Star Wars - Disturbance in the Force

[Fate Flyer]

Here is a fan fiction I am currently working on in whatever spare time I can muster up that is based around my newly-created character Lyla, the Zeltron (see here). It takes place in the year 34 ABY, so not long after the films. I prefer this era of everything that proceeds the movies of the Star Wars universe most. As I finish each chapter, I will post them here. Feel free to leave comments in between.

[Fate Flyer]

Star Wars
Disturbance in the Force

 


Chapter 1: The Incident

Unzipping her brown, baggy flightsuit to reveal a scantily clad Zeltron-Human girl underneath, with black and yellow exposing attire and a blue cloak fastened across her chest a typical ensemble for her, the youthful Jedi Knight took in a deep breath and let it out slowly, quickly practicing a Jedi calming technique. Lyla Rynn tossed the flightsuit unceremoniously across the pilot’s chair of the saucer-shaped YT-2400 Light Freighter spacecraft and gathered her belongings before departing. Attaching a utility belt made of tough but fashionable fabric across her midsection, she made sure each of its pouches contained all the items that she carried on her at all times, especially for such an operation. She had learned in the past that it paid to be thorough and to take her time when it came to equipping herself. Lastly, the young alien woman clipped her only weapon, a lightsaber, to her belt before double-checking that the ship had properly undergone all routine shutdown procedures and then departed into a hot and sand-consumed world, which greeted her harshly.

Following after her with determination and a bit of apprehension written on his face once he emerged from the safe and cool vessel into the open, dry air and blistering light of Tatooine, was a young Arkanian man, Dalzell Lor, or as Lyla and his other friends liked to call him, Zell. He brushed his somewhat long, spiky white hair from his eyes as the warm mid-day wind blew fiercely past, kicking up sand and dust along its way. His pure white ghostly eyes squinted against the grains of sharp sand that ricocheted off his body and the extreme light that was hard for him to adjust to, having come from a moderately dark frigid planet. He pulled out a pair of Arkanian blinders to help shield his sensitive eyes. His companion meanwhile, the half Zeltron female, seemed transfixed by the tan-colored buildings of the capital city in the near distance, but also struggled with the cruel gusts of wind that threatened to topple them both over.

As if to prove this right, one particularly strong current came blowing past, buffeting the two with heaps of the dry sand. Spitting pieces of it out of his mouth, Zell had to raise his voice in order to be heard over the wailing breeze. “I think we’d better move quickly. It seems a sandstorm is brewing out here. We’ll be safer once we’re behind the walls of the city.”

Lyla pulled her gaze away from the metropolis that both intrigued and concerned her to face the other Jedi Knight and nodded her head vigorously, agreeing. “Good plan!” she remarked, risking a smile and catching some sand in her teeth as a result.

The Jedi had both trained at Luke Skywalker’s Academy together on the moon Yavin 4 and had been through many adventures with each other and their other friends of varying degrees of excitement and danger, especially during the Yuuzhan Vong War, which ended just five years prior. This was just one more. They decided it best to land Lyla’s freighter outside of the boundaries of the capital city rather than docking in one of the hangars, so as to avoid being recognized. Though the ship had been repainted at Lyla’s request to be entirely black, so as to better evade being seen and detected in space (not unlike her one-man ship, the StealthX), thus earning it the rightful name Stellar Eclipse, the new color also rendered it not entirely nondescript, as it was the only one of its kind that she knew of with such a covert paint job. Enemies of the Jedi or of her personally would most likely easily recognize the ship and either flee or engage them in battle, both of which the two were hoping to avoid.

They had been sent on their current mission by Luke Skywalker himself, as he so commonly did with many of his students, both current and past. They had only been declared full-fledged Jedi Knights five years prior, and this assignment had been given to them not only because Luke felt it was important, but also as a way of testing them. He informed the two of a disturbance he had sensed in the Force on the planet Tatooine. Their objective was simple – to investigate it. With little information to go on, besides the knowledge that they most likely would find at least answers or clues in the capital city of Bestine, it was entirely up to the new Jedi Knights to solve the puzzle and in turn to help make the galaxy a safer place.

Out in the open desert, the half Zeltron, half Human woman was an easy target to spot. Her reddish skin tone coupled with her long, straight, bluish black hair made her stand out amongst the ever-present whites, beiges, and sandy colors of the planet, not to mention the flashy jumpsuit she sported, a true mark of Zeltron fashion at its best. It wasn’t so much that she was trying to show off to anyone (except perhaps Zell), but she, like any other alien species raised on a home world with unique customs and cultures, varying from those of most human-native planets, chose to demonstrate and display her heritage proudly and to stay true to who she was.

From a distance, the city of Bestine appeared as a haphazard hodgepodge of low-grade duracrete, stone, and plastoid structures. Emerging into the thick of it some fifteen standard minutes later from one of the secondary entrances (so as to avoid any unnecessary attention), it seemed no different to Lyla than what it appeared on the outside and relatively what one off-worlder would expect. As it was now approaching double noon, the twin suns radiated extreme heat down onto the dry world mercilessly, casting dizzying dual shadows on the ground. The buildings of the capital at least along with the outer wall provided some relief from the blowing sand out in the openness beyond the city.

A group of Jawas, easily identifiable by their brown hooded robes, glowing yellow eyes, and small stature, hurriedly shuffled along through the alleyways, some carrying machinery and electronics in their tiny arms. The little humanoid scavengers took no notice of those around them, not least of which Lyla and Zell as they past them by, eyeing the notorious thieves with curiosity and distrust. Outdated landspeeders, hovering on blue reulsorlifts, sped by, the hum of their turbine jet engines mingling with the drone of city life and the occasional whir of a skyhopper zooming overhead. Humans, Rodians, Ranats, and other immigrants and visitors filled every corner, carrying on with their own business with an air of indifference. Furry Banthas, the common beasts of burden, rumbled from nearby, and pale-skinned Eopies trotted past, carrying varying alien species to their destinations. As a last bit of scenery to take in, a few hundred meters down the street from where the two Jedi Knights stood, was the great capitol building, though it clearly showed signs of aging and disrepair.

Though they had visited the other well-known Tatooine city of Mos Eisley not all that long ago, Bestine somehow seemed much less impressive, perhaps because of its lack of a spaceport – or maybe it was simply because the last time either of them had visited the planet, it was when they both found another again after many long years. “This place,” Lyla started, “is…”

“Very nice,” Zell noted.

The Zeltron-Human woman turned to face the Arkanian man in surprise, her brows narrowing in a bit of bewilderment, though, not wanting to offend anybody, especially those that called this place home, she replied in a more hushed voice, “Well I was going to say a bit of a dump, but at least you’ll feel at ease here.”

“What? No. I was just noticing the cantina down there,” Zell replied, motioning toward a smaller building with a domed roof, arched entryway, and neon sign in the front that read in Aurebesh The Thirsty Womp Rat. “I could use a drink.”

Lyla rolled her intelligent blue eyes. “Not only does that place sound completely unsavory, but we’re here for work, not pleasure.”

“Why not combine a bit of both?” Zell questioned, raising a brow with a mischievously flirtatious twinkle in his eye. “Besides, I feel the Force pulling me in that direction.”

Without waiting for her consent, the white-haired man began making his way swiftly toward the seedy-looking cantina. Lyla, hot on his heels thanks to her own Jedi reflexes, was about to make a remark about how convenient it seemed that the Force just so happened to be guiding him to a place which also had alcoholic beverages, when she herself, now concentrating, realized that the Force was indeed pointing her the same way. Perhaps, she realized with newfound hope and enthusiasm, they would find a patron with some information to help them in their search, or, she ventured, maybe even the source for why they were even sent there. It did make sense that something or someone that could disrupt the Force would make it a habit of lounging in the poorly-lit, crowded, and criminal-infested tavern where they could no doubt easily fit in.

On Lyla’s home planet of Zeltros, bars, nightclubs, casinos, and other such pleasurable facilities were all but commonplace, and given that the planet received much of its funds from tourism and all the off-world vacationers, their cantinas, like the popular Paradise, left this one looking nothing short of an embarrassment. As dirty, smelly, and unsafe as The Thirsty Womp Rat appeared, Zell seemed undisturbed. Perhaps he was more accustomed to these sorts of places than Lyla was aware of, or maybe he was simply putting on a brave face for her.

They did, after all, only reunite with one another a year ago. For all she knew, he frequented these hole-in-the-wall cantinas often over the past few years in his absence. He didn’t exactly strike her as a changed man in regards to his overall personality, but she couldn’t be sure if he was merely putting on an act to appear unaffected and just as he was when the two were growing up together back on Yavin 4 in Luke’s Jedi Praxeum, unaltered by the very real, very physical changes he was forced to endure when he disappeared when they had been teenagers.

It was not uncommon for his species to enhance themselves with internal or external cybernetics, as it was also common practice for many Arkanians to undergo further genetic manipulation on their own bodies. As a congratulatory gift for being honored with the titled Jedi Knight after graduating from the Academy, Zell’s extended family prepared to have him physically upgraded when he came to visit Arkania. Their surprise left him stunned, and though at first he refused, his family’s pressuring and reassurance that the enhancements would only help him to become an even more capable Jedi left him ultimately agreeing, which he instantly regretted. As he explained to Lyla after the two had once again crossed paths on this very planet (the irony not escaping Lyla that the two should be sent there now, a year later, on a mission together), the Arkanian scientists attached all new cybernetic limbs for him, so that both of his arms and legs were now the product of science. Though far more physically strong and agile than his biological limbs and fitted with identical nerve endings to feel natural, it was very hard for him to accept such foreign replacements. In addition, his family arranged to have his cerebral cortex manipulated so as to greatly improve his abilities in harnessing the Force and executing abilities to their full potential. Such a surgical procedure though was not without its disadvantages, leaving him incapable of demonstrating any Force powers beyond simply sensing things without receiving a nasty headache. Though the doctors assured him it would not cause him permanent damage, the migraines, they informed him, would persist indefinitely. Such was the cost of separating oneself from the lesser species, as they said, being a culture to take pride in themselves to the extreme.

After literally emerging a changed man, Zell had to learn to deal with and adjust to his new self and, in a sense, was required to rediscover himself. He did not return to Lyla and their group of friends they shared back at the Praxeum. Instead, he traveled from place to place, confronting his own demons, fighting political wars, and eventually finding himself going down the path of a Jedi once again. Adjusting to his alterations, Zell came out of the ordeal not necessarily as a more powerful and capable Jedi thanks to the modifications than he could have been otherwise, as his family had intended, but a more self-aware man who had achieved inner peace and oneness with the Force in all his meditating and self-induced healing. The enhancements he received proved to be one last trial for him before he could allow himself to accept the title of Jedi Knight.

It was difficult for Lyla herself to adjust to learning about all the transformations her long-time friend had undergone, and she regretted not being able to be there for him, though he reassured her on more than one occasion that it was something he needed to deal with on his own. It was a hurdle he had to overcome, and while his family assumed they were helping him, he considered it a hindrance. Grateful he had found his rightful path again though and equally appreciative that the two had rediscovered one another, Lyla was eager to be serving by his side on this important Jedi mission, supporting one another like the old days.

Entering the smoky atmosphere of the small and cramped cantina, the glow panels flickering and buzzing with what little light they put off, Zell removed his blinders with a four-digit clawed hand, his light-sensitive eyes easily able to adjust in the dimness. Lyla followed her friend inside the foyer and was immediately bombarded with a wave of different sounds, from music being played by a small live band towards the back, chatter in all different languages amongst the patrons, and a cacophony of commotion. More than that though, with Lyla’s acute empathetic ability from her Veltron side, she was showered with a mixture of bad emotions radiating off all the shady-looking crowd. Although it was still early in the day, this place seemed overrun with customers. Lyla wondered just who they were meant to speak to and how exactly they would go about finding any answers here.

As if reading her mind, Zell suggested, “I think we’d better go take a seat at the bar, maybe start with one of the bartenders and work our way from there.”

Nodding her head in agreement, Zell led Lyla through the noisy crowd to one of the open bar stools, pulling one out for her first thoughtfully. They analytically observed the two bartenders working, trying to judge which one would be able to provide them with information, both with the Force and their own logical thought process. One of the bartenders Zell recognized was a Gran, a three-eyed humanoid with a goat-like snout. He only seemed to be speaking his native language and a couple other alien languages Zell couldn’t decipher over the noise. The other bartender was a skinny green insectoid with large black eyes and two antenna sprouting from the back of his head. Lyla immediately knew he was a Verpine, a species best known for their technological aptitude and were considered to be among the finest starship engineers in the galaxy. She wondered briefly why this one was serving drinks in this run-down cantina rather than doing something more meaningful with his life, but figured he probably fell on hard times.

“Excuse me,” Lyla shouted over the loud music, which now was playing a tune that unexpectedly struck both Jedi Knights as quite catchy. She waved the Verpine bartender over, tossing her long, dark hair to one side and exposing her neck and face on the other in a vague gesture of invitation, hoping to draw the alien’s attention away from the many other customers that were there before them. It occurred to her though that to this insect species, she might appear completely unattractive just as much so as he came across as unappealing to her.

To her surprise though, and much more to Zell’s, the Verpine finished the drink he had been making, slid it over to the alien awaiting it, and smoothly made his way over to the two of them, probably more so drawn by Lyla’s natural pheromones she had unintentionally given off than anything else. It seemed even Zell was picking up on it, as he had scooted a bit nearer to her. Up close, the insectoid bartender was even more repulsive than from a short distance. His hardened green carapace, two fangs covering his mouth, and spiny joints were unsettling. When he spoke though, his voice was shockingly intellectual, like a distinguished member of society not at all employed at The Thirsty Womp Rat.

“Why, hello!” the Verpine said enthusiastically. “I do not believe I’ve ever seen the two of you in here before. Can I interest you in any of our specials today?”

Zell and Lyla exchanged looks, and Lyla’s face softened into a smile, something that looked natural on her. “We’re actually here for something a little different.” It occurred to the Zeltron-Human just then that she didn’t exactly know how she was going to word her question or even what exactly she should inquire the alien about.

At this, the Verpine’s antennae seemed to droop momentarily, betraying his welcoming and pleasant demeanor, but as quickly as they fell, they rose back up again, eager to please. Catching this, and not being opposed to having at least one drink, Zell interrupted his friend. “I’ll have one of your specials. How about the…” he glanced over at the holo-print behind the bar, “Vomit Comet?” Zell stifled a laugh.

The Verpine twitched his antennae and leaned in close conspiratorially. “It’ll gitcha every time!” Lyla simply rolled her eyes, but Zell couldn’t help but notice a bit of intrigue in them as well.

Without hesitation, the enthusiastic bartender made Zell his drink, and when he brought it over to him, it was quite a sight to see: red with a radiating glow and a lot of fizz on top. Zell shrugged a took a gulp, an eyebrow raised doubtfully. He nudged the drink over to Lyla who shook her head.

“It’d probably take a lot more than just one of those for me to feel any effects. I have two livers, remember,” she reminded him. Already though, she could sense with her empathetic ability that Zell’s mind was growing numb.

“Anyway,” she picked up, focusing a stern look on the bartender who was watching Zell with mild amusement, “my name is Lyla, and this is my partner Dalzell.”

Looking skeptical at Lyla’s sudden business tone but willing to cooperate, the Verpine replied, “I’m Fzz’ix.”

“We were sent here on a mission.” Deciding to be as forward as possible and to cut to the chase, she pulled aside her robe to briefly expose the flashy opal-colored lightsaber hilt at her side. “We are Jedi Knights,” she explained in a hushed tone that only Fzz’ix could hear over the band playing, so as to not invite any unwelcome attention or to possibly scare away anyone in there that might be their target.

Fzz’ix immediately dropped his business-friendly attitude and fixed her with a serious expres​sion(or as serious looking as a bug could get) and let his voice drop. “So I see. I wondered when we’d be getting your kind in here. It’s been,” he paused, counting on his long fingers, “about a standard week now since the death. I suppose you’re here to gather evidence and clues about the assailant. I’m sure you’re already quite familiar with the victim.”

Not sure how to respond, Lyla considered it best to not sound completely in the dark and clueless but to also learn as much as she could from this Verpine. She glanced over at Zell and had to stop herself from smiling, despite the ever-growing serious circumstances. His drink was only halfway gone, but his normally pale face was a seaweed shade of green. His white eyes, seeming to glow in the dark of the cantina, looked like they were straining to focus. As if this was second nature and without even needing to take his gaze off Lyla, Fzz’ix grabbed an old bucket out from underneath the bar counter and set it in front of the Arkanian man who took it at once and proceeded to get sick off to the side away from Lyla.


“I’m – uh – we’re here,” Lyla started, correcting herself, “to get your statement on the…incident,” she replied, avoiding his question. “So please, just tell us everything that happened and recount every detail that you can remember.”
“I’d be most happy to oblige. I am a supporter of both the Republic and the Jedi Order,” bowed the bartender unnecessarily.

“It all happened rather quickly and unexpectedly, I must say,” he began, a hazy look in his dark, round eyes as he recalled the event. “We were even busier than we are now, lots of aliens coming and going. I recognized your Jedi friend, Elrikk the Human, right away when he got here. He comes in here every so often, you see,” Fzz’ix elaborated. Lyla looked very interested now, sitting up straighter. To her disappointment though, she could not remember ever hearing of a Jedi named Elrikk. “He ordered his usual and took a seat in the corner by the stage. We had some Twi’lek dancers that night, and he looked content with the entertainment. In fact, whenever we can book the dancing girls here, everyone seems thoroughly pleased.” Noticing Lyla’s disinterest, he continued on quickly.

“Anyhow, not long after Elrikk arrived, a cloaked figure went over to join him. They were thoroughly hidden beneath that black cloak though that I couldn’t even tell you if they were male or female, let alone what species. Elrikk must have been delighted with their company though, since I never saw him even so much as glance back up at the dancers after they joined him.”

“So did Elrikk know this person?” Lyla interrupted as Zell returned from the refresher unit he had slunk off to briefly. Though he looked much cleaner and more like himself, there was still a hint of queasiness written on his face. He returned to his seat beside Lyla, offered her a quick apologetic look, and then turned his attentions to the Verpine.

“Not as far as I knew,” responded Fzz’ix, “but then again, he didn’t seem to ever mention any friends. Elrikk would chat with me sometimes when it wasn’t busy in here, tell me vaguely about his latest Jedi assignments and whatnot, but mostly he liked to talk about women. I’m afraid he had a lot of bad luck with the opposite sex and was constantly seeking reassurance. If you ask me, I imagine that’s why he came to this sleazy little cantina. He didn’t know any better. Probably figured he’d eventually meet someone worthwhile here. Let me tell you,” Fzz’ix warned, “no one ever finds true love here. Tried explaining it to the poor sap, but that’s another story.” When Lyla asked him to recount every detail, she realized a bit impatiently that he took that quite literally.

“So, the night went on, and it was a pretty typical night at that. Had a few harmless blaster bolts fired, some angry Talz throwing over a table after he lost at Sabacc, smugglers and spacers and other denizens getting into bar fights, or at the other end of the spectrum, singing along to the music with a drink in hand. Like I said, standard every night occurrences. Before anyone knows it though,” he said, shaking his head somberly, and Lyla could sense he really did feel sorry for the Jedi, “your boy Elrikk falls to the floor, a blaster hole right through the center of his head smoking and bleeding, and the supposed friend he had been chatting with has all but disappeared.

“Now, I can’t tell you for certain,” Fzz’ix said hesitantly, as if he didn’t wanted to be held accountable if he were wrong, “but there have been rumors flying around like wildfire that that cloaked figure with Elrikk was a bounty hunter. Supposedly, someone’s hiring bounty hunters to track down and kill Jedi one-by-one. Or at least I assumed it was more than one bounty hunter, though I suppose it could just be the one. Another one – a Jedi – turned up not long ago, killed the same way I believe, over on Corellia, if I’m not mistaken. You hear a lot of things around here.”

Horrified and stunned, Lyla couldn’t think of what to say, but Zell, feeling a wave of sobriety wash over him, replied, “I knew about that. A Rodian woman. Can’t think of her name at the moment. She had only just become a Jedi Knight, right out of Luke’s Academy.”

Just like us, Lyla thought uncomfortably.

“Why would any organization or anyone for that matter,” Lyla finally said, finding her voice, “hire a bounty hunter to slay Jedi? Seems a bit off the beaten path from the usual hostilities. Not only would it take the bounty hunter quite awhile to even find and kill that many Jedi, but it also would completely endanger the employer. With a few Jedi slaughtered, you’d better believe that many more will retaliate and that the Galactic Republic itself will interfere.” Her voice was raising with each word heatedly. “They’d better have themselves an army, because they’re going to start a war.”

“Not necessarily,” mused Zell, a concerned look on his fine features. “If you think about it, it’s kind of ingenious. So long as the proprietor hired the right bounty hunters or hunter, nothing should ever leave a trace back to them. Sure, it may be a long way around their sinister goal, but it could be the safest route for them. Bounty hunters are very discreet. They don’t ask questions, just carry out orders for their clients. They’re deadly mercenaries. If some silent killer is after us, and we don’t know who they are, what they look like, or who they’re working for, then I fear for the Jedi.”

“So where do we go from here?” Lyla asked them both, worried and suddenly restless.

Fzz’ix shrugged, his antennae rubbing together in what appeared to be a response to the alien band having momentarily stopped their playing to refresh themselves at the bar. Taking notice of this, he responded quickly, “I’m not sure, but I’m afraid I can’t be of any more help than that. That’s all I know. Now,” he gave a short bow of his head, “if you’ll excuse me. I’m needed at the other end of the bar.” And with that, the Verpine excused himself to help serve the band members.

Just then, a burly creature covered from head to toe in thick, wooly brown fur sitting next to Lyla turned around to face them both. Neither one recognized what kind of species he was, but he had the most hideously alarming face that looked neither friendly nor polite. He had two tusks growing out of the bottom of his jaw and a nose and face like that of a wild grizzly bear. When his eyes met the two Jedi Knights, they froze in their seats, wondering if they had somehow disturbed the massive creature.

“Me help,” he grunted, sounding more demanding than anything. “Me here night of kill. Me know where hooded thing went,” he added in broken Basic.

Lyla gazed up at the hairy monster-like being with wariness, but Zell lit up instantly. “Tell us then, friend,” he encouraged.

“Payment first,” the boar-bear man ordered. “Information not free. Three hundred credits.”

“Three hundred!?” exclaimed Lyla in astonishment. “Forget it.”

“Lyla,” growled Zell between his teeth in a low voice, not wanting to offend the alien. “We need to hear this. We have nothing else to go on and no idea where this bounty hunter will strike next and who the target will be. Maybe we can prevent another death. Let’s just pay the guy and get out of here!”

Sighing her agreement, they reluctantly transferred the credit chips over to the fearsome creature who insisted on no less than what he told them in the first place and who looked all but delighted after their transaction, which somehow looked even more frightening on him. He then went on to tell them that the cloaked figure was talking to the Jedi man Elrikk almost like he was under some sort of spell; he kept telling the cloaked person everything they wanted to know. All the information that the hooded being wanted, Elrikk obligingly shared, including the fact that Elrikk’s mentor, a fellow Jedi Knight by the name of Dexen something – the boar-bear man couldn’t remember the last name – was currently on the planet Talus overseeing some negotiations with the native Selonian and Drall species at the starport capital of Dearic. After learning that much, the person under the cloak immediately shot and killed Elrikk and then quickly retreated from the bar.

When asked how he remembered so much of the names and details, the formidable furry creature simply grinned menacingly, saying, “Me may sound dumb when speak in Basic. Me great spy on my world though.” Lyla and Zell both looked thoroughly impressed, not to mention satisfied with the no doubt useful information. “See? Money worth knowledge,” the creature bellowed with a haunting cackle, throwing a powerful but good-natured pat on Lyla’s back.

After leaving the cantina, the dark blinders once again protectively over Zell’s eyes, the two Jedi Knights wasted no time in returning to Lyla’s light freighter outside the border of the city, which awaited their return like a dark, silent sentinel. The wind and blowing sand had seemed to have died down some, they were both happy to note. On their way to the craft, Lyla used her comlink to contact R9-X9, or Wily as she called him, her white, turquoise, and gray domed Astromech droid that had been patiently waiting for them aboard the vessel, to begin the preflight checks and to prepare the ship for takeoff. He responded with a few acknowledging beeps and set to work.

Climbing the boarding ramp that had just been lowered for them by the helpful Astromech droid, which had originally lent his services on board her StealthX Starfighter, the Cloak and Dagger, and emerging into the safety of the starship, Zell immediately retreated into the first mate’s cabin, storing his Arkanian Blinders and belongings until they would be needed again, while Lyla hastily went to the captain’s suite to toss her utility belt and blue cloak onto the bed, as they had been weighing her down. By the time they both entered the cockpit, Wily had prepared everything for them, and all that was left to do was to program in the hyperspace coordinates for the planet Talus. Zell made himself comfortable in the seat next to the Zeltron-Human woman, as he had been serving as Lyla’s copilot in their Kaminoan friend Hal Le’s absence, who wasn’t a bad flyer herself. Despite the fact that Zell was a better lightsaber combatant than he was at handling any starship, it turned out he and Lyla made a pretty good team. Using the Force, he was able to sense where Lyla was headed and how she planned on maneuvering the ship, and thus was able to adjust the controls by predicting her moves. She herself found this very accommodating and had made him promise to be her copilot again on future assignments.

With a hiss of air pressurization as the boarding ramp retracted and the entrance rumbled shut, lights blinking on on the outside, indicating the ship was fully prepped for takeoff, a conceding drone of the sublight drive echoed after them as the Stellar Eclipse left the atmosphere. With a few flips of some switches, and double checking their coordinates, Lyla engaged the hyperdrive and accelerated them into hyperspace as the stars around them stretched and elongated.

Glancing over at Zell and unable to hold herself back any longer, the vermillion-skinned woman swatted him on the back of the head affectionately. He let out a surprised yelp and combed back his wild, white hair. “Next time someone offers you a special called Vomit Comet,” she chuckled, “you tell them ‘No thank you.’”

Zell gave a lop-sided smile and put his hands up defensively. “Hey, you know me – if someone offers me a challenge, I have to take it. I didn’t say it was a wise idea, but I had to give it a shot,” he clarified in his defense, though his cheeks flushed momentarily. His eyes then locked onto hers in mock-seriousness. “And next time someone requires you to flirt with them in order to get their attention, let’s try other alternatives first.”

With all the grace her Zeltron side bestowed on her, Lyla appeared nonchalant, as if Zell didn’t just imply that he had been a bit jealous or protective, and extended her hand in a gesture of concurrence. “Deal.”

“Deal,” he agreed, taking it in one of his prosthetic hands, a warm sensation filling them both, which was more, they realized without acknowledging it, than just the Force running through them.