Private Beneath Neon and Blood

[Aielyn Veralas]

Aielyn followed in silence.

The narrow corridor pressed close, the scent of old metal and scorched wiring thick in the stagnant air. She did not flinch from it.

She moved carefully but without hesitation, adjusting to the space rather than resisting it. A place meant for ghosts, for things unseen.

Sable's voice threaded through the dim passage, matter-of-fact, sharp-edged but worn. There was no embellishment, no need for it. A life built in the shadows didn't require flourish.

At her question, Aielyn exhaled slowly.

"I'm still here." The words were quiet, simple—but carried more weight than the answer alone.

A flicker of wry amusement touched the corner of her lips, unseen in the half-light. "Though I doubt collapsing made for a great first impression."

Her fingers brushed against the conduit walls, tracing the faint hum beneath the surface. Energy, movement, purpose. The lifeblood of forgotten places.

"I'll manage." The words were even, steady. A truth—or at least close enough to one.

Her gaze flickered forward, watching the way Sable moved—efficient, pared down to necessity. Not careless. Not graceful. Just precise.

"You don't just 'get used to it' without reason." A pause. Then, quieter: "What made you start?"

She hadn't asked why. She already had a feeling that why wasn't a question people like them often had the luxury to answer.

Sable Varro

 

[Sable Varro]

​

Beneath Neon And Blood

Tag: Aielyn Veralas

Deployment Location:

• Primary Target Zone: [Denon]

Equipment Loadout:

• Primary Weapon(s): SD-L1 Long Blaster
• Secondary Weapon(s): HG-88 Big Iron, VB-113 "Tidefall" Class Vibroblade,
• Specialized Gear: Wrist Mounted Weapons (Hekler'Kok WMMW-01), DS-102 "Aegis" Personal Energy Shield,
• Armor & Attire: Personal Armor

---

---

​

Sable didn't stop walking.

Her fingers brushed the wall once—almost unconsciously—as if grounding herself in the hum of conduit lines rather than the weight of memory pressing in behind the question. Her pace didn't falter, but her shoulders tensed, just slightly, like something tightening under her skin.

"What made me start?" She echoed, voice low, almost thoughtful.

Another few steps. The corridor narrowed tighter. The air was warmer here, heavier with the heat bleed of power channels buried beneath the plating.

"Same thing that makes most people start," She said at last. "Someone else decided what I was supposed to be. Then I found I was good at it, and then, people wanted to keep me from doing the things I'm good at for others, and just for them...."

She ducked under a sagging cable bundle, exhaling faintly through her nose. Her mind bounced about, ruminating on the broken fragments of the past, and how they lingered about, drifting like dead planetoids at the back of her mind. "Now...I am what I am."

There was no bitterness in her tone—just flat, practiced detachment, like recounting the schematics of a broken system rather than her own life. But the silence that followed lingered too long to be casual.

"I just got good at adapting, a lot of people in my life don't fit into the picture, so...they get pushed out of frame." she added, quieter now, as if speaking more to the walls than to Aielyn. "Then one day you forget what it was like to not live between shadows."

A brief pause.

"And by the time you remember—" Her voice trailed off, unfinished. Maybe on purpose. Maybe because there was nothing useful at the end of that sentence.

Instead, she tilted her head slightly, just enough to glance back through the half-light.

"You collapsed, yeah," She said, dry amusement ghosting the edge of her words. "But you got up. That's the part that matters."

And again—forward. Always forward.

 

[Aielyn Veralas]

Aielyn moved in measured silence, following the path Sable cut through the dimly lit conduit. Her steps were steady, but her mind was anything but.

The words hung between them, not needing to be challenged, yet impossible to ignore. She knew the shape of them. Knew what it meant to be told what you were meant to be, to realize too late that the choice had never truly been yours.

And yet, she had walked away. Or at least, she had tried.

"Forgetting is easy." The words left her quietly, without weight, as though spoken to the air itself. "Remembering? That's the burden."

Her gaze flickered over the walls, the faded scorch marks, the lingering scent of old wiring and metal long past its prime. This place had been built for function, not memory.

That was the point, wasn't it?

You don't build conduits for people to stop.

You build them to move.

"I collapsed because I didn't see what was coming." She exhaled sharply, a breath that was almost a laugh but not quite. "Not the first time. Won't be the last."

And still, she followed.

Because Sable was right.

Getting up was what mattered.

Sable Varro

 

[Sable Varro]

​

Beneath Neon And Blood

Tag: Aielyn Veralas

Deployment Location:

• Primary Target Zone: [Denon]

Equipment Loadout:

• Primary Weapon(s): SD-L1 Long Blaster
• Secondary Weapon(s): HG-88 Big Iron, VB-113 "Tidefall" Class Vibroblade,
• Specialized Gear: Wrist Mounted Weapons (Hekler'Kok WMMW-01), DS-102 "Aegis" Personal Energy Shield,
• Armor & Attire: Personal Armor

---

---

Sable didn't turn back, but her pace slowed—just enough that Aielyn would notice. The flicker of movement in her stride was the closest thing to softness she would allow in a place like this.

"Yeah," She said after a moment, her voice low and rough, like gravel scraped over old steel. "Getting up's the part they never teach you. Just the falling. Just the pain."

She let her fingers trail briefly along a rusted pipe as they passed, the gesture more instinct than thought—something grounding, something real.

"You didn't collapse 'cause you were weak. You collapsed 'cause you were still breathing. That's how it goes when you're carrying things no one else sees."

A pause.

"Forgettin' might be easy. But it's a damn lie. The kind that wraps itself around your ribs and pretends it's mercy."

Sable finally looked back, not all the way—just a glance over her shoulder, eyes catching the dim light like coals under ash.

"You remember because it made you. Just like I remember 'cause it broke me. Difference is…we're still walkin'. That's the part they never expect. It's survival mentality."

Then, quieter, almost to herself, "And that's the part that burns 'em the most."

She turned back forward again, shoulders squared against the corridor ahead.

"Let's keep moving."

 

[Aielyn Veralas]

Aielyn watched her, her own steps falling into rhythm with Sable's. The words didn't surprise her, but they settled deep, pressing against the places she rarely let anyone see.

"Mercy." The word left her lips like a breath, soft, almost disbelieving. "I think I stopped believing in mercy the day I realized it's just another word for forgetting."

Her fingers curled slightly, tension flickering in her knuckles before she forced them to relax. Sable was right. Forgetting was a lie—one that whispered of absolution but never truly gave it. She had tried to forget. Had tried to drown memory beneath the weight of survival, to strip herself of the pieces that hurt the most.

And yet—every step she took was still leading her back to where it all began.

Her gaze flickered ahead, past the dim glow of failing lights, past the cold metal walls that closed in around them.

"I remember because it made me," she echoed, her voice quieter now, but no less certain. "But I don't know if that's enough."

She didn't glance at Sable, but she didn't need to. They both knew the answer already.

They were still walking.

And as long as they were walking, the past couldn't bury them.

She let out a slow breath, steadying herself before nodding slightly. "Then let it burn."

And with that, she moved forward.

Sable Varro

 

[Sable Varro]

​

Beneath Neon And Blood

Tag: Aielyn Veralas

Deployment Location:

• Primary Target Zone: [Denon]

Equipment Loadout:

• Primary Weapon(s): SD-L1 Long Blaster
• Secondary Weapon(s): HG-88 Big Iron, VB-113 "Tidefall" Class Vibroblade,
• Specialized Gear: Wrist Mounted Weapons (Hekler'Kok WMMW-01), DS-102 "Aegis" Personal Energy Shield,
• Armor & Attire: Personal Armor

---

---

Sable didn't respond right away.

She didn't need to. There was something in the way Aielyn said it:
"Then let it burn"
There was something about that, that stroked at her mind. It simply existed, raw and unflinching, a kind of truth you didn't look directly at for too long. Sable understood that kind of fire. She'd carried it too.

She had helped foster it once, on Dantooine.

Her expression didn't shift, but her stride did—just slightly looser at the shoulders, just a breath more grounded. Not softness, not trust. Just recognition.

"Good," She said at last, voice low and even. "Well, if you’re intent to let ‘it’ burn, just make sure it lights your path instead of consuming it."

Her fingers brushed the wall again—habit, not hesitation—as they passed another junction where the conduit veered tighter, the tunnel sloping downward. The scent of ozone thickened, mixed with the damp rot of old coolant lines and rusted steel. Somewhere ahead, deeper into the guts of the station, the power grid murmured like a half-sleeping animal.

Sable angled toward the descent without missing a beat.

"No one ever walks out of life clean," She added, more to the dark than to Aielyn. "But walking out at all, it can be seen as a start."

Another breath, steady. Measured.

And she kept going forward; silent, but no longer alone in the steps.

Well at least in her mind.

 

[Aielyn Veralas]

Aielyn didn't respond immediately either. Their footsteps filled the silence for a time, a steady rhythm against the conduit floor—boots over grating, breath in stale air, metal echoing memory.

What Sable said hung in the space between them.

"It already did," she said eventually, voice low but unwavering. "Burn, I mean."

She didn't elaborate. Didn't need to.

"I thought if I left, I could outrun the smoke. But I carry it with me." A soft exhale followed—half-laugh, half-sigh. "Maybe that's the path, then. Not away from the fire. Just… through it."

She ran her hand along the curve of a passing pipe, not for balance, but for anchor—a small gesture to stay present in the narrow dark.

"Clean?" she echoed with a faint, wry twist of her lips. "I don't even remember what that would feel like."

But she didn't sound broken. Just tired. Honest.

She let the quiet return for a few paces more, then added—

"Thank you. For not pretending it's simpler than it is."

And she kept walking. No declarations. No need for ceremony.

Just fire—contained, for now.

Sable Varro

 

[Sable Varro]

​

Beneath Neon And Blood

Tag: Aielyn Veralas

Deployment Location:

• Primary Target Zone: [Denon]

Equipment Loadout:

• Primary Weapon(s): SD-L1 Long Blaster
• Secondary Weapon(s): HG-88 Big Iron, VB-113 "Tidefall" Class Vibroblade,
• Specialized Gear: Wrist Mounted Weapons (Hekler'Kok WMMW-01), DS-102 "Aegis" Personal Energy Shield,
• Armor & Attire: Personal Armor

---

---

Sable didn't break stride, just moving on down the tunnel, quietly musing on how ridiculous this whole situation was.

"Nothing ever is."

The words were simple, but not dismissive. Just truth, laid bare like everything else between them.

She understood the weight of smoke that never really left your lungs, the way it clung no matter how far you ran. Aielyn wasn't the first person to learn that, and she wouldn't be the last. But she had the right of it, sometimes the only path forward was straight through.

Sable didn't offer comfort. Didn't soften. That wasn't what either of them needed. But she acknowledged it, in the only way that mattered. “Where are you from? It’ll get awkward if we just keep trying to ignore one another.”

She nodded once, a small, sharp movement. Then, quieter.

"Come on."

The tunnel continued to stretch on, several ladders hung from the ceiling, hinting to some sort of exit being above. She was trying to recall the way out of here, but she wasn’t about to tell her companion that she was lost.

 

[Aielyn Veralas]

Aielyn followed without complaint, her footsteps quiet behind Sable's, but steady. Her eyes drifted upward as they passed under the hanging ladders, watching the shadows ripple and fold with the dim lighting—like pieces of a puzzle that didn't want to be solved.

Sable's question cut the silence cleanly. Direct. Practical.
Aielyn almost appreciated it.

"Valisca Prime," she answered after a breath, the words slipping out with a practiced sort of control—like a name she hadn't spoken in a while, or one she wasn't sure she still had the right to claim.

Then, drier: "Probably not on your map."

Her gaze swept the tunnel ahead.

"The kind of place that keeps its secrets. Including how to leave it, apparently."

Not quite an accusation. Just a flicker of amusement beneath the fatigue. A small, knowing glance toward Sable. She didn't call her out directly, but it was clear she'd noticed the uncertain glances at the junctions. And she didn't mind. Not yet.

"We're not ignoring each other." Her tone shifted, quieter now. More level. "If we were, we wouldn't be talking about smoke and fire and what survives."

She ducked beneath a pipe, brushing it with one hand as she passed.

"You don't ask questions like that if you want silence."

Then she kept moving too, not stopping, not pressing—just matching stride.

"I won't hold it against you if we're lost. Not the worst place I've been lost in."

Sable Varro

 

[Sable Varro]

​

Beneath Neon And Blood

Tag: Aielyn Veralas

Deployment Location:

• Primary Target Zone: [Denon]

Equipment Loadout:

• Primary Weapon(s): SD-L1 Long Blaster
• Secondary Weapon(s): HG-88 Big Iron, VB-113 "Tidefall" Class Vibroblade,
• Specialized Gear: Wrist Mounted Weapons (Hekler'Kok WMMW-01), DS-102 "Aegis" Personal Energy Shield,
• Armor & Attire: Personal Armor

---

---

Sable exhaled sharply. Not quite a laugh, but close.

"Wouldn't be the first time. I've met some, very odd people."

She didn't bother denying it. Aielyn had already seen through that. They weren't ignoring each other, and Sable wasn't the type to waste breath on pretending otherwise.

"Valisca Prime," She repeated, turning the name over like a worn credit chip between her fingers. It didn't mean anything to her. She put it to her mind however. Places like that had a way of popping up at unexpected times. Least now she head about it.

She glanced sidelong at Aielyn. "So, you suggesting you still haven't left it then? Ominous."

She felt that, oddly enough. But she kept her thoughts to herself.

Her pace stayed steady, even as she took another turn with the kind of confidence that was more about momentum than certainty. They certainly could have been lost.

"If we are, it won't last."

She ran her fingers along a conduit line as she passed. She was checking heat, current, direction. If it was warm, that meant that it was still supplying power, which meant, whatever was above them would more than likely be populated.

Of course, there was always a chance that...this conduit just coupled up with some power relay station elsewhere.

Regardless, it felt warm, so....that just meant it was active.

She paused, looking to the nearby ladder, then slowly turned to Aielyn. "We can climb up here, get back to the surface, should be far enough away from CORSEC by now."

 

[Aielyn Veralas]

Aielyn regarded the ladder in silence for a beat, her gaze trailing upward into the gloom above. The faint, flickering light at the top barely touched the rungs, casting long shadows down the metal spine. She didn't move right away.

"Valisca never really lets go," she murmured at last, tone quiet but firm—like she wasn't answering the question, but the implication behind it. "You don't leave a world like that. Not all of you."

Her voice carried no bitterness, only truth. The kind that settled in the chest like ash long after the fire had gone.

She shifted her footing slightly, adjusting the fall of her cloak over one shoulder, and finally turned her eyes to Sable. There was something knowing in her expression—measured, calm, but carrying the weight of someone who'd made peace with being watched, hunted, remembered.

"But I am here," she added, gently. A dry edge of amusement followed, "And I'm apparently harder to kill than some expected."

Her eyes flicked to the ladder, then back.

"You first. You're better armed, and if there's something unpleasant up there, I'd rather not land on top of it."

A beat passed, then the faintest smirk crept across her lips.

"Unless you like the dramatic entrance. I won't judge."

Sable Varro