Private What the Empire Touched

[Acier Moonbound]

Location: Naboo - Parrlay

Equipment:
Acolyte Robes | Lightsaber | Cybernetic Arm

He could still see her face. Every microscopic detail of the Chiss who'd done it. He replayed it over and over during hyperspace, the fantasy sharpening each time: fingers closing, not around a throat, but around atoms. Pulling. Unthreading her at the molecular level. The quiet, intimate finality of unmaking someone who thought themselves untouchable.

Dark Side Elite. That meant something, because if that was what the Empire's chosen monsters did to people like Sibylla, then maybe the real justice wasn't personal at all. Maybe the greater good was wiping the whole rot out in one single, glorious day. Burn the infrastructure. Collapse the hierarchy. Let the banners fall and the screams echo until there was nothing left but ash and silence.

He'd almost died himself not even a day ago. The ISB Headquarters collapsing had been a controlled burial. Walls giving way. Decks folding. He'd barely made it out alive, and hadn't fully recovered. He should have been grounded. He should have rested.

Instead, he'd seen the HoloNews. Sibylla. Corellia. Attacked. Stable, but not recovering in Naboo's capital. Ace hadn't said a word to anyone after that. No explanations. No goodbyes. He'd taken a confiscated TIE straight off Coruscant's bones, flight clearance be damned, and punched out toward Naboo with his jaw locked and the Dark humming tight along his spine.

He didn't need to be told where she was. If she wasn't in Theed, then there was only one place she'd go. Parrlay. Veruna's estate; Rainspire.

So that was where he landed. The TIE's scream cut across Rainspire's pristine calm as he set it down unannounced, uninvited, the fighter's scorched hull still wearing Coruscant's soot like a badge of offense. Ace climbed out without ceremony and crossed the landing pad with long, purposeful strides, boots striking stone like a countdown.

He didn't make it far. Aurelian's guards moved fast and clean, weapons lowered but ready, forming a barrier between Ace and the estate proper.

"You can't be here." One of them said. "This is private property. You're trespassing."

Ace stopped just short of them.

"My friend is in there. Move."

The guard frowned, already shaking his head. "You're not authorized. We don't have you on any access lists. You're an unknown--"

"I don't care." Ace took a step closer, the air shifting with him. "Let. Me. In."

The words landed like a threat because they were one. His expression had gone predatory, all sharp focus and coiled intent, the kind that made instincts scream even if training told you to stand your ground. One fist curled slowly at his side, knuckles whitening, the Force pressing outward in a low, dangerous tide. He was ready. Ready to push. Ready to break the line and whatever stood behind it.

He didn't come here to be turned away.

Aurelian Veruna | Sibylla Abrantes​

 

[Aurelian Veruna]

Tags: Acier Moonbound | Sibylla Abrantes

The alarm cut through Rainspire. Aurelian was halfway through a late meal when the shriek of it reached the upper halls. A TIE signature. On his landing pad. That didn't happen.

He was moving before the second tone finished, bare feet on stone, shirt loose. Home meant soft clothes and open doors, not armor. Still, his shield snapped into place on his waist out of habit, familiar weight settling his breath. He took a rifle from the wall rack and a blade from the table, steel sliding free with a whisper.

Outside, the guards moved just like they'd trained for this their entire lives. Formation tight. Weapons ready. Aurelian followed a step behind, pulse steady, mind racing. Someone arrogant, desperate, or stupid had just screamed a TIE down onto his roof. Possibly all three.

The fighter sat on the pad, hull scorched black, heat still bleeding into the air. The pilot climbed out and crossed the stone with purpose. All black. No insignia. No hesitation. The guards challenged him. The stranger answered. Three words. Flat. Possessive.

My friend is in there.

The air shifted. Aurelian felt it even from behind the line, a pressure that made old lessons whisper in his skull. Force. Heavy and poorly leashed. Dangerous. The guards stepped aside.

Aurelian stopped.

What are you doing? His grip tightened on the rifle as he moved past them, bringing it up in one smooth motion. The barrel settled on the stranger's chest, center mass. Shield flared faintly, a translucent curve between him and whatever this man was carrying inside himself.

"Think very carefully before you take another step," Aurelian called out. His voice carried easily, calm by long practice. "You are on private property. You arrived uninvited. And you are radiating enough bad intent."

He studied the man's face. Grief, sharpened into something feral. The kind that broke things. The kind that didn't stop when asked.

If this was an assassin, he wouldn't reach the doors. If he was something worse, then Aurelian would still stand here. Sibylla was inside. That was the only fact that mattered.

​

 

[Acier Moonbound]

Location: Naboo - Parrlay

Equipment:
Acolyte Robes | Lightsaber | Cybernetic Arm

Ace noticed him immediately. Not the rifle first, though that earned a flicker of irritation, but the man behind it. The way he moved past the guards without urgency or panic. Barefoot. Unarmored. Calm in a way that only came from certainty. Dark curls framing a face too composed for the situation, eyes steady, posture grounded. Attractive, in a polished, cultivated way. The kind of man estates were built for.

So this was him. Aurelian. The name Sibylla never said lightly. Ace had felt him before ever seeing him, felt the gravity of him in the Force every time Sibylla spoke his name, the pure, unguarded affection wrapped around it. Admiration. Safety. Something soft and fiercely defended. This was the axis her heart kept turning toward.

He wasn't impressed.

He was even less impressed by the rifle now trained on his chest. Under normal circumstances, he would've de-escalated. Would've read the room, eased the tension, found the pressure points that didn't leave bodies on the floor. He knew how to make situations better. He also knew how to make them worse.

This wasn't normal. He was running on fumes and fury, injuries still knitting beneath his skin. The Dark roared in his veins like a star going supernova, a million burning suns screaming for direction. Tunnel vision had set in hard and merciless. There was only one objective left in the galaxy.

Sibylla. His best friend was inside. Hurt. And these… prey thought they could stand between him and her.

Ace's gaze lifted fully to Aurelian now, sharp and unblinking. The Force bled off him in visible pressure, a radioactive haze that made the air feel wrong, heavy, alive with threat. Gravel vibrated faintly beneath their boots.

Finally, he spoke.

"I'm not going to ask again, Jawline."

The words hadn't even finished settling before Ace's hand twitched. Every blaster in the vicinity ripped free of their handlers all at once, wrenched upward by invisible force and frozen midair, hovering in a slow, ominous arc above the landing pad. The rifle aimed at Ace's chest joined them a heartbeat later, dragged sideways and held there, impotent.

Ace took a step forward, unconcerned with shields or protocol or the weaponless men suddenly realizing how badly this was going to go.

"I'm here to see Sibylla." He said, voice low and absolute. "And if you try to stop me--"

His eyes locked on Aurelian's.

"--I'll show you bad intent."

Aurelian Veruna | Sibylla Abrantes ​