Guardians of Light

Change Of Heart

Lexa gazed out over the expanse of the spaceport to where her new ship was gleaming under the artificial lighting, backed by the iconic streaming of spacecrafts that never seemed to cease flowing through the skies of Coruscant. 

It was a marked improvement on her current ship, with the same basic layout expanded upon with a larger interior consisting of an extra bunkroom, storage area, and a more spacious social area for longer flights. 

Regardless of this promising transition to a larger and more impressive ship, the Jedi's mind was elsewhere. She found herself considering the inevitable conversation with Clarke and was only subconsciously aware of the bustle of workers and droids around her as they went about their duties. 

'It's certainly a fine ship, master,' NOVA twittered as he sidled up next to the Jedi, following her line of sight to the new craft. Lexa nodded absentmindedly in agreement, a few seconds passing before she noticed that somebody was missing, casting a quick glance around the space docks to double-check that she wasn't mistaken. 

'Where did the smuggler go?'

NOVA whirred in displeasure at the mention of his least favourite temporary addition to the crew, and twitched in something as close to a shrug as his components would allow. 

'He slipped away whilst I was tending to the transfer, hopefully that's the last we'll be seeing of him.'

Lexa wasn't quite as convinced that the smuggler would merely disappear without at least saying farewell to his friend, though she was suspicious of exactly what he had been up to for the last few hours without supervision. 

The voices of the crew reached her ears as the turbolift doors slid open and they made their way over, only with minimal unsteadiness, to the Jedi who watched them with a raised eyebrow. 

She was somewhat impressed that they were still standing after what she had seen of their drinking habits in the past. This must have been a relatively tame celebration in comparison. She felt a stab of disappointment when she looked beyond the swaying crew members and saw no flash of blonde hair accompanying them. 

It would have made sense for Clarke to return with the others rather than stay in the cantina alone, it could only be presumed that Bellamy had made his way there to convince his friend to join him in whatever perilous journey he had planned next. 

'Trust you lot to get an upgrade when I decide to leave,' the Nautolan grumbled jokingly, pitching alarmingly to the side when the Cathar brushed a large paw against his friends arm with a huff of laughter.

Lexa paid no attention to their friendly banter and set off in the direction of the older ship with a suppressed sigh. They should have been setting off soon to get Rakal back to his family, but it was just as important for her to speak to Clarke before they departed. 

The interior lights of the ship were dimmed to minimum level without the crew on board, the ship appearing a lot more spacious now that all of the containers and gear had been transferred to the new vessel. 

The Jedi ascended the flight of stairs to the holotable with the intention of wiping any identifying information from the system before it was sold on to another buyer. She lightly tapped the illuminated keypad and in a manner of seconds was flicking through the data held within. 

It was a basic task to complete, requiring only minimal attention, and so the Jedi almost jolted when a flashing notification startled her out of the trance-like state. The bright red highlights never boded well and it was only with a brief hesitation that Lexa opened the priority alert.

She drew in a sharp breath, yet another surprise greeting her when she found herself staring back at the blonde woman that had occupied so many of her thoughts. Her gaze dropped to the short paragraph of text that lay below the image and could hardly believe what she was reading.