His ribs burned as he shifted, forcing himself back into the present. Resh was still talking, voice thin but steady. Ace sensed that this was something that weighed on Resh still. Something that made the Padawan question his identity, his nature. He let the silence stretch a moment before answering.​

​

"You didn't choose any of that. Being made. Being used. Being called a failure." His gaze cut to the Pureblood, steady and unflinching. "That's on them. Not you."​

​

The droid's instrument jabbed at his ribs, and a pained hiss forced through his lips. But he never looked away from Resh.​

​

"Not asking for the hand you're dealt in life? I get it more than you think."​

​

He ignored the medical droid, as it tended to the blaster burn at his side - masking it with a bacta patch. For a moment he just sat there, eyes on the boy, the shuttle's engines humming underfoot. Then a faint, tired grin pulled at his mouth.​

​

"Way I see it? If you'd been who they wanted, those refugees would be dead. Me too, probably."​

​

Ace leaned back against the bulkhead, shoulder brushing Resh's. Tic scrambled into his lap with a chirp, curling in against the grime and blood.​

​

"Long story or not… sounds like you already made the only choice that matters."​

​

Resh ​