Vaylin woke up screaming in her bed, thrashing under the sheets as she bolted upright, hands clutching her chest while sweat soaked her nightgown and plastered her hair to her forehead, panting hard as the remnants of a nightmare clung to her mind—flashes of a cloaked figure with red sabers cutting through a market, fighting a man with a blue blade, falling into a chasm. She swung her legs over the side of the bed and sat there, catching her breath while running a trembling hand over her face, then winced as she stood up and looked down at her body—bruises covered her arms and legs, some faint and yellowing, others fresh and dark purple, splotching her pale skin. She touched one on her thigh, flinched at the sting, and started crying while sinking back onto the mattress, whispering to herself, "I don't understand why this keeps happening," as tears rolled down her cheeks and her shoulders shook.
She reached for the lower drawer by her bed, pulled it open with a shaky hand, and rummaged inside where several Bacta injectors lay scattered—some empty with cracked casings, others full and gleaming under the dim light. She grabbed a full one, groaned as pain flared in her side, and jammed the needle into her upper arm, pressing the plunger until the cool liquid spread through her muscle—she kept a stash here because she didn't want to bother Lady Amidala or the Chancellor with whatever was tearing her body apart at night, figuring it was her burden to carry alone. She sighed, leaned back against the headboard, and felt the injection kick in as the ache dulled and the bruises started to lighten, her breathing evening out while she wiped her eyes with her sleeve.
She stood up, walked to the bathroom adjoined to her room, and slipped off her nightgown, letting it fall to the tiled floor—her body stood bare with slim legs stretching up to narrow hips, a flat stomach curving into a slight waist, and toned arms, all marred by the patchwork of bruises across her ribs, thighs, and shoulders. She stepped to the mirror, looked at her reflection, and touched a dark mark under her left ribcage, wincing as her fingers pressed the tender spot, then turned to the basin and splashed water onto her face, rubbing her cheeks and eyes with both hands.
She looked up, froze, and saw someone else staring back—same sharp jawline and high cheekbones but with yellow eyes glowing under a fringe of jet-black hair—and stumbled back as flashes hit her: a child strapped to a table while a man wearing robed armour with gray hair and a gray beard loomed over her, metal restraints biting her wrists, a cold expression on his face, pain searing through her skull as she screamed. She backed away from the sink, tripped over her nightgown, and sank to the floor, crying while curling her knees to her chest and muttering, "It's not real, it's not real," until her sobs slowed and she rocked herself, whispering, "Please, go away."
Her head throbbed, sharp and sudden—she grabbed it with both hands, whimpering, "Stop, stop, please stop," and rocked harder until the pain dulled and her breathing steadied, hands dropping to her lap as she sat there for a moment. She stood up, stepped into the shower, and turned on the water, wincing as the spray hit her bruises, then grabbed a cloth and soap, washing her arms and legs while moving carefully around the tender spots, rinsing off and stepping out to dry herself with a towel. She walked back to her room, pulled on a crisp uniform—black trousers, a fitted tunic, and a vest—and returned to the bathroom mirror, brushing her hair smooth before smiling brightly and practicing lines under her breath. "Good morning, Lady Amidala—everything's set for your day," she said, adjusting her tone to sound cheerful and nodding at her reflection until it felt natural.
She took a deep breath, squared her shoulders, and left her room, walking through the corridors of the estate to start her duties—checking the kitchen where cooks prepared breakfast, confirming with them that the meal would be ready on time, then moving to the study to collect Padmé's schedule from a datapad on the desk, reviewing it and making a few notes. She headed to the dining room, set the table with plates and utensils, arranging everything in straight lines, and then walked to Padmé's quarters to wake her, knocking lightly before entering—Padmé sat at her desk with Aubrie standing nearby, both already awake and talking quietly. Vaylin stopped, bowed her head, and stuttered, "I'm so sorry, Lady Amidala—I wasn't aware you'd be up early—should I adjust the schedule to fit this?"
Padmé turned and smiled while standing up from her chair. "It's alright, Vaylin—nothing to worry about. There was just a minor incident at the Temple with one of Aubrie's friends."
Vaylin covered her mouth with her hand and stepped closer while asking, "Is everything okay? Did something happen?"
Aubrie looked at her and smiled faintly while folding her arms. "I hope it will be but some scars run deep—Scout isn't well right now and Master Luminara contacted me to say it might help her to have someone that was with her on Jabiim there with her."
Padmé nodded and turned to Aubrie while brushing a hand over her desk. "Were you able to reach Master Leska about this?"
Aubrie shook her head and stepped away from the wall. "No—the last I heard she was arranging to travel off-world."
Padmé sighed and turned back to Vaylin while resting her hands on her hips. "That's a shame—Vaylin, could you please make up one of the guest rooms for Aubries friend?"
Vaylin nodded quickly and said, "Of course—I'll handle it right away." She turned to leave but stopped when Padmé spoke again.
Padmé stepped closer and tilted her head while looking at her. "Are you feeling okay? You look tired."
Vaylin smiled wide and clasped her hands behind her back. "I'm fine—really, no problems here."
Padmé raised a brow and asked, "Are you sure? You can tell me if something's wrong."
Vaylin nodded again and said, "Yes, I'm sure—everything's good. Is there anything else I can do for you?"
Padmé shook her head and smiled. "No—that's all. Thank you, Vaylin."
Aubrie stepped forward and said, "Thanks again—we should go pick Scout up now."
They both waved goodbye to Vaylin—Padmé heading to the dining room and Aubrie following her out—while Vaylin turned and walked back through the corridors, stopping at a control panel to assign droids to prepare the guest room, tapping commands into the screen and confirming the task before heading to her own quarters. She stepped inside, closed the door, and sat on her bed, reaching for the only picture in her room—a small frame on the nightstand showing a woman with soft features and brown hair, smiling at the hololense.
She picked it up, hugged it to her chest, and whispered, "I wish I could come home," while running her thumb over the glass, then added, "I can't even remember your face anymore." Even when she had a picture of when she closed her eyes she just couldn't form the memory.
She stood up, walked to the terminal on her desk, and sat down, typing a code to call her mother—the screen flickered, rang for a long minute, and went unanswered, displaying a blank connection error. She stared at it, leaned back in the chair, and folded her arms while sitting alone in the quiet room, feeling the stillness press in around her.
___________________________
Jaden sat on a table in the main lounge of the Baudo-class star yacht parked in his hideout, twisting a small tool into his wrist gauntlet that sparked and clicked from damage taken in the black market fight while Velea stood beside him and dabbed a kolto applicator on his cuts, dodging his shifting arms as he worked. He fiddled with a loose wire and grumbled to Velea. "Keep that stuff steady—I'm trying to fix this thing and you're jostling me every two seconds." She rolled her eyes and pressed a bacta pad harder against a gash on his arm while he jerked away and kept talking. "Those animals down there—the Merc, that Sith, the gangs—they smashed up my gear like it's nothing and now I'm stuck patching it together."
He winced and sucked in a breath as Velea dug a slugthrower round out of his side with a pair of forceps, pulling it free and dropping it onto a tray with a clink—she smirked and said, "Don't be a baby—it's just a little slug." She grabbed a bottle of bacta solvent, poured it over the deeper cuts on his chest, and rubbed it into the lightsaber wound on his shoulder while he squirmed and reached over to a shelf, snagging a bottle of Corellian brandy with his free hand. Velea snatched it from him, took a swig herself, and set it down out of reach while saying, "You shouldn't drink this stuff when you're recovering—it'll mess with the healing."
Jaden scoffed and leaned back on the table. "What are you—a doctor now?"
She wiped her hands on a cloth and replied, "Ive had advanced medical training at the academy—top of my class."
He chuckled and twisted another wire into the gauntlet. "Advanced medical training and theoretical physics and experimental engineering—I find myself unsurprised you had no friends." She pressed her thumb into his shoulder wound on purpose, making him yelp and cut off his sentence, and smiled while saying, "Sorry—did you say something?"
He rolled his eyes, grabbed the brandy back, and took a long swig before finishing the gauntlet repairs with a final twist of the tool, clicking it shut. Velea folded her arms and spoke while watching him test the device. "You got beat up pretty bad down there—you need to be more careful."
He grinned and hopped off the table, flexing his arm while saying, "What's this, were you worried about me?"
She stopped tending his wounds, stepped closer, and looked at him with her brows drawn together. "I'm serious—a few inches over and that Sith would've killed you... they got way too close this time."
He smiled and cupped her face with both hands while looking into her eyes. "Tougher people than them have tried to kill me and I'm still here."
He tilted his head and added, "Besides we're gonna explore the galaxy together and I can't die until we've done that."
She leaned closer and asked, "You promise?"
"I promise," he said, pulling her in.
She pressed her forehead against his, closed her eyes, and kissed him—he slid his hands to her waist, pulling her tighter while she wrapped her arms around his neck, lips moving together as they stood there, her fingers threading into his hair and his thumbs tracing her sides, breathing into each other until they pulled apart, stomachs fluttering as they caught their breath. Velea looked into his eyes, cheeks flushing, and stuttered while stepping back. "Jaden—I think I—"
Zule climbed up the ladder into the lounge, shouting, "I got the food—finally!" Velea dropped her hands and turned to the bacta kit while Jaden straightened up and wiped his mouth, stepping away from the table.
Zule hauled a sack onto the floor and looked at them while wiping her hands. "Why did I have to get so much food—this bag weighs more than I do?"
Jaden clicked his gauntlet onto his wrist and walked over. "It helps the healing process—trust me." He hopped off the table and took the sack from her while Velea called after him. "I wasn't done patching you up—sit back down."
He waved a hand and said, "I'll be fine—just need to meditate and I'll heal up quick." He lifted the sack, sniffed the contents—grilled nerf skewers, roasted porg wings, spiced jogan rolls—and felt a wave of heat rush through his body as he stood close to Zule, her pheromones hitting him harder than before, making his pulse jump while he wondered why they'd spiked so much this time when they'd never been this strong.
He shook it off, set the sack on the table, and grabbed a skewer, biting into it while Velea walked over with a pain hypo and held it up. "At least take this—you're still limping."
"Later," he said, chewing and swallowing before sitting at the terminal built into the table, cracking his knuckles and starting to type.
Zule stepped over to Velea and leaned in while whispering, "Is there a sedative in that kit—we could knock him out?"
Velea giggled and said, "He probably wouldn't even notice if we slipped it in."
Jaden kept typing and called over his shoulder, "I can hear you two plotting—nice try."
Velea grinned and sat beside him while grabbing a porg wing. "Good—then you know we mean it." Zule sat on his other side, took a jogan roll, and started eating while watching the screen.
"What are you doing now?" Velea asked, wiping her hands on a napkin.
Jaden tapped a few more keys and said, "I'm trying to hack into Republic records—shouldn't take long."
Velea looked at Zule, then back at him while setting her food down. "Why would you do that—don't they track stuff like this?"
Zule nodded and added, "Yeah—isn't that dangerous?"
He smirked and kept typing. "Don't worry—I've got years of splicing and hacking under my belt from bounty hunting days—they won't trace it back to us."
He hit a final key, leaned back, and said, "And here we go—got it." He scrolled through the file and read aloud. "Collan Eislo—heir to the Aratech Corporation and First Speaker of the Sovereigns—a committee of advisors tasked with refining and proposing new legislation to the Senate."
The screen listed trade deals he'd brokered, public speeches against the war, and a string of corporate achievements—Jaden skimmed it and said, "Very impressive resume—almost reads like an advertisement for the guy."
He stood up, stretched his arms, and paced a few steps while Zule leaned closer to the terminal and looked at the holo-image attached to the file. "The man looks insufferable—just look at that smirk."
Velea tilted her head and asked, "What are you thinking, Jaden?"
He stopped pacing, took a bite of a nerf skewer, and spoke while chewing. "There's clearly more to this guy than what's on the surface but someone as rich and connected as him will cover his tracks pretty well so we need something harder to hide."
He swallowed and kept pacing while Velea and Zule sat there thinking until Velea sat up straighter and said, "Money!."
Jaden pointed at her and nodded. "Ding ding—exactly. The mercenary who hit me in the market is the same one who attacked the Temple so we can assume Collan was behind both and an operation that big in the Republic's core would've cost a fortune."
Zule frowned and leaned forward while setting her roll down. "How does that help us—I'm not following?"
Jaden grabbed another skewer and took a bite before answering. "An attack like that means money moved—big sums—and there have to be records of it somewhere so if we find those transactions we can track his associates and once we know who he's working with we'll get a clearer picture of what Collan's up to." He finished the skewer, tossed the stick into a bin, and grinned while clapping his hands together. "Who's up for a study session?"
Velea sighed and picked up her porg wing again while Zule shook her head and muttered, "This is gonna take forever."
...
For the next few days Jaden and Velea worked on the Baudo-class star yacht in his hideout while splitting their time researching Collan Eislo, digging through Republic records and financial logs at the lounge terminal, and Zule joined them to sift through data when she wasn't fetching supplies or food.
They set up a board in the lounge and pinned up everything they found—datacards with names, holo-images of faces, and scribbled notes linking Collan to a web of associates—though they couldn't trace all the money, they uncovered a dozen figures tied to him: a shipping magnate named Torin Vax who controlled half the Corellian Run, a banker called Lysa Dorn who funneled credits through shadow accounts, and a senator from Ryloth named Kael Torv who pushed Collan's legislation in backroom deals. Jaden scrolled through a high-society gala record one afternoon and spotted a symbol on Torv's cufflink—a silver triangle with a curved line slashing through it—and cross-checked it, finding the same mark on Vax's ring and Dorn's necklace, worn by Collan too on a pendant in a trade summit holo.
They dug deeper and found mentions of a group tied to the symbol, The Apex Society, though digging even deeper they only really found surface-level stuff about lavish parties with rare Chandrilan wines and live Twi'lek dancers, auctions for exotic pets like nexu cubs, and dinners costing more than most freighters—and Zule leaned back in her chair after reading a report and said, "This is idiotic—spending fortunes on nonsense while people starve out there." Jaden nodded and kept typing while Velea patched a hull panel, but the close quarters started wearing on them—Zule's pheromones filled the ship stronger each day, stirring tension as Jaden caught himself staring at her across the table. Velea fumbled tools when Zule brushed past, sadly Jaden and Velea hadn't had time or privacy to act on it with the research piling up.
By the end of the week Jaden sat on a crate in the lounge, tossing a rubber ball against the wall and catching it while frowning at the board, frustration building as they'd found no clear reason why Collan wanted him dead—no ties to Jabiim, no Jedi connections, nothing personal beyond the pre-trial loss which felt too petty for a man like that. He threw the ball harder, bounced it off the durasteel, and muttered to himself, "There's nothing here—Collan's got no link to Jabiim or the Order and I can't believe he'd spend so much over losing a courtroom argument."
Zule walked over, sat beside him on the crate, and handed him a cup of stimcaf while resting her hands on her knees. "Here—thought you could use this."
He took it, sipped the hot liquid, and nodded while setting it down. "Thanks—appreciate it."
She tilted her head and asked, "Did you discover anything new today?"
He laughed and shook his head while leaning back against the wall. "Nope—I'm stumped and I've got nothing to show for all this digging."
He sat there for a moment, staring at the board, then leaned forward and started talking faster while gripping the cup tighter. "This whole thing is driving me nuts, so many problems keep coming back to Jabiim when all I wanted was to do the right thing... now it feels like the galaxy's out to get me for it."
He stood up, paced a step, and kept going. "And now I've got this guy—Collan—hiring an entire mercenary company to hit the Jedi Temple just to take me out and I don't understand why he'd go that far."
He threw the ball again, put too much force into it, and watched it sail past the wall into the ship's corridor.
Zule looked at him and spoke quietly. "Not the whole galaxy."
He turned his head and said, "What?"
She sat up straighter and raised her voice a little. "The whole galaxy isn't against you."
She shifted closer and continued. "There are plenty of people who support you and I'm one of them. Even I first left the Order I couldn't stop worrying about my future or if I'd made a mistake or dishonored my old master's memory."
She looked down at her hands and kept talking. "But since I've been with you I don't worry about that anymore... because I've put all my faith in you and now I can sleep without feeling restless."
He tilted his head and asked, "Why me?"
She looked up at him and moved closer while speaking. "Because you never gave up and youve always found a way—like back on Jabiim when you put me on that gunship... I thought I'd never see you again. Let's be honest even you didn't expect to survive but you stayed anyway and saved the planet because of it."
She slid closer until their knees touched and said, "There's no one I'd rather give my everything to... you have it, everything I am is yours."
He sat there, mouth slightly open, and stared at her without finding words while she held his gaze.
She smiled faintly and added, "So I know you'll figure this out because you always do." She hesitated, leaned forward, and kissed his cheek, lingering for a second before pulling back.
Velea shouted from the cockpit, "Found something interesting over here!" Jaden blinked, stood up, and stepped away while Zule slid off the crate, both walking to the cockpit ladder and climbing up to join Velea at her console.
He leaned over her shoulder and asked, "What've you got?"
She tapped the screen and said, "It's not directly tied to Collan but it might help us—check this out."
She pulled up an advertisement for the Eternal Horizon—a massive atmospheric ship with sleek lines and glowing engines—and Jaden squinted at it while saying, "Very nice ship—looks fancy."
Velea scrolled through the specs and said, "You have no idea—I've been researching it and this thing's loaded with enough weapons and shields to make it nearly impenetrable like a warship." She kept typing and added, "It's built from rare materials like phrik and cortosis and has state-of-the-art defensive systems plus three battalions of automated security droids that are unhackable and very hard to break."
Jaden nodded and said, "Very nice but what's this got to do with Collan?"
She clicked another tab and said, "Well he's a majority share owner which is suspicious but not much beyond that—until I found this part." She scrolled to the museum section of the ad and zoomed in on a list of artifacts displayed onboard.
She tapped an image of a massive Kyber Crystal—jagged and glowing faintly—and stopped there while Jaden leaned closer.
His eyes widened and he said, "Wait—is that real?"
Velea nodded and kept her finger on the screen. "I triple-checked it and unless they're faking the dimensions that's one huge Kyber Crystal—biggest I've ever seen."
He straightened up and started pacing while saying, "Would it—" She cut him off and nodded while typing faster. "I've run the simulation a dozen times and a crystal half that size could run our engine without breaking a sweat."
He grinned and stopped pacing while clapping his hands together. "We need to get onto that ship—steal that crystal and we're set."
Velea scrolled to the event details and said, "Its maiden voyage is next week with a gala for upper society and the Senate—big crowd, lots of eyes."
He pointed at the screen and said, "That's when we strike—perfect timing."
Zule stepped forward and frowned while crossing her arms. "That's a lot of weapons and defenses—how do we get past all that without getting blasted?"
He waved a hand and turned to her. "We just need a good team and a solid plan and we'll slip through no problem."
Velea snorted and leaned back in her chair while looking at him. "Do you even have any friends besides us to pull this off?"
He smirked and crossed his arms while leaning against the console. "I've got a few."
(AN: There we go. The long awaited Gala is just around the corner. Everything is set up now we just need a Plan and a crew. Who do you think is gonna be on Jadens crew? Anyway we are at a point where a lot is gonna happen and things are going to be revealed. Tbh I'm considering making the Gala chapter 30k words. It'll be easier to get everything I want to say into it. Idk what do you guys think. Anyway I hope you enjoyed the chapter)
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