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There isn’t anything he can do to change your mind. Nothing short of physically restraining you.
And the sunesi knows this.
For a moment, it looks like his hand twitches towards his lightsaber. The air inside the base turns frigid, and all occupants – organic and inorganic alike – seem to hold their breath. You make no obvious movements, steadying your breath and your body…
…his webbed hand grabs at the front of your robes, dragging you within inches of each other’s faces. The Sunesi’s eyes are hard and fierce, unblinking and unflinching. But his hand remains far away from his lightsaber. “If your actions lead the Empire to Dweem, I swear to the Force that Vader won’t be the one to kill you.”
Undoubtably a statement unbecoming of a Jedi Master, but one that you can at least understand him making.
“…we’ll bounce around the Outer Rim to throw the Empire off our trail,” you promise, pulling away and taking his hands off your clothes. “And we won’t come back for…”
“No less than six standard months,” Aqinos orders, deadly serious. “Ideally, a year. The longer the better.”
There’s only a few minutes left for goodbyes. Thoughts of recruiting any of the Knights are promptly thrown out the window as the Albatrosses hurriedly pack what little they’d brought. A handful of farewells are exchanged, but none more so visibly than Illum. The eldest of Aqinos’ disciples takes Ceyla into a tight hug.
“Stay safe, little one.” The Shard’s voice is synthetic, taking vibrations and frequencies from the crystal itself and converting them into audible sound. But in spite of that, there was an inherently matronly tone. “Maker watch over you, and may the darkness never overcome your light.”
Aqinos doesn’t quite nearly slam the door shut on your way out, but he makes no attempt to hide his disapproval. Still, you can honestly say that you feel bad. Hopefully this won’t kickstart a brand new grudge against the Triumvirate.
Suzel already has the <span class="mu-i">Albatross</span> prepped for launch by the time the rest of the crew stumbles back onto the mountain. No sooner are the last of the crew aboard does the nagai goose it, angling the <span class="mu-i">Albatross</span> for a rapid ascent and escape from Dweem’s atmosphere.
“…and just when I was starting to get comfortable on the ice planet,” bemoans Suzel. But he carries out your orders, punching in a flight plan that’ll get the ship to Kessel as fast as possible. “Please tell me you have a plan, bossman.”
Reach Kessel. Intercept Jedi. Escape before Vader arrives.
“That…forgive me, master, but that isn’t much of a plan,” opines Ceyla plaintively.
It’s an outline. All that’s left for you to do is fill out the blanks.
“How soon can we reach Kessel?” you ask. “Factoring in bouncing around to throw any pursuers off Dweem.”
“Approximately twenty-five hours,” answers B-33.
(cont.)
