The young man smiled and took a step towards her. Skygge narrowed her brow, hand darting to her side where her lightsaber should have hung.
But it's not there, is it? she thought, even as her hand came up to stop the man in his tracks. "No need to come closer," she said, fumbling for the blaster instead. Caden stepped forward, the initiate ever so eager to defend her already.
The man's eyes widened, then he said, "Something led me to you." He paused, looking at Caden, then at Skygge. "I don't know what or how or why, but I'm
supposed to be here."
Skygge frowned, still prepared to strike the man down. "Something?" she asked, possibilities rising to her mind.
"Yes," he replied. "I can't explain it more than that."
Skygge nodded. "It was the Force," she said, more confidently than she felt. Something about this youth resounded within her. She quested out with her senses, feeling his excitement, enthusiasm...and there was something deeper. Sadness. She smiled. This, she could use. "The Force has brought you here for a purpose," she said. "My ship is," she looked back over her shoulder, "somewhat crippled. I need you and this one to transfer our belongings to your own ship. You will conduct us the rest of the way on this journey." She added a nudge with the Force, an urge to be helpful and not complain.
The youth, whether eager to please or just weak-minded, nodded enthusiastically. Skygge motioned to Calen. "Help him. See that he doesn't break anything. I will return here when my business is concluded." With that, she left the two behind and proceeded into the city.
***
She had been here.
It was a faint trace, one that was difficult to follow. The assassin had not remained long on the planet; her business concluded, she'd departed in a shuttle. Skygge could not yet guess the location; meditation would be required. For now, it was enough to learn what Ventress had done here.
Even that was difficult to discover. Eyes closed, she followed the Force trail. The layout of the city had changed in the last fifty years, but the trail was still there. She occasionally had to skirt a building, and twice she lost the trail only to rediscover it some streets over. But she followed, doggedly. It wasn't until three hours had passed that she opened her eyes to find herself in a dark alley. The trail had vanished again, but this time she discovered she was not alone. Three men stood blocking her exit.
They were ragged, unkempt creatures, broken by a society that honored the wealthy and ignored the poor. Skygge pitied them as the came at her, charging, teeth bared, vibroblades out. She didn't need the Force to see that they were hungry; their emaciated bodies were enough. And the best thing to do for such creatures was to give them a quick end.
Leaping forward into the attack, she drew her blaster and fired, catching the first attacker in the gut. He went down without a sound even as she fired again, catching the second in the eye. The third widened his eyes in surprise, but lunged forward anyway, sweeping his blade for her throat. She batted the weapon aside, then kicked at the man. He dodged back from her kick, eyes wild as he lunged once more. This time she grabbed his arm and twisted. He twisted with it, spinning and attempting to break free of her grip.
"Enough," she said, then sent a jolt of energy into him, electrical bolts dancing from her hand into his arm. He screamed in pain, stumbling away and cursing. She fired once more.
As the man dropped to the ground, she extended her senses once more.
There, she thought, feeling something hidden in one of the nearby building walls. It was an old building, certainly one that was here when her quarry had arrived. She reached out, grabbing one of the stones, and with a tug from the Force the stone lifted free. Skygge knelt, and suddenly she was once again caught in a vision.
***
The air was still. The bodies of those she'd slain lay scattered around her, in pieces. Unfortunate; she hadn't wanted to kill them. They'd simply been trying to find a meal, or some credits. A waste.
Now she was injured, again, and they would have her trail. She'd made too much noise in the Force to be unnoticed now. And they would come for her. They always came for her.
So she quickly wrapped the item in a spare cloth that one of her attackers had worn. Prying up one stone, she carved a hole and dropped the item in. It would be safe her. She replaced the stone, then ran, heading back to the spaceport. She had to run, far away, where they would never find her again.
***
Skygge snapped back into her own mind, then doubled over with another splitting headache. These visions were helpful, but they were kriffing annoying, too. When she managed to get the pain under control, she examined the back of the stone she had pried from the wall. There, wrapped in cloth, was something. Carefully, Skygge reached in and pulled it forth, gently unwrapping the device. A holocron, with a datachip beside it. She could feel the energies in the holocron; a strange mixture of dark and light, one she didn't fully understand. She took both, depositing them in her pouch, and turned back for the spaceport.
When she arrived, she stopped short. The new youth lay in a puddle of blood, throat slashed. Calen was in binders, raging, trying to bite his captors - captors that were, apparently, officers of the Onderon Security Force. One approached her.
"Ma'am, we need to ask you some questions," he said, all business. "Do you know these two?"
Skygge frowned, then nodded slowly, lies forming in her mind even as she spoke. "I hired the prisoner as a pilot to get here. He was the one that crashed the shuttle. I then fired him and hired the other as a new pilot, and paid both to transfer my belongings from shuttle to shuttle." She added a Force suggestion to her words, hoping the man was weak-minded enough to accept her story.
"Ah," he said, writing something in a datapad. "So an employment squabble. That makes sense." He frowned. "The prisoner keeps calling for his Master. Do you know what he means?"
Skygge shrugged. "Couldn't say. Maybe he thinks he's my slave or something? He seemed a little off the whole time we were flying here. I tried to stay away from him."
The officer nodded. "Well, we might need you to stick around for his trial. How long will you be on planet?"
Skygge nudged with the Force again. "You don't need me to stay. You want to let me leave."
The officer nodded. "You don't need to stay. You're free to go. Do you have transport?"
Skygge pointed to the dead man's shuttle. "I paid for that shuttle," she said, adding another Force suggestion. "I will take it."
The officer nodded again. "Happy travels, then."
Within minutes, Skygge was blasting away from the spaceport into orbit. Before long, she laid in a quick hyperspace jump into open space. Then, while the computer was running calculations for the next jump, she inserted the datacard into the ship's console and scanned the files. There was only one. A hologram of Asajj Ventress popped up on the display and began to speak.
"I am recording this for anyone who finds it. What you hold had long been thought lost. It is a very special holocron, made by an ancient Jedi. She was a companion of Revan for a time, and traveled with him into the Unknown Regions. I intend to follow her path. Perhaps there I can lose myself and finally be free."
Skygge, eyes wide, took the holocron and held it before her. Ventress spoke once more.
"Skywalker, Kenobi, if you find this, please do not follow me. I know you can follow my trail. But know that I have abandoned who I was. All I wish now is to be free. To be left alone. I have no desire to fight you anymore. Farewell."
Skygge activated the holocron, then laid in coordinates for her next jump. It was time to finish this journey.