Private Refuel

[Starlin Rand]

Starlin, meanwhile, found a computer terminal and downloaded a map of the station, hoping to use it to pinpoint the location of their gear. Their ship was still docked on the other side of the station, a few levels up… huh. The docking logs said a freighter arrived shortly after theirs. The Harlock… phew, was she ugly! Looked like a kid’s toy pirate ship—very eccentric design. Probably more hapless travelers for the people here to prey upon.

Starlin reached for his comlink to inform Eli of this new development, only to remember he didn’t have one anymore. Even if he found one he could use, it would be useless so long as Eli didn’t have one to receive the message. “Chit,” he muttered. “Okay, Starlin, he'll be fine. Eli's got a good head on his shoulders. As for me, stealth it is. ‘So that this problem I might rectify, Ashla, hide me from the Outer Eye…’"

Flames bathed Starlin’s body, swallowing him whole. Completely invisible, he crept forward, heading further into the facility…

On the other side of the door Eli opened, voices could be heard.

“Well, highwayman? Have you seen them?” a woman’s voice asked.

“N-no… I don’t—I don’t know what you’re talking about—” The man’s voice broke off, yelping in pain. “Please, please… we just wanted your stuff…”

“I am aware that you are nothing but a bunch of robbers and thieves. You're lucky we didn't slaughter the lot of you the moment you tried to steal from us. But if you cooperate now, we may let you live...”

Lief​

 

[Lief]

The voices drifting from the other side of the door were nothing short of terrifying for the boy. He gulped back some of his doubt, and flexed his hands around the Force-wrought handle of the glowing dagger.

Highwaymen. Another voice, seemingly someone who had also been accosted. Part of him didn't even want to enter, maybe he could slip on by undetected? And yet if this was one of the people who had taken from them, perhaps they'd know where their items were?

Still that other voice left him unnerved.

"What do I do, what do I do" he muttered quietly to himself, voice barely even audible even to his own ears. He stepped back, pressed his back against the wall that the door was on, and inhaled a long breath. Then he reached out with his senses, probing beyond the doorway to try and get a read on anything there that might feel... familiar.

Okay, so he was searching for the crystal which lay within his lightsaber. Sue him.

Starlin Rand

 

[Starlin Rand]

Eliphas’ lightsaber was being held, along with other items stolen from travelers, in a room not far from his current location. Unfortunately, reaching that room would require him to pass within view of the woman and the robber she was currently interrogating. Trying to wait them out was impractical, seeing as the torturous forced confession could stretch on for hours. He might attempt to engage with them, or turn back and head in the other direction to find some tool that could aid him, or simply return to his master’s side, among a myriad of other options. But the boy would have to make a choice, and there were no easy, straightforward options…

Meanwhile, the invisible Starlin (must teach Eli the spell later…) was making his way toward the hangar, intent on preventing the highwaymen (hyperroutemen? Nah, doesn’t have the same ring to it) from assaulting and stealing from any more victims. To his surprise, he encountered what appeared to be Eli, headed straight for him.

“Eli, what are you—” Starlin began, speaking in a whisper, only to break off as he realized Eli’s presence in the Force was elsewhere aboard the station. The boy standing in front of him, on the other hand, had no presence in the Force at all.

All the same, “Eli” froze, staring at the blank space before him in wide-eyed confusion. Starlin had enough sense to move—roughly a split second before “Eli” raised a blaster and fired a stun bolt in the space where he had been standing.

What the feth? Starlin thought, still gawking at the doppelganger. Who is this guy? What is this guy? What’s going—

He was forced to duck and roll as “Eli” sprayed the corridor with blue stun fire. Unfortunately, he rolled close to a door, triggering a motion sensor and causing it to open. As more bolts rained down by the door, Starlin scrambled inside the room, sent a loose piece of flimsiplast flying with the breeze his rapid movements caused, and even bumped against a table like a complete buffoon. Stealth wasn't one of his strong suits.

“Eli”’s eyes flicked toward each object as it was struck, tracking his target, and raised his blaster…

Lief​

 

[Lief]

While weighing up his options, Eliphas rubbed at his sore wrists, partially raw from the rope they'd been tied up with, and turned the energy dagger within his grasp a few times. Steeling his nerves as he realized the only real chance he'd have of getting his belongings back relied on being stalwart and brave. There was no Starlin this time to back him up, no Nimdok to suggest some wacky alternative, just a boy and a distinct need to get that crystal back at all cost.​

​

Feth the rest of it, he had only one need. Everything else was, well, replaceable. For him, at least.​

​

The question was, did he go in brazenly or did he try to sneak past? An exhale through his nose, and he looked to the blade. If he went with the latter that would have to go, far too bright, which would leave him defenseless. If he had any faith in his abilities to do so he might have found a quiet place to rest and entered an astral state... Nope. No he wasn't ready to put that into real practice just yet.​

​

He tossed the blade from hand to hand, then sucked in a sharp breath. The woman didn't want him, she wanted the highwayman. The highwayman was busy being interrogated. Right?​

​

Right.​

​

He approached the door, which opened when he neared, and peered into the room beyond. The dagger glowered, making clear his presence. He held up his free hand in something of a harmless gesture. "I just... Want my things back..." the boy stated, gaze shifting from woman to man then back again, "I've no issues with you, lady... Sounds like he's tried to steal your stuff too..." As he spoke he slowly inched his way into the room, never once shifting his gaze from the pair as he did so, keeping his body turned toward them even when it meant walking sideways.​

​

"I'm just passing through, and you can do whatever you're doing..." Please, he thought, please don't make this any harder than it already was...​

​

Starlin Rand ​

 

[Starlin Rand]

The woman was tall, statuesque, and definitely not dressed like a spacer. She wore dark robes and a cloak covered in what must’ve been hundreds of black and gray feathers. The cloak was clasped by a pair of golden talons, and a headdress that looked like it was made from feathers dipped in molten gold crowned her head. Though she was human, her attire gave her the predatory airs of a bird of prey, or the proud priestess of some avian-worshipping cult.

At the sound of Eli’s voice, she looked up from the highwayman lying in agony at her feet and met the Padawan’s gaze. There was something missing in her dark eyes.

“Percival, I told you to—” She broke off, studying the boy more closely. “Ah, so you’re the apprentice!”

With no further use for the highwayman, she promptly snapped his neck. The body had hardly hit the floor before she stepped over him, advancing toward Eli, her gaze still fixed on him. There was something hypnotic about her, making it difficult to break eye contact…

“We’re looking for your master, Padawan. He’s on this station, isn’t he? You and him were captured by these awful thieves, poor dear. Tell you what. We’ll help you get your stuff, if you’ll lead us to Starlin.”

Meanwhile, as “Eli” raised his blaster, the weapon was suddenly struck from his hands by a powerful blow, sending it spinning across the room. Starlin let his invisibility spell fizzle out, no longer bothering with stealth. He aimed a punch at “Eli”’s face, causing the doppelganger to stagger backwards.

“Who are you, and why do you look like—” Starlin started to ask, only to be cut off as “Eli” suddenly lunged forward, grabbing him by the throat. His grip was superhumanly strong. Gasping for air, Starlin beat his right fist against the doppelganger’s stomach repeatedly, letting his phrik claw emerge from his knuckles and stab deep into his opponent’s flesh.

Finally released from the chokehold, Starlin tried not to cough too much as he stumbled away. Silver blood dripped from his claw.

Bleeding profusely from the gut, “Eli” didn’t seem to feel his wounds. He raised his fists, and from his knuckles there emerged metal claws just like Starlin’s own—except he had it in both hands.

Upon seeing this, Starlin gaped at him like a fish. This was simply too weird for him. He screamed like a little girl and bolted out the door, barreling down the hallway at top speed—the doppelganger in pursuit.

Lief​

 

[Lief]

Percival?​

​

Wait... That name seemed familiar to him. All at once he was jolted back to the lowest point in his life so far, just after the crashing of The Atale, to the doppelganger who had saved him from the drengir in the swamps. "You... Know Percival?" he inquired, brows knitting together in consideration and surprise. Though truth be told, for his part Eliphas didn't really know Percival, did he? Nope.​

Never did find out why they looked so similar.​

​

When she stated what he was he took a slight step back and immediately realized his mistake. He'd presumed that her problem with the man - a man she'd just killed, by the way - was that he'd stolen from her. But nope, as he reassessed the situation and his mind raced he realized his folly. Not that... She was looking for them?​

​

He swallowed back a gulp and his eyes widened.​

​

It might have been easy to fall into the trance and give her the information that she wanted, but there was something unnerving about her that made him second guess it. Instead he shook his head, trying to draw his eyes away from hers. "Why?" he squeaked out, before steeling his nerves.​

​

"Why are you looking for him?" Eliphas' expression hardened, and he clenched his fist around the blade. Tried to appear stronger than he was. "I'm here alone. And I know where my things are, so I don't need your help, so... Uh..."​

​

Confidence cracked toward the end, though he had begun to work his way around the room to the other door, the one which would bring him closer to his lightsaber. "I'm sorry but I can't help you." He tried to ignore the dead body in the room, but his stupid gaze drifted there and he paled in response. Backed closer to the doorway.​

​

Starlin Rand​

 

[Starlin Rand]

“You know Percival?” the woman echoed. That little detail had been left out of the plan. Oh well.

She frowned slightly as Eli failed to fall for her tricks. Clearly he was better trained than she thought—better than she expected from the student of Starlin Rand, at any rate. “Your master and our employer have a score to settle,” she replied. “We won’t kill him. She wants him brought to her alive.”

Though it didn’t take a genius to figure out that this “employer” probably wanted the pleasure of killing Starlin herself.

As Eli made a move for the door, she stretched out her hand, using the Force to hold the door shut. “You must help us,” she insisted. “It’s not necessary for us to hurt you, but if we must…” She glanced toward the corpse of the dead highwayman.

Oh feth, oh feth, oh feth…

Starlin continued to flee down the corridor, his thoughts utterly panicked.

Oh feth, he’s gaining on me!

He couldn’t feel the approach of the doppelganger, but he could hear him getting closer, his antennapalps detecting the vibrations of his footfalls growing louder. Still running, he started to utter the words to a spell. “So that I may continue to play this game unmai—”

A blast of sonic waves from the doppelganger’s throat silenced him and knocked him off his feet. Pain erupted in his temples, his ears ringing. His antennapalps had ruptured, blood trickling down his forehead.

He was close to Eli’s position, he could sense it. But the doppelganger would kill him before he had a chance to reach his apprentice—and what then, anyway? He’d simply be putting Eli in danger.

This… thing, whatever it was, it was like it had been made to kill him. Made to kill Force Users, anyway. Who in the galaxy was known for manufacturing robots designed to hunt down Force Users, and also had it out to get Starlin?

“Darth Xiphos,” he muttered. “She sent you after me. She made you look like my apprentice… What a sick puppy she is.”

The doppelganger did not respond. Instead, he raised his hands, some sort of electrical discharge crackling among his fingers. Through the blood trickling from his temple, Starlin saw it coming. The blast hit him, but rather than stunning him, he absorbed it—and deflected it back. He didn’t stay long enough to make sure it had truly downed the doppelganger, turning and heading toward Eli’s position. Their only option now, if they were going to survive, was to get the hell out of here.

Lief​

 

[Lief]

The door was shut and Eliphas began to mutter nonsense under his breath.​

​

Literal nonsense.​

​

Then, in between said nonsense, he drew upon the Force and slipped in words which had become somewhat familiar to him as of late.​

​

"I walk in shadow and darkness," he mumbled, with as much conviction as he could muster up given his attempts at deception, "Ashla, protect me from wickedness!" Whether it would work or not, whether she'd pick up on what he was doing and stop him, he didn't know, but he'd try all the same and hope that his skin would begin to glow in response.​

​

Either way he held the dagger tightly and turned to keep his body facing hers.​

​

"I know Percival. He saved me once... So why would he let you kill me now?" His brows furrowed, and he still took another step back toward the door. Tried to reach out through the Force to try and pry it open for himself, though truth be told he was still utterly poodoo when it came to telekinetic abilities. "PERCIVAL... HELP!" he yelled out, hoping that somehow, some way, he was right, that his doppelganger would realize who he was and help again...​

​

He knew the chances were slim to none, though. More likely he'd just be laughed at.​

​

"I'm not going to let you take him" he snapped at the woman, avoiding looking at that body for a second time. "I'll die before I do." For once there was no wavering in his tone, he spoke only with conviction. Starlin wasn't just his Master, he was his friend... And Eliphas would do anything for his friends.​

​

Starlin Rand​

 

[Starlin Rand]

“Eli!” Starlin shouted, bursting through the door. “We’re leaving!”

He nearly crashed into his Padawan, freezing as he spotted the woman. Given his past experiences with the forces of Darth Xiphos and her allies, he knew what a crazily-dressed woman tagging along meant: she was a Cultist, like the Amalgam, the woman who had destroyed his eye and nearly killed him on Krayiss II.

“Oh, feth!” he swore. “Where’s our shit, Eli?!”

He needn’t have asked. The signatures of the lightsaber he’d built as a boy and the shoto his master had made for him were like beacons amid a stormy sea, familiar as old friends.

While he used the Force to rip the door off its hinges, the doppelganger arrived. Percival Io, smeared with silver blood, was the only one in the group who didn’t seem at all fazed by what awaited him. Starlin’s gear flew into his hands, blue and orange light bathing his surroundings as he ignited his blades; the enraged woman raised her hands, Force lightning arcing between her fingertips; Eli… uh, did his thing.

With a sigh, Percival drew his blade. “I told you this was a stupid plan,” he said irritably.

Lief​

 

[Lief]

Starlin came storming in then, like a hurricane, and had the door off its hinges and his lightsabers returned in no time. Eliphas could see his things now in the room beyond but he wasn't so confident in his ability to get them back on his person in the same way that his Master had.​

​

Soon after, Percival arrived.​

​

He eyed his doppelganger with steely eyes. The last thing he wanted was to hurt what looked to be himself. "C'mon, man," he groaned, as the other-Eli drew his weapon, "I thought we had something, you and I... Back in that swamp..."​

​

Alas. T'was not to be.​

​

Now that he wasn't alone, he once again stated the spell only this time louder and with more conviction. His skin began to glow anew, and he backed closer to that doorway. "Fastest way to the ship?" he asked his Master, more or less resigning himself to the fact that they likely wouldn't be able to actually incapacitate the two maniacs before them. No, hold them off until they could get back to the ship. Pray they made it away from the station in one piece.​

​

His free hand tingled, and he reached out through the Force to try and pull his lightsaber into his palm. He wanted that crystal back, he needed that crystal back, feth the rest of it.​

​

Starlin Rand ​

 

[Starlin Rand]

"I thought we had something, you and I... Back in that swamp..."

"We had something?" Percival cocked his head. "You could barely even fire a blaster. You were a liability."

Between Eli's use of the Ward Against the Dark and the powerful enchantments of Starlin's shoto, the woman seemed very reluctant to come anywhere near them. She was snarling at them, perfect white teeth bared, but she made no move to attack. Percival, on the other hand, was very much a problem. He had zero fear of the Light Side, and he'd been built to hunt Jedi like them.

"Your robot clone came very close to laying my ass out, Eli. I don't recommend you try to fight him." The rest of Starlin's gear was still attaching itself to him, his belt fastening around his waist and his tal'kar bracelet encircling his wrist. Carrying too much unique gear isn't good when you're in a situation like this, but there was no way he was leaving behind all his best stuff.

Eli reached out, calling his lightsaber to him. The hilt flew through the air and landed in his hand shortly thereafter. "Nice job," Starlin said, finding the time to praise his Padawan even in a bullshit situation like this. Once his Padawan was fully armed, Starlin made a half-hearted swing toward Percival, who easily blocked the blow.

"Even if I hit you, it won't hurt, will it?" he growled. "Lightsabers are a Jedi weapon. You've probably got a cortosis skeleton."

"Specialized glands, actually," Percival replied.

"Glands? How does that work?"

"They emit a similar type of energy at the atomic level, comparable to cortosis ore."

"Fethin' weird..." Starlin kept him distracted while he plotted out their escape route. Take a right, and if they could reach the lift at the far end of the hall, they should be good... "On your right, Eli. The lift, fifth level. 'So that this problem I might rectify, Ashla, hide me from the Outer Eye…'"

Hopefully Eli was able to remember the spell after hearing it once, because Starlin abruptly vanished from view—and if Eli started running, he would too, albeit keeping himself between him and Percival.

Lief​

 

[Lief]

"I was the lone survivor from a crashed ship, delirious," he stated bluntly, unaware when he did if he'd even told Starlin that part of it. Nobody else had made it out, and he was in a pretty rough shape truth be told. "You didn't leave me behind though. Seems almost a waste to kill me now, doesn't it?"​

​

He was bluffing. Since when did Eliphas try to bluff? Since right this very second. Truth be told he was a sentimental person though, the crystal was indicative of that, he liked to think that what people did and said mattered, that it meant something. Liked to think that the fact that they were more or less identical it might mean something.​

​

Oh well, seemed as though he was wrong.​

​

His lightsaber slapped into the palm of his hand, and he curled his fingers around it. Two blades... He'd never wielded two blades before. Oh well, he ignited the lightsaber and set it defensively between himself and the crazed individuals. The woman at least had sense enough to keep back, but Percival?​

​

Well, not him. He just kept coming, pressing them further and further. So as not to accidentally lop off his Master's arm or something Eliphas hung back, allowing him to do the engaging for now, and at the mention of a turbolift nearby he began to head that way, walking backwards and keeping his attention latched on their pursuers.​

​

Starlin muttered a spell then, and it took Eliphas a moment to realize what it did. Invisibility? Feth yeah!​

​

He was already pretty drained though, he was already upholding two other spells, and he wasn't sure it was the time to make use of a third, so instead he continued to back up in full view, aware that he'd probably end up having to clash with the doppelganger himself now that he was the only one visible.​

​

"Come on, man" the boy said, saber outstretched and poised like a fencing foil, "I haven't done anything to wrong you, and I don't even know her, this isn't right and you know it..."​

​

More and more he was beginning to worry he'd have to make a move, but he wasn't very confident in his saber skills and as had already been discussed Percival was resistant anyway.​

​

Feth.​

​

Starlin Rand ​

 

[Starlin Rand]

"You didn't leave me behind though. Seems almost a waste to kill me now, doesn't it?"

"Joining the NJO was a waste of your life," Percival replied matter-of-factly. "Now you've made yourself an enemy of House Io."

Starlin was a bit puzzled as to how the two even knew each other, but that was questions for another day. Eli was probably pretty confused about all this, too. There was going to be a lot of 'splaining later, provided they got out of this place in one piece.

He wondered what this Percival guy's weaknesses were. Xiphos' creations always had one major flaw with the potential to wreck them. The problem was, it was usually something unusual and very specific. Like the nanite assassin he and Arc had dealt with back at his mother's apartment. She'd been destroyed almost instantly with a little terentatek acid. Would acid defeat Percival? Was there any acid available on this station? Maybe Starlin should start carrying around some acid with him at all times...

He still couldn't get over the fact that he looked just like Eli. And wait a minute—hadn't Eli's ship crashed before he became Starlin's apprentice? Yet that was where he and Percival met each other? Well, Eli and Starlin had already met before that... Oh yeah, didn't Xiphos have a seeress working for her? The seeress probably saw the future, realized that they were destined to become master and apprentice or some crap like that, then went "hey Xiphos, he's gonna take a Padawan! His name is Eliphas Dune, and he's from a very wealthy family! You can probably easily obtain pictures of him, or even a DNA sample!" Crikey. What was that chick's name? She'd kicked Starlin's ass on Kerest, came at him with a lightspear...

With the Force, Starlin pulled on rusty wall panels, manipulating the metal into a spike. Percival dodged it the first time, made a move toward Eli, but Starlin predicted that. Manipulative little robot bastard. He impaled the droid, then twisted the ends of the spike around him, forming a vice, which he then embedded in the ceiling. Percival could not feel pain, but it was an absolutely grotesque sight, especially considering his resemblance to Eli.

Starlin was starting to feel a little woozy, the result of his injuries, physical strain, and overuse of the Force. "Eli, the lift!" he hissed, heading there himself.

The woman was starting to catch up. She completely ignored Percival and tried to come after them, but the lift doors had closed and they were already headed down. Overwhelmed, Starlin sank to the floor, his invisibility spell fizzling out. Dark spots clouded his vision, making it hard to see...

Lief​

 

[Lief]

"Well looking like me was a waste of yours" he stated back, finally dropping any hope he might have had of a kinship between them. Feth this droid who was hunting them down, and feth the idiot who had sent him. Eliphas was beyond ready to leave at this point.​

​

When not-Eli lunged toward him the boy jolted back only to be treated to a view of not-himself being impaled by a metallic spike. He yelped audibly, eyes widening something fierce, and all at once felt as though he might-- yep.​

​

Eliphas hunched over momentarily, looking as though he was about to hurl. One hand reached out to the wall to steady himself, though as much as the urge had arisen within him the lack of any actual meal that day made it something of an impossibility. Bile rose up, and was quickly pushed back down with a shake of his head.​

​

No. He wouldn't. No way he'd give Percy such satisfaction.​

​

Instead he finally turned, putting his back to them, and hurried into the lift just as his Master had ordered.​

​

Once inside he slumped back against the wall. He might have crumpled himself if he hadn't noticed that Starlin had done so first. "Woah, hey, are you okay?" he asked, reaching for a kolto shot that no longer existed on his person.​

​

Great. He'd have to buy a bunch of new equipment once they got back to Coruscant. If they ever got out of this place. Instead he dropped to a knee before his Master, and reached out to touch his forehead to check for a fever.​

​

Not that Eliphas knew how to check for a fever, it was just something he'd seen people do before.​

​

Starlin Rand ​

 

[Starlin Rand]

Starlin was down for the count. Not feverish, just exhausted. His brow was covered in sweat and dried blood from his head wound, his throat was bruised, and he had overexerted himself.

Strange noises from the elevator shaft below them—they were rising—and a growing sense of unease forced him back to consciousness. Which is to say he jolted awake, blinking blearily at Eli.

“You got any smokes?”

More blinking as he slowly came back from the brink.

“Are those stims? Gimme.”

He took the kolto shot and immediately stabbed it into his thigh. Sighing, he looked down, hearing rattling below them. Probably not Percival. Probably the woman coming after them. Joy.

“I dunno about you, man, but I wanna go home,” he muttered stupidly. Despite his sluggish state, when the lift came to a halt and the doors opened, he grabbed Eli and hightailed it out of there. The rattling and banging noises from below were getting louder.

Lief​

 

[Lief]

Starlin was drifting.​

​

That wasn't good, right? Especially not with a head trauma... When his brother had taken a particularly rough tumble as a kid his parents had been instructed not to let him sleep for a while, at least until they got some antishock in his system. Well, Eliphas did not have antishock and he certainly didn't want his Master to slip into an eternal rest.​

​

So he did the only thing he could think of. He gently reached out and tapped the man's cheek. Not harsh, not a full slap, but enough to keep him from fully drifting.​

​

"Hey, no, stay awake," the kid said, voice becoming all the more tense with each word. Thankfully Starlin's eyelids soon fluttered open, though the question he asked was just as puzzling. "What? No..." Since when did Eliphas carry smokes? Did he even see Eli or just some random figure?​

​

More rattling below. Eliphas swallowed down a lump in his throat. By now the dagger had faded from existence, though his skin still held something of a shimmer. His Master grabbed the last of the Kolto shots, and he didn't stop him from using it. If anything he was glad he did. There'd be plenty more where that came from, or they'd be dead before they needed it.​

​

Either way he didn't care.​

​

At least it seemed to further rouse him. When the door opened he rose up with his Master and began to head out toward the ship, supporting the man if he could. With any luck they'd make it before whatever was chasing them caught up. Was it going to be a mangled version of himself, or the feathery lady?​

​

The boy didn't want to find out.​

​

Starlin Rand ​

 

[Starlin Rand]

“Smoke ‘em if you got ‘em.” Clearly Starlin wasn’t at a hundred percent mentally yet, but at least he was moving purposefully toward the hangar.

The Defender was fully intact, showing no signs of tampering. What’s more, as Starlin boarded the vessel and checked the fuel tank, it was full. At least the clowns here had done their job.

Engines whirring, the vessel began to rise. Starlin could sense the woman getting closer, scrambling to reach them, but it was too late. They were already in space by the time she reached the hangar, jumping to hyperspace while she boarded her own vessel.

The stars ignited through the viewport window, and Starlin breathed a sigh of relief. “You okay?” he asked his apprentice.

Still high on adrenaline, Starlin began to see to his own injuries, dragging out a medkit and injecting himself with bacta. Contrary to what Eli believed, he was not suffering from head trauma—but his antennapalps had ruptured due to sonic damage. That was the source of the blood oozing from his head. It wasn’t pretty, and Starlin’s equilibrium was screwy as a result, but it wasn’t life-threatening. More than anything else, he just needed to rest.

“I’m sure you have a million questions,” he said, rubbing his sore throat. “Who were these people, why were they after me, and so on. The answers are gonna have to wait until after I’ve had a nap, kid.”

Lief​

 

[Lief]

Eliphas just let the man babble on about his smokes, for frankly what else was he going to do? Soon enough they were out in the hangar, and then they were rushing up the ramp, and then the ship was rising.​

​

It all felt so surreal. Like it wasn't actually happening at all. As they drew away from the pitstop he couldn't help but feel a pang of remorse at all he'd been forced to leave behind. Since coming to the Jedi from Empress Teta he'd certainly had to downsize, he kept only the most important things on his person and beyond that just some sentimental items.​

​

Thankfully the holocron had been left on the ship. Still there in his room, tucked away. But his blaster? His holpad, filled with all the spells he'd learned? Comlink, and other Jedi essentials? Gone.​

​

He looked to the lightsaber still held within his grasp, and breathed a sigh of relief. At least Yara was still with him. Or what he attributed to her at the very least.​

​

"Yeah" was his short response, as he returned it to its place on his belt and turned toward Starlin. "You look like chit" he remarked, then realized what he'd said. His eyes widened. "Uh..." Cursing wasn't really an Eliphas thing to do, much less at his Master. "Are you okay? You alright to rest?"​

​

Questions. Yeah, he had questions. He reckoned maybe Starlin had some for him too, insofar as the doppelganger was concerned. For now though none of that mattered.​

​

"Go on, I'll keep watch up here."​

​

Starlin Rand ​

 

[Starlin Rand]

Starlin looked at Eli for a little while longer, squinting at him, then he said, “Okay,” and promptly left for his quarters.

He crashed into bed and slept for several hours. When he woke up, he felt a little better, but he was sore and grimy. A shower and a hot meal later, he was just sore. Soreness he could deal with.

Wandering back into the cockpit with a blanket wrapped around his shoulders and a mug of hot caf, he sat in the pilot’s seat. “You are relieved from your post, faithful watchman,” he said, sipping from his mug. “Oh shit, did you want some caf too?”

For a little while Starlin was quiet, before he started running his mouth again. “So, uh… yeah. That happened.” He didn’t really know where to begin.

Lief​

 

[Lief]

For a moment he was worried that Starlin was going to fight with him about it. But ultimately he up and left, and in the aftermath Eliphas checked the various ship consoles to ensure everything was in order - and to try and check if anyone was hot on their tail, more importantly - and upon finding little he could really alter or anything to be wholly concerned about he stretched.​

​

Rose up, and briefly headed back into his room. Rummaged around for a couple of stray Kolto shots he kept for emergencies and slid them into the slots on his belt. Grabbed the holocron, and carried it back into the cockpit. After all that had happened, touching it was far from the forefront of his fears.​

​

Slumping into the copilots seat, and let out a long sigh. His head began to throb now that there was nothing else to focus on, and he became all too aware of a gash he'd been neglected in the midst of so much chaos. Lifting his shirt, he stared down at it and grimaced. Prodded at it curiously, before slipping free one of the shots and injecting it into himself.​

​

A grimace, a sharp intake of breath, but then it was over. He let the empty remnants of it slip into his palm, then he tossed it into the trash and leaned his head back.​

​

Tired. He was unbearably tired. Yet he'd given his word, promised to keep watch, so he busied himself in hopes of remaining awake. Reached out toward the holocron, and pressed the top of it while pooling the Force around.​

​

A projected image flickered into life then, and for a time the gatekeeper served as his only company...​

​

The hours passed with questions and answers, and a few mild attempts at this and that by the boy which were honestly dampened by how exhausted he was already feeling. More theory than anything else, then, he settled on. Most certainly he was hoping to find out more about the morality involved with astral projecting and attacking from that state, as well as delving into more empathic studies.​

​

By the time that Starlin stirred and the boy could hear him in the background it was a wonder his eyes were open at all. At some point between then and his Master's emergence in the cockpit he shut off the holocron and left it in his lap.​

​

He saluted at those initial jest-filled words, having been relieved of his duties, then shook his head regarding the caf. "Nah, I'm good," he lied, reaching up to rub at his tired eyes. Eliphas shifted in his seat, then glanced over at the man. "How you holdin' up?"​

​

Starlin Rand ​