Noventa - A Star Wars Story

"Ah, of course, Babe." She offered Jelna a friendly smile as she accepted the bathrobe back. "Anytime."

She didn't really have anyone else but these people. Of course she would be there for them, when they needed it.

"It was the best," Jelna concluded tersely. The blonde got up from the chair and slid off the bathrobe with delicate care. She then held it out with a small smile. "We will discuss matters later with the rest of the crew. Until then, I will be resting more in my quarters. Thank you, Cefey."

The twi'lek's smile was honest and warm as she listened to Jelna. "That sounds like a nice place, and time..." she exhaled a similarly wistful sigh. I don't have anyone like that.

"I hope we can all have something like that too."

Jelna looked at the cold, metallic ceiling of the starship and let out a wistful sigh. "Zerra and I had a private flat back on Corellia. Our salaries were not particularly high, so many would not consider it impressive, but it was home. We kept it tidy, there was much to do and see in the neighborhood." She crossed her arms and smiled weakly at her twi'lek companion. "We rarely were able to go there. Duty called, after all. Ha, I even told her that it was a waste of funds but she insisted on keeping it for the two of us. And, well, she was correct, like she often was."

"Could be." Fey shrugged as she paused. "Maybe. I don't know... it's far enough away from the big stuff for you guys."

Some of them needed to keep away from the center of all things were they were more likely to be recognized.

"What kind of place would you want to settle down in eventually?"

"And you believe that this will be our home too?" Jelna asked, more curious than aggressive at this point. "To be honest, my assessment of this planet is rather poor. I admit I am rather spoiled by a core world," she concluded with a faint smile.

"What? No..." she shook her head. Of course she hadn't met anyone like that. "But there are good people here who would fight these remnants. Because this is their home."

"Even if we surprised them, they would surely overpower us." Jelna leaned back into her chair, a bit more relaxed than before. Regardless of her attitude, she seemed to be coming down from her episode. "Did you meet someone here that makes this planet worth fighting for? Dying for?"

The phrase Death Troopers made her shudder a little. They had quite a reputation.

"I don't know, maybe. I think we can do something. That you realised... or rather, saw them is probably something they're not expecting. That is more than anyone of us could do."

"What better use will my talents do? I can predict patterns but I can do nothing to stop them!" Jelna took a strained breath. "Death Troopers, Cefey. There is nothing I can do to impede their plans."

It wasn't unlikely, Fey though, as for her some of the Imps had been way too caught up in their righteousness. Jelna at least had broke out of it... maybe thanks to Zerra?

"Babe..." she said softly. Using the nickname felt more right now than using 'Jelna'. "... They're more than just that. They did do that once, but you can choose to put them to better use. We have those choices now."

"That would be nice for you. That is not my fate, though. My actions are my own." Jelna let out a sigh. "Zerra told me that I was brainwashed. But could she be wrong?"

Her eyes warily went to outside the ship. "This sickening feeling. I feel fear too but I am also called to commit atrocities once more. These hands of mine were made to inflict pain, so it would seem."

"If given the choice, I might've. But I never had opportunities to choose until recently," she retorted, though with the ghost of a smile in her tone.

"I guess I sometimes also want to remind myself that I'm not like those we once were forced to serve. That I'm a better person."

"Are you certain you never joined the Rebel Alliance?" Jelna teased, "They never wanted to kneel to the threat of fear." She folded her hands and closed her eyes. "Pain, however. Pain shapes a person. I do not want to suffer for some backwater planet."

"I am, because I don't want to run every time I get scared. Because I'm tired of running." Fey's voice rose a little as she got up from the pilot chair. "Because I'm tired of being controlled by things that scare me. This... whatever it is, it scares me. I don't know what it is, but it scares me. But if I run away again, I'm... I'm no better than what I used to be."

"She never wanted to leave in the first place," Jelna admitted. She drew more into herself, wrapping her arms around her legs. "But she never wanted to fight either."

She sighed. "You are trying to delay this. But we need to depart before it gets even worse."

Fey let Jelna pull away, knowing she had probably stepped a bit too far there.

"You're right... I didn't know her as well as you did," she conceded in a softer tone. "But I remember she was headstrong, and she was a good person." The twi'lek remembered good feelings about Sweetie, but also the feelings of regret and the haunted past that the others seemed to have too. "She didn't strike me as the type to leave easily."

Her breath rose before sighing deeply. "Let's talk with the others about it too, ok? I know Kai is tired of being on the move all the time..."

"You have no right to speak her name. You know nothing about her!" Jelna pulled away and rotated the chair away. "I was ready to surrender myself to court but she convinced me to leave it all behind. She told me to flee, to not let the past haunt me. But here we are on some wretched planet that refuses to let us rest, where sickness pervades the air."

"And then what? Remnants take over the planet, and then they move onto the next one... and then we're just back to running until we have nowhere left to run." Fey retorted, with some more feistyness than usual. "That's not what Zerra would've done, you know."

A low-blow perhaps, but she hoped it would make Jelna consider things differently.

"Because we would be rewarded for it," Jelna blurted out. She then sighed and looked away. "Removing Imperial Remnants would secure this planet for us. But now I see that this could never be our home. That is why we must depart with the utmost haste, Cefey."