||Location: Sol System
||Time: Unknown

His idealism was exciting, refreshing even. Kir’ion couldn’t help smiling because she believed him. How could she not? They knew everything about each other; there were no secrets left. She could [i]feel[/i] the determination rolling off of him in waves. If he could stir her to action when all she really wanted to do was run to the farthest corner of the galaxy and hide, then there was indeed hope. 

And Harrison was right, too. If anyone could stoke the flames of rebellion, it would be a free enforcer and a X’hondrian. Who could deny the optics of a would-be oppressor and an escaped slave standing together against the empire that would see them both stripped of identity and agency, saying, ‘No more’?

”I don’t think I’ve allowed myself to believe in anyone in a long time,” Kir admitted, “But I believe in you. You walked in that door this morning and you gave me hope I haven’t known in over a century. What was it your Star Wars said? ‘Rebellions are built on hope’, I think?”

Admittedly, Kir’ion didn’t know the first thing about sparking a rebellion or fighting back. X’hondrian’s hadn’t been to war in so many centuries that when the empire attacked that there wasn’t even anyone alive at the time who could remember war. It was akin to attacking a planet populated by Buddhist monks. X’hondrians honored the pursuits of knowledge and creation of art. They remained neutral in conflicts and the best minds were often called upon to journey off world to share their wisdom and knowledge with the likes of government officials, nobles, and military ethicists. To harm an X’hondrian was among the greatest social crimes one could commit, so to invade their planet and force them into servitude was obscene. Kir had only rarely allowed herself to consider the outrage that must have come from it. There must have been protests from all the major governing powers across the galaxy. To lose such a repository of knowledge and history as the one X’hondrian’s had accumulated, to remove the wealth of insight they would gladly provide to all who asked was an affront not just to the X’hondrians, but to the galaxy as a whole. 

She shook the thoughts from her head, realizing she was about to sink too deep. 

“Well, first things first we need fuel cells. We’re barely going to make it to the Kuiper Belt Outpost as it is,” Kir sighed, running her fingers through her hair. “If I’m lucky, there’s still some valuables stashed around the ship that I can sell to get us the money for replacements. After that, I don’t know. Maybe we can pick up some light cargo to drop off as we planet hop. Someone’s bound to have some short hauls they need done.”