Guardians of Light

Bad Blood

A heavy silence had settled over the ships interior.

All eyes were on Clarke as they awaited answers. The blonde kept her chin raised defiantly despite how overwhelmingly outnumbered she was. There was no quick escape this time.

'I will tell you whatever you want, as long as you agree to-'

The weak attempt at negotiation was instantly shut down by the Jedi who was quickly running out of patience.

'There will be no compromising. Do not take me for a fool.'

The force behind the words was enough to bring Clarke to immediate silence, swallowing the unspoken words along with any hope of securing a safe return to Coruscant without further trouble.

'Sharr. Toril. Get us in the air, we don't need the attention from the Coruscant security team right now.'

The Sarkhai, with her elaborate face ink, and the human male didn't need to be asked twice and swept past Clarke to ascend the stairs to where the flight deck was situated.

With two less crew members focusing their displeasure on the blonde, she felt the tension ease if only the slightest amount but it was enough to begin thinking clearly.

'You're right, I'll tell you whatever you want to know.'

Lexa descended the three or so steps down to the level of the lowest deck, her eyes not leaving the woman's for a second as she seemed to almost glide closer over the grated metal floor panels.

'The artefact. You have it.'

Her voice was low and almost inviting the stranger to deny the blatant fact that everyone now knew to be true. Clarke's thumb brushed against the fur coat without conscious thought as she still felt the urge to hide the object from the rest of the universe.

'Hand it over and we can go from there.'

The Jedi stopped a few paces from the blonde, motionless as she waited for her instructions to be met with compliance.

Clarke inhaled slowly and reached into the inner jacket compartment, her fingers grasping the triangular prism which was now the source of so much trouble. She questioned whether this was a good idea, after all was a Jedi really the right person to be in possession of this object? Not that she had any idea of its identity, though it must have been powerful if the Empire had gone to such an effort to capture it.

With the Jedi continuing to stare unwaveringly, there was little choice in the matter despite the potentially disastrous outcomes. Clarke withdrew her hand from the jacket, clutching the object in a tight grasp as she twisted her wrist, revealing the artefact to the waiting crew.

If the blonde had any expectations of what was to result from her compliance, than this was not even remotely what she would have guessed.

The entire room seemed to inhale sharply in unison. Lexa taking a visible step back as if she had been punched in the gut. Clarke looked at each crew member with a frown, her lips forming to ask the question that only she seemed to not know the answer to. What the hell was it?

'Oh my,' the G3P android uttered. Even he seemed to be more knowledgeable on the matter than Clarke, and now it was her turn to demand answers.

'You know what this is?'

The Jedi ripped her eyes away from the artefact to return Clarke's questioning gaze.

'You mean you've been carrying this around with you for over a day now and you have no idea what it is?'

Clarke shook her head and observed the artefact once more, unsure what all the fuss was about. She was no longer so eager to keep hold of it after such a negative reaction.