Junction Spilled Bacta | SO & HR & SC Junction of Janara III, Teyr, Empty Hex

[Sibylla Abrantes]

​

Quinn Varanin Aurelian Veruna

So, it is the King.

Of all the timing the Gods could have chosen.

The thought struck Sibylla with an almost incredulous rush of conflicting emotion. Relief at seeing Aurelian and Elian alive collided with the shock and alarm of seeing them there, all of it swallowed almost immediately by the adrenaline of simply trying to survive the chaos and horror surrounding them.

Honestly, she was certain her blood pressure was not going to be able to take any more when Aurelian had called out and held his blaster rifle at Quinn. Thank goodness he lowered his weapon, because otherwise Sibylla was certain things could have ended terribly -- and in the wake of seeing the horrifying power the Force could be used for, a fear of Quinn still lingered.

She could no longer hide what she knew about the Queen of Eshan, and no one could misinterpret what she was capable of doing. There was no wiping the image of what Quinn had been yanking out of what remained of those infected with the blight. The fear of that being done to Aurelian, Elian, and the Abrantes' forces was very real in that moment.

Thank Shiraya that didn't actually happen.

The thundering of her heart seemed to echo in the shells of her ears as Quinn tossed an item toward her, prompting Sibylla to lift her empty hand to catch the small device, her fingers closing around it as Quinn explained what it would do. For a moment, she recalled what Quinn had done on Moorja, where the blonde had also given her a way to pass through the Sith blockade. One chance to get beyond the fleet without being fired upon.

The brunette stared down at the disc, then up at Quinn again.

Even now. Even after everything they had said to one another Quinn was still making certain she could get home. In the next second, she tightened her curled her fingers around it.

"Thank you." There was nothing else to say-- not about the blockade, or the order Quinn refused to rescind, or the thousands of lives caught somewhere between them.

Certainly not about whatever madness had possessed Aurelian to point a rifle at a Sith Dark Councilor surrounded by warbeasts and apparently decide that today was an excellent day to test whether she could kill him faster than he could pull a trigger.

That particular conversation could wait. Then Sibylla heard Quinn's quiet words:

"I tried."

Sibylla drew still. Then came Quinn's admission that she had wanted to be good and stand in the light, had thought that if she had chosen differently enough times she just might not be the monster or the villian and be someone else.

Perhaps in another lifetime.

And despite it all, an ache bloomed within Sibylla's chest. Because in that instant she saw how Ace had wanted that too. Had struggled with it.

And perhaps the cruelest part of it all, because Sibylla believed her.

"I know." Sibylla softly replied, holding Quinn's gaze for another heartbeat.

"I know you did." But that did not absolve her. It did not make the extermination order disappear or return the dead to life, nor did it cleanse the bacta, rebuild the factories, undo the bombardment, or restore whatever remained of Thyferra beneath the smoke. And while Quinn might not have caused all of those actions, she had made the extermination order clear.

Understanding someone did not mean simply accepting everything they chose -- it was a lesson Sibylla was learning all too painfully well.

Part of her wanted to say something, but nothing came. Perhaps nothing should. They were already in a chaotic scenario and the sound of distant blaster fire and klaxons reminded them they were in an active battlefield. So instead, Sibylla merely inclined her head.

"Goodbye, Quinn."

Then she watched her go, the warbeast carrying the Echani through smoke and ruin until metal, ash, and distance swallowed her from sight.

Only then did Sibylla turn and, for a second her breath caught. There Aurelian stood, his armor scored and bloody, tangled, sweaty locks of hair sticking to his face, but alive. And for the first time since the sky over Thyferra had begun to burn, Sibylla felt the tears prick her eyes, and in the next instant, she crossed the distance between them.

And everything she had been holding together finally cracked as she stepped into him.

Arms wrapped around Aurelian, her grimy face disappearing against scorched armor as a shuddering breath escaped her. She did not care about the Kingsguard watching. She did not care about the Abrantes security detail, the smoke, the blood smeared across her clothes, or whatever remained of the careful appearance she had arrived on Thyferra wearing.

He was here, and they were alive. There wasn't any time for anything more.

Behind Aurelian stood those who had followed their King through hell to find her. Behind Sibylla, somewhere beyond the smoke, Quinn was returning to hers.

You have to look out for yours, and I have to look out for mine.

Perhaps those words would haunt Sibylla later but for now they were frighteningly simple -- they had to survive.

Another impact shook the plaza hard enough to send debris raining from the shattered buildings around them. So Sibylla tightened her grip on Aurelian's hand and cast her toward the smoke choked sky.

"Come on."

She pulled Aurelian with her toward the others.

"We are getting our people out of here."

~ Exit Thread ~​

 

[Darth Carnifex]

"That is her mercy, Madame Chancellor. Did you not see the restraint with which we conducted ourselves?" The Dark Lord laughed, a rumbling chuckle like the sound of rolling thunder. "My Empress is a woman of great compassion and understanding, she so loathes to see any harm befall those undeserving of it. The fires which consume Thyferra bring her to tears at the sight of them. But she holds no delusions, Madame Chancellor. She understands what must be sacrificed to bring about a future in which her children can thrive and prosper."

New targeting data flashed across the Axiom's systems, the heavy long-range turbolasers pivoting to acquire the proper firing vectors. An urban center that had not yet received the brunt of the Sith's assault, mercifully spared the worst of the horrors now ravaging the planet's surface. Some evacuation had been conducted, but with the presence of Sith air superiority over Thyferra's skies that hope had been quickly dashed.

"There exists not a world in this life or the next where a mother such as her wouldn't do anything for her children, nor the lengths she would go to secure their future. I respect you, Dominique, and I have told the Empress as much. It is still a regrettable pity that it has come to this."

He didn't even have to articulate the order, His will was felt regardless. The long-range turbolasers of the Axioms fired in coordinated volleys, long streams of tightly collimated bolts of plasma streaking down through the upper atmosphere, bathing the landscape in a harsh green luminescence. Then the first spear of energy struck the city center mass, and both the buildings and the ground beneath them bowed, buckled, and then erupted. The fires of the first impact had barely been born when the second lance struck, and then the third, followed by well over a dozen more.

The eruptions of flame and earth could be seen even from space, bright flashes wreathed by cloud cover that boiled and flashed away into vapor. From the surface near the destruction, it appeared as though the entire horizon had been lit aflame. The Axioms had only fired for a few seconds, but even that was enough to erase something as large and as sprawling as a city. When their cannons fell silent, they began pivoting towards a new target, but held their fire.

Darth Carnifex understood that Lady Raaf would understandable be wroth with Him, and He would permit her rage against Him. He stroked the feathers of her familiar in His grasp before releasing it and letting it flutter away, His arms coming to rest across His lap. "Now it is your turn, Madame Chancellor. Violence is the only language the two of us understand, after all. Who in the Republic would believe such a tale as the Chancellor herself helping lay waste to a world once under her protection. It is clearly a Sith fabrication, yes? I will even keep this secret, it will be mine own to enjoy."

Dominique Vexx | Chasianna ​

 

[Rin Taal]

The answer came through the dyad not as an address, but as something Rin understood far better than one. A route unfolded through her awareness, carrying the shape of streets she had never walked, turns around hazards she could not see, and the path Muad believed remained open between the edge of the city and the people waiting for them. For someone who had spent much of her life finding roads where other people saw wilderness, it was enough.

Then came the rest.

So, how about we swap our roles? You follow the route to the survivors; I follow you. We all get out of here. Then we get off this planet.

Relief came first, sudden enough that Rin closed her eyes for half a heartbeat as the transport carried her deeper into the ruined city. Not because she believed they were safe. Nothing around them allowed for that particular delusion. Smoke obscured portions of the skyline, distant fires painted an ugly glow against the haze, and every unfamiliar sound carried the possibility of something waiting around the next corner. Yet beneath it all was the simple promise in Muad's plan. They were leaving together. After the terrible absence when the Force had vanished and taken every trace of him with it, Rin found she needed that possibility more than she cared to admit.

"Change of route," she told the driver, leaning forward as she translated the mental map Muad had given her into directions they could follow. "We're going directly to the survivors. I'll guide you in. Once they're aboard, we turn around and come straight back."

She kept one hand braced against the transport as it changed course, letting Muad's route settle into her memory. She watched each intersection as they approached, comparing what she saw against what he had sent and adjusting whenever fire, wreckage, or movement made the obvious road the wrong one. This was familiar territory in an unfamiliar place. The circumstances might be spectacularly worse than most, but finding people and bringing them home was something Rin had been doing for more than a century.

Less familiar was carrying someone she loved somewhere inside herself while doing it. Muad remained present through the dyad, a confluence of familiarity and motion beneath everything else she sensed, close enough to soothe the most primitive edge of her fear without quieting it entirely. She wanted to reach farther, to find his eyes through the bond and discover what surrounded him, but resisted. Trust was sometimes harder than action. She could race toward danger without hesitation; allowing someone she loved to face his own while she went the opposite direction required something different of her.

That works. I'll get them. You find me.

A small smile touched her mouth, fragile and terribly fond. Somewhere in this ruined city, Muad was apparently doing whatever impossible thing had made sending her toward the survivors safer than sending her toward him, while expecting to simply track her down afterward. There would be questions when they were aboard a ship, and Thyferra was behind them. Probably several. For now, Rin could live with not knowing.

The route narrowed as they drove farther in. Smoke crawled between the buildings, carrying the acrid stink of burning material through the transport whenever the ventilation struggled to filter it. A susurrus of distant destruction seemed to follow them through the streets: collapsing structures, weapons fire, alarms still crying warnings to people who had long since fled. Rin leaned forward as the next turn emerged through the haze, golden eyes searching until she finally caught movement ahead.

"There."

The word escaped with more relief than she intended.

People were waiting near the destination Muad had given her, frightened figures clustered together amid the devastation. Seeing them transformed the destination from a point in Muad's mental map into something painfully real. These were the lives he had been protecting while she wondered where he was. Whatever vestigial wish Rin had carried to abandon everything else and simply find him softened beneath the sight of them. Of course he had made them her destination while he went elsewhere.

The transport had barely stopped before Rin was out.

"We're your ride!" she called, moving toward the waiting survivors rather than expecting frightened people to immediately trust an unfamiliar vehicle emerging from the smoke. Her hands stayed visible and empty, her expression steady despite the worry still wound tight inside her. "Muad sent me. We're getting you out of here. Anyone who can't move on their own goes first. Stay together, and don't leave anyone behind."

Then she was among them, helping wherever hands were needed. She steadied one person toward the transport, reached for another, and kept counting as bodies disappeared through the open doors. Each one aboard loosened something inside her, bit by bit. These people were alive. Muad had gotten them this far, and now Rin could carry them the rest of the way.

All the while, some quiet part of her remained turned toward the dyad. She could feel him. That mattered more than she could put into words.

Once the last of the survivors was aboard, Rin climbed in after them and caught herself against the frame as the transport prepared to move. Her gaze swept across the frightened faces packed inside before drifting toward the smoke-filled streets beyond the open door. Somewhere out there, Muad was following the same invisible thread that had guided her here.

The thought warmed the fear rather than replacing it.

Found them. We're loaded and heading back. Her fingers tightened briefly around the frame before she added, softer through the bond, I'll keep the door open for you, darlin'. Just make sure you catch up.

Muad Dib