[i][b]Yavin IV Rogue Squadron Hangar[/b][/i] [center]~-~-~-~-~-~[/center] The return to Yavin IV didn’t involve the same enthusiasm as when Rogue Squadron left. Each of them was silent, too busy stewing over the mission with a mixture of emotions to bother with small talk—even Alara, who was notably the most anxious of them all. When they broke lightspeed after the rest of the fleet entered the Yavin system, Nareia briefly contacted Wedge aboard the cruiser and told him of their intention to return to the hangar. No argument was made against it; and there was no witty remark from Kyrin, no congratulatory words from Rayce, and no relieved chatter from Alara. Other than the latter sharing a chilling message between Zsinj and Wedge, none of them had the will or the urge to speak just yet. The Rogues broke atmosphere and returned to base, and it was only when Alara’s X-wing settled down last did Nareia bother to open her fighter’s canopy, extend her retractable ladder, and descend its rung. The hurried footsteps of a maintenance crew made her blood run hotter, but whether it was anger or shame she didn’t know. Maybe it was both. [color=bc8dbf][b]“Don’t bother.”[/b][/color] She told the crew that ran to attend to her ship, having been met with confused expressions. [color=bc8dbf][b]“A standard system check, just to be safe, but there’s no damage to speak of. We didn’t even fire off a shot.”[/b][/color] Shaking her head and allowing the crew to examine her X-wing, she came around the nose of her ship to see both Kyrin and Rayce moving towards her; Alara was only now powering down her ship, her astromech ZeeZee being removed from his socket as requested. [color=f26522][b]“Fun time,”[/b][/color] Kyrin started bitterly, having felt no calmer since Wedge silenced them. His jaw grew tenser. [color=f26522][b]“Maybe Madine’ll get us to bring the Imperials some cookies and blue milk, just so they’re comfortable while they walk all over us.” [/b][/color] [color=fff79a][b]“How much of this operation was Madine really?”[/b][/color] Rayce asked next. The silence on the return trip gave all of them time to think; he only needed to know they were placing blame on the right people. [color=fff79a][b]“Mon Mothma’s not exactly popular, and he explicitly said that this mission had her backing. General Madine isn’t one to back down from a fight we can win.”[/b][/color] By this time Alara had hustled up to the group with R6-Z6 rolling in behind her. She ran her hands through her hair and shook her head. [color=f6989d][b]“The Imperials didn’t do anything either,”[/b][/color] she said, following up on Rayce’s comment. [color=f6989d][b]“That man—Zsinj—he opened up a link to all of us, but that Admiral Karius never said a word.”[/b][/color] [color=f26522][b]“He didn’t do a thing,”[/b][/color] Kyrin agreed. [color=f26522][b]“I thought Madine said he was ruthless. What’s ruthless about a Star Destroyer that wouldn’t turn and face us?”[/b][/color] [color=bc8dbf][b]“Ruthless doesn’t always mean stupid,”[/b][/color] Nareia replied. She walked a couple steps backwards before she turned, making for the hangar’s entryway. The others followed beside her. [color=bc8dbf][b]“Madine put a lot of emphasis on that man’s lethality, but our people were extracted without issue. Our ground team did what they were assigned.”[/b][/color] [color=fff79a][b]“And that’s another thing. They had no clue what was down there, either.”[/b][/color] Rayce inhaled sharply. [color=fff79a][b]“They were just as upset as us, and their order is all about controlling negative emotions.” [/b][/color] [color=bc8dbf][b]“They were kept in the dark, too,”[/b][/color] Nareia mumbled, stepping out into Yavin’s sunshine. [color=bc8dbf][b]“It hurts to know you don’t have the trust of your own leaders. I doubt the Jedi are any different from us in that regard.” [/b][/color] She came to a stop and turned around to meet their individual faces; Kyrin’s tension and Alara’s sadness struck a chord inside her. Shaking her head in disbelief, she nearly laughed at how quickly things were beginning to change within the New Republic. [color=bc8dbf][b]“It’s… not good.”[/b][/color] Nareia nodded slowly as she said those words. [color=bc8dbf][b]“Mon Mothma? She’s wrong. Madine, too, for looking us in the eye and affirming that none of us are worthy of information. We didn’t even know what we stood to lose down there, and what’s worse is that they took two hours to assemble a team at all.”[/b][/color] [color=fff79a][b]“What’s a holocron anyway?”[/b][/color] Rayce asked, thinking back on Wedge’s conversation with Zsinj on the bridge. R6-Z6 captured the message between the two; its knack for intercepting messages within allied ships was one of Rogue Squadron’s best kept secrets. Private channels weren’t so private from it. [color=fff79a][b]“Why couldn’t we know about it?”[/b][/color] [color=f6989d][b]“It’s a device that stores information and is used primarily by Force users,”[/b][/color] Alara said quickly. [color=f6989d][b]“I don’t know why they couldn’t just tell us that much, at least. Whatever is in that holocron we lost would only be accessible by our Jedi.”[/b][/color] [color=f26522][b]“Why didn’t Luke tell them then?”[/b][/color] Kyrin asked. [color=f6989d][b]“I don’t know,”[/b][/color] Alara admitted. [color=f6989d][b]“The information kept inside could be dangerous. We won’t know unless we reclaim it, or Zsinj finds a way to access it. But to do that, he’d need Luke or one of his students.”[/b][/color] Nareia’s eyes widened. [color=bc8dbf][b]“And that kid, Aren—he’s missing.”[/b][/color] [color=f6989d][b]“Gone without a trace. I don’t think Kale lost sight of Aren. I think Aren was either taken, or he was never with us to begin with.”[/b][/color] [color=fff79a][b]“That’s a stretch. We don’t know what happened to that kid.”[/b][/color] Rayce shook his head. [color=fff79a][b]“But, then again, neither did his master.”[/b][/color] [color=f6989d][b]“Exactly. So… so maybe Luke didn’t tell any of them because if they knew what was in the holocron, they might be tempted to take the knowledge for themselves.”[/b][/color] Alara glanced back at ZeeZee, who chirped supportively at her hypothesis, then looked back to her friends. [color=f6989d][b]“Or maybe he always suspected that he might be betrayed. Not everyone entered the Rebel Alliance with clean hands and a just cause. Not all of his Jedi might be good-natured people.”[/b][/color] Kyrin snorted. [color=f26522][b]“What, he’s taking in bad seeds on purpose?”[/b][/color] [color=f6989d][b]“You were a smuggler who operated outside of any law. You probably did your share of questionable things before joining the Alliance.”[/b][/color] [color=f26522][b]“I—”[/b][/color] [color=f6989d][b]“—did what you had to, to survive,”[/b][/color] Alara nodded. [color=f6989d][b]“I’m not arguing that you didn’t. I’m only saying… maybe Luke… he saw the good in his students and might’ve ignored their past wrongdoings. It was faith in the good of people that led him to get the numbers he has.”[/b][/color] For a moment, all members of Rogue Group looked among each other in silence. Alara’s theory, while reasonable, was a stretch too thin for any of them to believe in reporting. The possibility was there, but they lacked both the proof and the knowledge about Aren to fully suspect him. The only people who might know about him were in the Jedi Temple that loomed in the distance. [color=bc8dbf][b]“In any case, we need to focus on what we know, not just what we believe.”[/b][/color] Nareia crossed her arms and glanced over her shoulder, directing her gaze towards the Senate building. [color=bc8dbf][b]“What we know is that Mon Mothma is restraining us from striking against all known Imperial targets, especially vulnerable ones that we know we can defeat with minor casualties at best. Madine agrees with her—”[/b][/color] she turned back to face her friends [color=bc8dbf][b]“—enough to hold us back, and enough to let a man he seemed concerned with live to fight another day.” [/b][/color] [color=fff79a][b]“Madine’s no coward and neither is Wedge,”[/b][/color] Rayce reminded them all. [color=fff79a][b]“This tension with Mon Mothma and General Iblis might be the reason Madine didn’t want to fight it. We all see our foundation crumbling. So would he.”[/b][/color] [color=f26522][b]“That doesn’t explain why he talked to us like we were gutter trash,”[/b][/color] Kyrin hissed. [color=f26522][b]“We bring along Gold Squadron and that Star Destroyer would be through. We all know there can’t be peace—not yet, and especially not after today.”[/b][/color] He shot a look at Nareia who was just about to comment. [color=f26522][b]“They hit our people and our facility, and we don’t get retribution. If Tyber Zann got wind of that he’d be knocking on our doors, too. Same goes for Xizor.”[/b][/color] [color=bc8dbf][b]“I’ll take the pirates and the underworld over another Super Star Destroyer. We were lucky on Endor—it took a sacrifice to bring one down, not superior numbers or firepower.”[/b][/color] Nareia could still hear Arvel Crynyd’s last moments before he collided with the bridge, ending the threat of Vader’s personal flagship once and for all. [color=bc8dbf][b]“We’re not solving anything like this. We’re stuck speculating and stuck feeling unwanted. We should unwind.”[/b][/color] [color=f26522][b]“You know where to find me,”[/b][/color] Kyrin said, tapping Rayce on the shoulder and nodding towards the cantina. [color=f26522][b]“You up for some drinks?”[/b][/color] Rayce nodded. [color=fff79a][b]“Right behind you,”[/b][/color] he mumbled, exchanging one last look between Nareia and Alara before joining him. Watching as the two men trotted off to drink their frustrations away and undoubtedly tell the men inside what transpired, Nareia sighed between her teeth before glancing back to Alara. [color=bc8dbf][b]“You?”[/b][/color] [color=f6989d][b]“I’ve got a book to finish reading.”[/b][/color] [color=bc8dbf][b]“And I’ve got some fellow pilots to reach out to about all this,”[/b][/color] Nareia said, a Sullustan, a Twi’lek, and an aged veteran coming to mind. [color=bc8dbf][b]“I’ll see you later.”[/b][/color] [color=f6989d][b]“Bye!”[/b][/color] Alara smiled despite everything and bid Nareia farewell, who turned away and headed for another hangar nearby. Left alone with only her droid, Alara patted ZeeZee on his dome and started making her way back to her bunk. Before she took several steps, she stopped and turned once again towards the Jedi Temple in the distance. All this speculation made her curious; she debated on going out there and learning more about their order. Maybe her idea about the Jedi was all wrong—maybe the others were, too. But the military matters were usually best left to Nareia. For her, maybe a little reaching out into the Jedi Temple was her next best step. Learning more about wroshyr trees and Wookiee culture could wait, at least for a few hours more. R6-Z6 tweeted beside her, rocking from leg to leg impatiently. [color=f6989d][b]“Come on,”[/b][/color] she said, turning and making her way towards a pilot nearby a speeder, intent on asking one favor out of two. [center]~-~-~-~-~-~[/center] [i][b]Yavin IV The Jedi Temple[/b][/i] Reaching out via a long-range link between her comlink and Wedge’s, Alara requested that he grant her permission to enter the Jedi Temple. Her interest in the Jedi’s library was boundless, and given she was almost always pulled out of some sort of datapad whenever he ran into her, the veteran pilot had no reason to doubt this. It was the truth, well, half of one. If she were to find a Jedi or two inside, she would pick their brain a little bit. She and the rest of Rogue Group—bar Wedge—only knew Luke from stories. He was once just like them; a pilot who wanted to do good, and to fight against the Empire’s tyranny. His destiny called him elsewhere, leaving Wedge to try and continue what they both started years ago. She managed to ask a speeder pilot to drop both herself and Zee at the temple, and he agreed to wait a while for her to emerge. It turned out he had a friend who was on guard duty that same day, and an excuse to leave the base for a while and chat with a friend was hardly necessary. Plus, he was kind of into her. That helps, too. [color=f6989d][b]“Excuse me—”[/b][/color] Alara started but paused, staring at an opened palm instead. [b]“Alara, right?”[/b] the guard asked. [b]“We got the go ahead already. You’re clear to enter.”[/b] [color=f6989d][b]“Thank you!”[/b][/color] she exclaimed, nearly bouncing on her toes before heading inside with R6-Z6 following close behind her, only to quickly realize that she needed a map of some kind to find her way. There were no strategically placed signs to tell her where to go, and there were no Jedi tour guides available—not that this was a tour at all—to help her find her way. Deciding it best not to take away one of the guards from their post to help her find the library, she chose to explore it and directed R6-Z6 to try and create a map via scans and the path she herself was taking. It took her several minutes before she managed to find any sign of life within. The sound of something metallic being battered lured her away from her current path, and the closer she came to the sound, the more anxious she grew. Finally, she peered inside the doorway to spot a tall—and familiar—person punching away at a stationary droid. Zee creeped up beside her and angled himself just enough to look past Alara with a single dark eye spotting the brutality of a droid being assaulted by an organic. Outraged, Zee looked to Alara, then back to Lahana. He ejected a stun rod from one of its many panels, daring to give that beast of an organic a real opponent. [color=f6989d][b]“Shh, no!”[/b][/color] Alara whispered without looking at Zee, as if sensing his frustration. [color=f6989d][b]“Just follow my lead—and be nice.” [/b][/color] Zee rotated his dome left and right before chirping quietly. No promises. Alara gave her droid another pat on his dome before she entered inside, walking as quietly as she could. [color=f6989d][b]“Excuse me,”[/b][/color] she tried saying only to discover her throat was dry. She swallowed before trying to continue. [color=f6989d][b]“Excuse me!”[/b][/color] A little louder this time, she hoped Lahana wouldn’t yell at her for her interruption. [color=f6989d][b]“Lahana?”[/b][/color] Zee came up beside her, stun rod still drawn. If Lahana continued to harm a fellow droid, insults would be exchanged, and perhaps a stun rod jabbed in her leg.