Private Unseen Cargo

[Acier Moonbound]

Location: Flickerfox

Equipment:
Training Jumpsuit | Lightsaber | Modified DL-27

The cockpit was quiet. Outside, stars streaked like silver veins across the dark a hyperspace corridor. Ace sat with one boot kicked up on the control panel, his body relaxed but his eyes tracking the nav readouts. They were only a few minutes out.​

​

He could feel it again. It was like a quiet ache in your bones before a storm hit. The Force was stirring for some reason. Ace wondered to himself, was this more than just a simple cargo interception?​

​

He'd volunteered the Flickerfox for this mission and, in turn, himself. The fresh rebel figured he'd may as well put her through her paces. Show the Hidden Path he wasn't just a lightsaber. Signal scrambler, blackout stealth plating, fast too - she was perfect for an assingment like this.​

​

Aris Noble was to accompany him on this, or maybe, Ace was accompanying Aris. He wasn't sure. Either way, they'd worked together once back during that weird business with the Forge, and a few times after - Hidden Path stuff. Aris was a decent person from the short time they'd spent together. Although, neither had really spoken much. Still, he was Valery Noble 's kid and they survived the Forge together, so Ace trusted the now crimson-haired Jedi Knight to keep him alive. And, he'd do the same for Aris.​

​

"Got the manifest again." he said, tapping the screen beside him. "Still blank. Ship ID checks out Imperial, but whatever's onboard? It's not logged. Either it's contraband… or classified."​

​

His gaze drifted toward the viewport, just in time to watch the flicker of realspace bleeding through the corridor. It was almost time.​

 

[Aris Noble]

"Imperials don't do contraband, so classified it is." Aris settled down in a seat beside Acier, hands noticeably in his lap. Away from the controls. As much as Zaiya Ceti had taught him, he still wasn't good with actually piloting himself. Last thing they needed right now was to crash, especially considering their mission.

Find whatever it was the Imperials felt they needed to keep off the books and bring it back to the Rebellion.

"We'll have to hit it hard and fast so they can't get any reinforcements. Think your ship can handle it?

Acier Moonbound

 

[Acier Moonbound]

Location: Flickerfox

Equipment:
Training Jumpsuit | Lightsaber | Modified DL-27

Ace snorted, a faint smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth.

"She can handle it." he said, giving the console an affectionate pat.

He sat up straighter and dropped his foot from the dash as the nav readout ticked down the final seconds. Ace's expression hardened into a stony focus. Then, he glanced sideways at the giant sitting next to him: For a stealth mission, Aris was a unique person to have by your side. Guy stuck out like a sore thumb, red hair and tall as all hell.

The viewport shimmered, stars slowing, elongating, folding into stillness. Realspace. Ace's fingers flew across the controls. The stars snapped into place.

The moment they dropped out of hyperspace, the target lit up on sensors. It was a mid-sized Imperial freighter, drifting like a dead thing with no escorts. No patrol routes either. Just a big, silent box gliding through the dark. Ace adjusted the Flickerfox's trajectory, angling for a low sweep beneath the freighter's hull.

Ace activated the ship's stealth plating, flicking the switch on the console. The ship's lights dimmed. Outside, the hum of the shields died, replaced by a soft vibration through the floor - the telltale draw of blackout mode draining the auxiliary core.

"Signal scrambler's live too. We're totally invisible."

Ace guided the Flickerfox in close, flipping on the external camera feed as they approached the freighter's underbelly. His eyes gravitated toward the monitor, what was displayed was a faded maintenance hatch nestled between coolant ducts.

"There." he pointed, tapping the monitor "Weak point."

He keyed in the docking protocol. The Flickerfox gave a low thud as magnetic clamps engaged. There was no pressurized link-up, just hull-on-hull and a sealed crawlspace.

Ace stood, grabbing the breaching pack from a floor locker, and made his way toward the hold. He dropped the hatch and stepped into the crawlspace, the chill of exposed metal settling into his bones. He paused at the hull, set the charge, and looked once to Aris above.

"Ready, Red?" he said.

Then he blew the panel. The charge cracked outward with a clean, muffled explosion, cutting a neat ring into the freighter's underside. Ace slipped in first. His boots hit the floor of the cargo bay with a dull thud. It was cold and dim inside. Crates stacked in tall rows. As far as Ace knew, the ship's crew were still none the wiser.

The stir he felt in the Force earlier, it was denser now. He could feel... distress? But it wasn't his, or even Aris's. It was as if the air, the atmosphere, was in distress. Without a word, he moved forward.

Aris Noble​

 

[Aris Noble]

"I trust your word on it."

Aris didn't know enough about stealth ships or the like to know what was and wasn't good. In a way, his life was in Acier's hands. If something went wrong, there wasn't much he'd be able to do to help the other. He tilted his head curiously as he heard the hum of the shields fade and the buzz of something else. Stealthed.

Interesting.

He looked over the screen, nodding as Acier pointed out the weak point. Then he followed, right into the crawlspace. Kind of. Given his size, he mostly waited for Acier to blow open the door for them both to enter. He gave a nod, and the moment the explosive went off he followed in. On the other ship he was already looking around, listening for heartbeats as he always did.

He didn't need to really be stealthy if he could just hear where the others were.

And a heartbeat beating much faster than the others. Panic and fear. His brow knitted together as he glanced to Acier. Had he noticed too? He seemed to have noticed something b how quick he had started to move.

".. There's a patrol coming, just around the bend. Stay low, they're not alerted to anything."

Acier Moonbound

 

[Acier Moonbound]

Location: Imperial Transport

Equipment:
Training Jumpsuit | Lightsaber | Modified DL-27

Aris had alerted him that a patrol was nearing. His senses were already pulling in threads of something, stress, noise in the Force. But Aris sharpened it with certainty.​

​

He nodded once, wordless, then slid into cover beside a tall container marked with faded Imperial crate stamps. His breathing slowed but muscles tensed. Ace's hand hovered near his lightsaber, ready to draw if he needed.​

​

He listened keenly to the oncoming footsteps. They maintained a steady rythm - armored boots on durasteel. Their steps were heavy and measured, too measured to be techs or officers.​

​

"Three..." he murmured after a beat, listening. "Maybe four. Stormtroopers, for sure.."​

​

Well, this definitely upped things. If there were Stormtrooper patrols, it meant whatever they were transporting was important. Ace flicked his gaze to Aris, subtle and clear.​

​

"Should probably try not to kill anyone."​

​

He reached beneath jacket and unfastened his lightsaber from its holster, but didn't ignite it. Close quarters meant time for a stun wouldn't exist. Better to avoid detection altogether. Then he shifted to the edge of the crate silently.​

​

Ace kept low, his back pressed to the container wall. The troopers were close now, voices low, distorted through helmet filters, footsteps steady and unaware. The lead pair rounded the corner first - full armor, standard-issue blasters slung casual at the hip. Ace's fingers hovered near the switch of his lightsaber, but he didn't reach for it yet. It would draw too much attention. If Aris could end this quietly, he'd let him.​

​

He glanced across the crate stack, catching a glimpse of the towering redhead. Ace gave a slight nod signalling for him to go. Then he shifted just enough to cover the flank, in case anything went sideways.​

​

Aris Noble​

 

[Pari Sylune]

Location: Aboard the Imperial Ship - Locked in Brig


It was cruel luck that Pari had been on Coruscant during the Imperial invasion. She'd been deep in the Jedi Archives, carefully studying how to construct a lightsaber, completely unaware that everything was about to fall apart.

When the stormtroopers stormed the building, they found her clutching a lightsaber crystal worn as a necklace. It hadn't taken much for them to assume she was a Jedi initiate.

Worse still, the Jedi Master she'd been speaking to ( Valery Noble ) had left abruptly, their conversation unfinished. When the soldiers came, there was no one left to shield the young girl.

Now she sat alone in a cold, metallic cell aboard an Imperial transport. Her kyber crystal was gone, confiscated, like her freedom. Not that it had been of much use strung around her neck. She had just begun to grasp how to construct a lightsaber when the attack came. There had been no time to try.

So she waited.

With nothing else to do, Pari clung to memory, reciting every detail from the pages she'd studied. Not just to stay sharp, but to keep the rising tide of fear and despair at bay.

How long had she been here? What did they intend to do with her? Was her life in danger?

Questions spun in her mind, but she pushed them aside with disciplined calm. She sat cross-legged, eyes closed, mentally retracing every step of the lightsaber construction process. Word by word. Diagram by diagram. For the hundredth time.

Until.....

A ripple stirred the Force. Subtle but distinct. Her eyes fluttered open, the warm teak of her gaze sharpening.

Someone new had arrived.


Acier Moonbound Aris Noble

 

[Aris Noble]

Don't kill?

Aris gave a single nod as he palmed his own saber, idly holding the wooden and metal hilt in his hand. It made sense of course. They weren't here on an assassination, and leaving bodies was much more difficult to hide. His eyes did narrow though. The jumbled speak- Death Troopers. The elite were here? Something valuable, then.

Good.

Unfortunately for them, it was over in a flash. Aris stepped through them, the cold blue of his bade weaving through them in exposed gaps of their armor. It wasn't as brutal as it initially seemed, however. They all fell, one by one, into unconsciousness as Aris let his saber extinguish. The Entropite he used didn't cut, but rather knocked someone unconscious as if they'd been hit by a stun shot.

"There's more, on and off. They seem to be deeper in though, standing guard over- Someone. I hear another heartbeat that doesn't match their positions." An Imperial officer, by chance? Someone important enough to have Death Troopers?

Likely.

"Be careful. These people are trained to kill Jedi."

Acier Moonbound | Pari Sylune

 

[Acier Moonbound]

Location: Imperial Transport

Equipment:
Training Jumpsuit | Lightsaber | Modified DL-27

Ace blinked at the quick, clean and efficient way he'd dealt with the patrol. Not only that, he'd managed to do it non-lethally. Yeah, he'd said not to kill but... still, he was surprised. Impressed even.

"What was that?" he whispered, eyebrow raised.

He'd caught the look Aris gave - someone deeper in, heartbeat out of place. Not moving with the others. Contained. It pulled at something in the Force. A presence small but steady, coiled in on itself. Ace's gaze swept down the corridor, toward the deeper holds.

"Guess that's where we're headed then."

Ace took a step forward, assuming the lead. He halted upon hearing Aris's warning, the white-haired rebel looked back - glancing up at Aris. He flashed him a lopsided smirk. He'd dealt with things designed to kill Jedi before. He wasn't worried.

"Good thing I'm not a Jedi, huh?" he confidently retorted.

Ace's smirk faded as he turned back down the corridor. The deeper they went, the more the air changed. The hum of the freighter's engines became a low thrum underfoot, joined by the faint echo of armored boots somewhere ahead. The guards Aris had heard. And under that… there was something else. That same coiled presence. Closer now. Brighter.

The presence had led him straight to a sealed blast door at the end of the hall. The console beside it blinked in slow, deliberate intervals, the hiss of a heavy lock punctuating each pulse of light. Ace stopped just short of it, eyes narrowing slightly as he focused. Yeah… whatever was behind there, it wasn't a crate or a data core. It was a person and whoever they were, they were Force-sensitive.

He glanced up at Aris and whispered "They've got someone in there. You picking up on it, too?" His hand went to the slicer kit tucked inside his jacket. "I can open it… but once I do, we're committed."

Aris Noble Pari Sylune ​

 

[Pari Sylune]

Page two hundred and fifty-one… metals suitable for a lightsaber hilt.

Page two hundred and sixty… hilt designs and how to choose them.

Pari kept her eyes closed, sifting through memory as if she could see each page hovering before her mind's eye. Her breathing was calm, trained and measured from years with the Chalactan Adepts. But no matter how steady her breath, her heart refused to slow its pounding.

Something…no, someone…was drawing near. The closer the presence came, the sharper it became in the Force, until she realized there were two of them. One radiated power, the other a warmth that seemed to wrap around her like a blanket on a cold night. She was certain she had never met them, yet she felt an almost magnetic pull toward that gentler presence.

A muffled commotion broke out beyond the door, shattering her focus. The mental recitation of the library text slipped away like water through her fingers. She should have been afraid, there was every reason to be, but somehow she knew.

They were here to help.




Aris Noble Acier Moonbound

 

[Aris Noble]

"Entropite crystal. It absorbs energy, which knocks people out."

His father had helped him to make the one he currently had. He'd explain more when they weren't in danger, when they weren't still unsure on just who was here. His brow knitted together as they got closer to what turned out to be a jail cell. Someone was contained within. Prisoner, not official or important. They were transporting someone who the Empire didn't want known to exist.

"I'll deal with the guards, you get that door open."

It was much too late to turn back now. He couldn't ignore someone being in trouble. His skin flickered with red, heat. Determination flowed through him in a way that nearly had him bursting into flame. No more waiting, he was off in a full dash towards the guard, leaping right over them as his saber sprang to life. They were quick to react this time, letting surprise go as they pulled their rifles up and around to fire.

Scattergun. The buckshot hit Aris square in the chest, right before the soldier who'd fired fell from a slash of the same cold blade. Aris continued on, weaving through the remaining troopers, unharmed despite the shot to his chest.

These types of weapons couldn't hurt him.

"More are coming, be quick."

Acier Moonbound | Pari Sylune

 

[Acier Moonbound]

Location: Imperial Transport

Equipment:
Training Jumpsuit | Lightsaber | Modified DL-27

Aris didn't need to tell him twice. The second Aris hit the line of guards, Ace was already at the blast door, dropping to one knee beside the control panel. His kit was out in a heartbeat, fingers moving with the speed of long practice as the slicer's interface flickered to life.

Behind him, the sound of blaster fire and armored bodies hitting the deck echoed off the corridor walls. A grin tugged at his lips, Aris was really holding the line. He was almost envious of all the action he was getting.

A final command scrolled green across the slicer's display, and the console's blinking light froze before going dark. The lock had disengaged. Ace rose, one hand on the panel as the blast door began to split down the middle, its edges grinding apart.

"Got it." he confirmed, stepping back to give whoever was inside their first clear line of sight, and to give himself room if more Imperials came rushing in.

Ace's eyes swept the room in a single glance. There was nothing but a bunk bolted to durasteel, and a girl sitting cross-legged on the floor. She couldn't have been more than a teenager. Definitely not a smuggler. Definitely not Imperial. And that presence he'd been feeling, coiled but bright, was hers.

"You've got to be kidding me."

For a second, he just looked at her, piecing it together. How in all the galaxy had a kid ended up here? Then he stepped inside, but keeping his guard up.

"You're not what we expected to find in here." he said, voice steady but not unkind. "I'm Ace. Figure you could use a way out."

Ace stretched his arm out, offering the girl his hand.

Aris Noble Pari Sylune ​

 

[Pari Sylune]

The door creaked open, and a young man with striking white hair stepped inside. Pari felt it instantly, a strange, inexplicable pull, like déjà vu laced with familiarity. She was sure they'd never met before, yet something about him stirred a memory she didn't have. Her head tilted slightly as she tried to place the feeling, but his voice broke through her thoughts.

"You're not what we expected to find in here," he said, his tone calm, almost gentle. "Name's Ace. Figured you might need a way out."

She blinked, startled more by his presence than his words. What had they expected to find? Weapons? Treasure? Spices? The idea sent a chill down her spine, but oddly, fear didn't follow. Instead, she felt… safe. At ease in a way that defied logic.

"Hello, Ace," she said, her voice steadier than she expected. "You're right. I could use a way out of this predicament."



Aris Noble Acier Moonbound

 

[Aris Noble]

"It's more of a predicament than you might think. There's more incoming, and they're adapting." He could hear them coming down the hall, with different weaponry at the ready. They'd already learned from Aris's encounter just now to change their weapons? His expression tightened as he leveled his blade. If they broke out the more destructive weaponry, he wasn't sure how well he could protect the other two from it.

"If you can move, we should get back to the ship, now preferably."

Acier Moonbound | Pari Sylune

 

[Acier Moonbound]

Location: Imperial Transport

Equipment:
Training Jumpsuit | Lightsaber | Modified DL-27

Ace's gaze lingered on the girl for a moment. That presence he'd been sensing was sharper now, close enough to feel in the air between them. But there was something else woven into it… familiarity. The kind you couldn't fake. Like they'd met before in another life, or in some half-remembered dream. It made no sense, and the more he tried to pin it down, the further it slipped away.

Before he could think too hard on it, Aris's voice cut in. More were coming. Ace's eyes shifted to the corridor, he could hear the sound of boots approaching. Fast.

"Right." Ace turned to the girl and gestured for her to follow "Let's go."

He offered her a hand, not gentle, not rough, just firm. He pulled her up in one motion and headed toward the corridor. Ace allowed Aris to take the lead, remaining behind so the girl was positioned firmly between he and Aris. A set spilled into the far end of the corridor behind and blaster fire cracked through the air,

Ace's lightsaber snapped to life with a hiss, turning and batting a stray shot off to the side as he guided Pari ahead of him. The route back to the Flickerfox wasn't far, but the sound of pursuing boots was closing in fast. Ace's mind was already mapping the quickest, least-exposed path through the cargo bays.

"Two more bends!" he called to Aris over the noise. "Then we're home free!"

Aris Noble Pari Sylune

 

[Pari Sylune]

Soon, Ace had her hand and was guiding the young girl out of the cell. They barely made it three steps before a volley of blaster fire lit the corridor. Pari froze, shock locking her in place.

She had trained with the Chalactan Adepts, a people devoted to serenity and the stillness of mind, but she had never stood in the chaos of open war. Being caught on Coruscant was already bad enough; being thrust into the heart of battle was something else entirely.

It took every shred of willpower just to force her feet to follow the red-haired man urging them forward. She had no weapon, and even if she'd already built a lightsaber, she doubted she could wield it. The paralysis was like nothing she'd felt before. Her body felt carved from stone, each step an act of defiance against her own fear.


Acier Moonbound Aris Noble

 

[Aris Noble]

"Seszil."

Pari had frozen, which he didn't fully blame her for. No matter how much they were trained, being shot at was a terribly frightening thing. Aris and Acier were strangers still, she'd been captured, she was being shot at by trooper's who's whole purpose was to instill fear. The sword on his hip sprang to life then, steadying beside Aris before a simple nod to the youngest had the blade hovering by her instead. Protecting her.

"You need to keep moving with us. Seszil will protect you." He spoke calm, almost much too calm considering the danger they were in. His saber cut through the air, the blade eating the bolts that hit it rather than reflect them. He didn't want to chance hitting the other two, and he didn't have the ability to feel the Force to know one way or another.

Two more bends. He continued forward, hoping the addition of Seszil's floating defense around Pari would help her to move. The danger for the pair behind him, he wanted to get them out of it.

Pari Sylune | Acier Moonbound

 

[Acier Moonbound]

Location: Imperial Transport

Equipment:
Training Jumpsuit | Lightsaber | Modified DL-27

Ace felt her hesitation before he saw it in her face. The way her steps faltered as blasterfire strobed the corridor. Her grip in his hand tightened for a moment, then froze entirely. He didn't blame her. Being shot at was different from any drill, and she'd been through enough already.

Before he could speak, Aris's blade sprang to life ahead of them. A second later, the weapon hovered to Pari's side, intercepting a volley meant for her. Ace didn't even question it. If anything, it gave them a margin they desperately needed.

"Nice." he called up to Aris, then glanced at Pari. "That means you just focus on your feet. We'll handle the rest."

He kept his lightsaber angled low behind them, catching a bolt that came in high and knocking it off the wall. Aris's calm voice carried forward through the fire, steadying them both as they pushed on. Two bends and that's it. Two bends, one ladder, and the cargo bay opened up ahead. The familiar stacks of crates, the chill in the air. They'd made it back to their entry point.

"Move!" he barked over the hiss of blaster bolts, guiding Pari toward the circular breach in the deck. The Flickerfox's underside hatch was already waiting just beyond, clamped tight to the freighter's hull.

He dropped in first, boots hitting the crawlspace floor, then reached back to pull her through. The chill of exposed metal wrapped around them, a stark contrast to the chaos above.

"Aris!" Ace called as the taller man followed them in "Keep the hatch clear in case anyone tries to follow us in. I'll get her powered up."

By the time Aris climbed through into the Flickerfox proper, Ace was already moving fast for the cockpit, hands itching for the controls. Systems needed to come online now. Shields, engines, all of it. They had to break free before the Imperials could react.

The clamps released with a sharp jolt and the Flickerfox dropped away from the freighter, rolling clear as red bolts streaked past. He pushed the throttles forward; the stars swung and blurred.

A pull of the hyperdrive lever, and the starlines stretched. In a heartbeat, they were gone. Now... they'd need to figure out what to do with the prisoner and, if she was okay.

Pari Sylune Aris Noble​

 

[Pari Sylune]

It was all a blur to Pari—flashes of blaster fire, the roar of chaos, but somehow, they made it through. She caught a glimpse of something absurd: a flying sword, spinning through the air like a phantom. Strange, yes, but it had deflected a bolt that would've struck her down. For that, she was grateful.

Ace pulled her, and half dragged her through the storm. Pari barely registered her surroundings, focusing only on the rhythm of her feet, one step at a time. Then, all at once, they were aboard the ship. Safe. Or as safe as anyone could be these days.

"Thank you," she whispered. Her voice was thin, trembling like the rest of her. The shaking was fading now, slowly, like a tide pulling back. She hadn't even begun her Jedi training. Back on Chalacta, she'd studied with the Adepts, but they were a peaceful order, more devout, spiritual, and untrained for war.

As calm began to return, she looked at her rescuers, her mahogany eyes steadying. They hadn't planned to find her. Yet they'd risked themselves anyway.

"I'm sorry," she said quietly. "And… thank you. The Empire took me from the archives in the old New Jedi Order Temple... on Coruscant."

She felt the words tumbling out, unsure if they made sense, unsure if she even sounded coherent. Realizing she was rambling, she closed her mouth and let silence fall, letting it speak the rest.


Acier Moonbound Aris Noble

 

[Aris Noble]

Normal troopers? Keeping the hatch clear would've been child's play. These guys?

Aris's expression tightened further as he turned, leaving the other two to head deeper. He was going to make sure nothing they threw at them would make it onto the Flickerfox, that none of the troops themselves would. So he fought. No holding back either, bodies fell as he went from one trooper to the next.

Right up until they actually threw something. Grenade. Thermal. Burn away everything living without burning away the ship and information they could gleam on who the people inside even were. Aris reached out, immediately caught the orb midflight.

Which seemed to trigger it. It was probably a failsafe for when a Jedi could stop it midair. Heat washed over Aris in an instant, burning away his sleeve. That was as far as it went though as he tightened his grasp around the sphere and cut off the wave. Heat couldn't harm him, after all. The call came that they were getting out of here and he hopped back, chucking the remnant of the grenade back at the group like a scattergun himself. Another fell, another was injured.

It was enough for the ships to detach and the lines of hyperspace to take over instead. He let out a breath before going to join the others, idly taking up Seszil to sheath back on his hip. The blade had fallen dormant again.

"You don't have to be sorry. I am. I was there, gathering who I could. I'm sorry I couldn't get to you then." He'd heard the conversation as he approached, and now he was in the doorway, calm as ever. Those that knew him though, they could see it in his eyes. The weight of failure. How many more had been captured?

How many had he personally missed?

Acier Moonbound | Pari Sylune

 

[Acier Moonbound]

Location: Flickerfox

Equipment:
Training Jumpsuit | Lightsaber | Modified DL-27

Ace turned to Pari, he'd barely just allowed himself to relax when he'd caught on to what she'd said to him. He turned to her, offering her a smirk that didn't reach his eyes.

"Well, we couldn't just leave you there." Ace responded with his usual dryness, trying to make light of things.

The girl revealed that she was on Coruscant and his expression immediately softened. He wasn't there, but had seen how bad it was. Ace felt his heart drop, no one - especially someone her age should have had to seen that carnage. His shoulders lowered in relief that she was at least safe with them now.

Then came Aris, Ace offered him an appreciative nod. The Jedi Knight had held the line and ensured their escape. Then, he felt a denseness ripple from Aris - an air of guilt and regret. He would quickly find out why.

Aris was on Coruscant too, trying to rescue whoever he could in the chaos. He gently bit his lower lip, understanding the weight that guilt could have on you - mind drifting to Tessk. Shaking his head, Ace steeled himself and met Aris's gaze, his face was calm but his eyes conveyed compassion.

"You did what you could." he said simply "She's here now though. That's what matters."

His gaze shifted to the girl - lingering on her for a moment. That same strange familiarity tugging at the edge of his mind. He still couldn't place it. It took him a second to realize they didn't even know her name yet.

"What's your name, kid?"

When she answered, he'd flash her another smile - attempting to be comforting. Then he turned to Aris. They'd need to discuss the next important thing.

"She's just a kid, you know." he said quietly, voice pitched low enough for Aris but not sharp enough to exclude Pari completely. "We can't just drop her on the nearest rock and call it done. But dragging her into something she didn't choose…"

His jaw tightened, indirectly referring to throwing her in with the Path.

"That's not right either."

He shifted in the pilot's chair, tapping the nav console idly while his mind ran the options.

"What do you think?" Ace asked, glancing back at the taller man. "Where does she go from here?"

Then, naturally he turned his attention to Pari.

"Where do you want to go?"

Aris Noble Pari Sylune​

​