Private Sommer’s End Pt. 3-4

[Sommer Dai]

"Eyes in the Jump"

Location: G9 Freighter "Dusk Nocturne," Launch Bay Airlock – Moments Before Jump to Hyperspace

The hum of the Dusk Nocturne's engines was oddly soothing. Even with Zori Galea locked deep in the secure chamber, even with the weight of a galaxy riding on their choice, there was something about being in the stars again that let Alyssa breathe.


Sommer stood at the cockpit, arms folded, visor reflecting the stars outside.

 

[Kaelon Virex]

Kael was finishing the navcalc check, tapping coordinates into the terminal.

 

[Arq*]

Arq was already seated, decrypting background surveillance—just in case any trackers had been tagged onto the freighter during the Veil exfil.

 

[Alyssa Kydd]

Everything was going… smoothly.

And that's what bothered Alyssa.

Her fingers twitched.

Her neck prickled like someone had traced a line of ice down her spine.

She stood just inside the airlock corridor near the secured cell, her eyes narrowing toward nothing in particular.

A hum.

Then a low vibration at the edge of her hearing.

Not from the ship.

Not from tech.

 

[Sommer Dai]

"Alyssa?"

It was Sommer. Concerned.

 

[Alyssa Kydd]

She turned. "Something's off."

 

[Kaelon Virex]

Kael, half annoyed and half concerned, glanced over. "Be more specific. We've got a Sith Empress in the cargo hold."

 

[Alyssa Kydd]

Alyssa ignored him.

Her eyes darted to the viewports. Out there, beyond the grav-sheath of Nar Shaddaa… a ripple. Just once. Like a shimmer of water.

No… not water. Pressure.

She turned to Sommer, voice lower.

"We're being watched. Or followed. Something's tethered to this ship."

 

[Sommer Dai]

Sommer stepped forward. "You think it's Zori?"

 

[Alyssa Kydd]

"No." Alyssa's voice trembled slightly. "This isn't her. It's colder. Older."

 

[Arq*]

Arq immediately keyed in a scan for gravitic anomalies in the starfield.

"There's a shadow echo on our tail. No signature. No drive flare. Not even displacement wake."

 

[Kaelon Virex]

Kael frowned. "Ghost ship?"

 

[Arq*]

"Worse," Arq muttered. "A ghost… signal."

From belowdecks, a loud thud rang through the bulkheads.

Not near Zori's cell.

Near the aft cargo bay. The one they thought was empty.

 

[Sommer Dai]

"Who else was in the hangar?" Sommer asked sharply.

 

[Alyssa Kydd]

Alyssa didn't wait for a command. She unholstered her small punch-packer blaster and took point, stalking toward the rear corridor. The air grew colder the closer she got.

Every step hummed with unnatural resistance.

Then— static.

Her ears buzzed.

A whisper not heard, but felt.

"You can't cage flame… without fuel."

Alyssa's hand froze on the door panel. Her pupils dilated.

 

[Sommer Dai]

Sommer's voice called behind her, now right beside her. "Alyssa—?"

 

[Alyssa Kydd]

The lights flickered. Then surged back.

And for a brief second—visible only to Alyssa—a face flickered across the glass of the viewport. White eyes. Split smile. A crown of jagged shadow.

Gone.

"It's… not Zori," Alyssa said, backing away. "It's Azis. He's not sleeping anymore."

 

[Sommer Dai]

And in the cockpit, the navcomputer locked in the jump path.

"Hyperspace jump in 5… 4… 3…"

Sommer turned to her cousin. "Kael—cut the jump."

 

[Kaelon Virex]

But Kael just stared at the screen.

"It's... It's not letting me cancel."

The ship lurched.

They were pulled into the stars.

With something ancient tethered to their wake.

 

[Arcubis Kornelius]

Location: Sarn Volath, Temple Cradle of Azis – Outer Spiral Rim


Arcubis stood beneath the glowing altar once more.

The whispers in the walls had turned to chants. The violet flame, normally still and contained, now danced erratically in the air like it recognized its prey had taken flight.

"And so it begins."

His voice was quiet. Reverent.

The High Priest of Azis stood to his left, hands clasped, head bowed as if in prayer. But even behind the mask, Arcubis could sense his smile.

"You feel it?" the Priest asked.

Arcubis's eye implants flickered with lines of real-time code. Star maps. Trajectory diagnostics. Pulse wave analysis from a dozen untraceable satellites hidden across the Mid and Outer Rims.

At the center of them all—the link.

"Sommer Dai has entered the corridor," Arcubis confirmed. "With the One beside her."

The Priest raised his chin slightly.

"She who breathes flame and She who rides the tide. You once doubted their significance."

"I doubted Zori's ability to see it through," Arcubis said flatly. "But fate doesn't wait for perfect champions. It only requires motion. And now… they run."

"Azis is pleased," the Priest whispered.

The ground rumbled beneath them.

A giant eye-shaped glyph on the temple wall flared to life — horizontal and narrow, as if opening after a long sleep. Liquid obsidian leaked from the base of the altar into carved runes on the floor. They pulsed in concentric circles, reaching to the edge of the chamber like black veins.

"So," Arcubis said, "what do you see in their path?"

The Priest stepped forward. The fire cast him as a towering silhouette on the chamber wall.

"I see illusion. I see the old gods burning. I see crowns of flame… made not for rulers… but for sacrifices."

Arcubis's gaze didn't waver.

"Then let her burn."