Клаудия Грэй: Into the Dark

She found the pristine environment more intimidating than welcoming. The files she’d downloaded onto the datapad in her bag glowed with imagined heat, like they’d burn their way through the canvas. More than once, Affie thought of simply walking back out the way she’d come.

But she stayed put long enough for her name to be called.

Affie was ushered into a small room with a Twi’lek minor official. Despite the fact that Affie was a seventeen-year-old girl, the Twi’lek seemed to be taking her seriously. If he’d laughed her off, that would’ve given her an excuse—

But she was sick of excuses.

“You wish to make a report?” the Twi’lek asked.

“Yes.” Taking a deep breath, Affie pulled the datapad from her bag and handed it over. She’d thought it would feel better once there was no turning back. It didn’t. She plunged ahead anyway. “I’m reporting the abuse of indentures in the Byne Guild.”

At first, Reath waited for an invitation. None came. Finally, three days after Dez’s release from the hospital, Reath decided not to wait any longer.

When he pushed the door chimes, at first he received no response. The autofunctions had said Dez Rydan was home and awake, but that wasn’t the same as accepting guests. He could be tired. Still recovering. Reath was already turning to go when the door unsealed.

It slid open to reveal Dez’s quarters. Reath knew these were normally messier than the average Jedi’s quarters, by a power of about ten, but even Dez could only make so much mess within his first few hours out of medical care. He sat on a meditation cushion in the center of the room, a casual robe wrapped loosely around him. He’d regained the weight he had lost, and to judge by what Reath could see, there wouldn’t even be any scars.

“You look good,” he said, smiling as he walked into the room and the door slid shut behind him. “Lots better than the last time I saw you.”

“I can imagine.” Dez ran one hand through his thick black hair. “I definitely feel better. It would be difficult to feel worse.”

“Maybe this wouldn’t be helpful to you,” Reath ventured. “But for me—I’m going to have a vigil for Master Jora. Her body was lost, so we can’t have a pyre. Still, I’m going to light a fire and keep watch. Would you want to join me?”

“I can’t,” Dez said. His voice sounded remote; he didn’t quite meet Reath’s eyes. “Tomorrow I’m leaving for one of the contemplation worlds. I’m taking the Barash Vow.”

The Barash Vow was an extreme commitment to gaining ultimate communion with the Force. Those who took the vow spent years—sometimes even decades—in deep meditation, and in solitude. It was the last path Reath would ever have foreseen for Dez.

“But why?” Reath asked. “The Barash Vow—it’s taken by Jedi who’ve made terrible mistakes. You didn’t! You haven’t broken your connection to the Force.”

“No,” Dez said. “That was broken by the Drengir. The healers have pieced it back together again, but it’s…shaky. The cracks are showing. It won’t hold, not unless I commit myself with all my strength to renewing it.”

“But—” Reath’s voice cracked. “Is that the life you really want?”

Slowly Dez nodded. “You have to understand, the Drengir are profoundly connected to the dark side. The days I spent as their prisoner were days that damaged and tested my connection to the Force. I don’t know that I passed the test. Without you, I might have become their creature—a mindless servant of darkness. That is, if they hadn’t eaten me first.”

“You passed the test,” Reath insisted. “You’re still you.”

“Yes, I am. But there are ways in which that’s not a good thing. I’ve always wanted…action, excitement. I’ve wanted that a little too much. Jedi aren’t meant to please themselves. We’re meant to serve. Service doesn’t mean only doing what you want to do. It means listening to the Force. And I’d stopped listening.” Dez shook his head. “I know what I have to do.”

“I understand,” Reath said. “I’ve been thinking about that, too.” His resistance to the frontier assignment—that had been all about what he wanted. Not about service. Honoring Master Jora with a fire and vigil meant nothing if he didn’t honor everything she’d taught him. By taking the assignment on Starlight, she’d been trying to teach him what service really meant.

I’m learning, master , he thought.

Dez seemed to recognize the impact his words had had on Reath. “What will you do next?”

“I think—” Reath paused, then nodded. “I think I just figured that out.”

By midday, at the spaceport, Republic officials were busily cataloging every Byne Guild ship and interviewing every Byne Guild pilot. As far as Affie could tell, they’d started within minutes of her report to the authorities. She’d assumed it would take the Republic days or weeks to act—time that might’ve given Scover a chance to travel back to the frontier. She had more influence there, and the Republic less; she could’ve remained free.

Instead, officials had arrested Scover right away. Affie had forced herself to watch the arrest footage from the hotel (which had made it available to her, as Scover’s guest). Scover had remained calm and quiet the entire time she was being cuffed and led away.

That calm might shatter when she learned Affie was the one who had reported her, which was news Affie intended to deliver herself. This would be the toughest encounter of Affie’s life, but it was one she could not turn away from. Scover had raised her, cared for her, even loved her. She deserved the chance to ask how her foster daughter could’ve done this to her.

And Affie deserved the chance to explain why.

She stood awkwardly in front of the Vessel , watching the activity throughout the spaceport. The worst part wasn’t the guilt or the uncertainty; it was knowing her entire future was being shaped by forces outside her control, and having absolutely nothing she could do about it.

Footsteps on the boarding ramp made her turn. Leox was strolling out alongside the human Republic official checking the Vessel. The official nodded her head as she checked off items on a datapad. “No irregularities here, so I can clear this ship for takeoff.”

“Most kind of you,” Leox said, “but at the moment we have no place to go.”

“Take whatever work you want.” The Republic official obviously saw herself as their savior, or at least the bearer of very good tidings. “According to Republic law, upon the dissolution of an illegal shipping concern, all ships are considered the individual property of their senior officers. Which means the Vessel is now yours, Captain Gyasi.”

Leox shook his head. “Not so fast. If you’re jotting all this down for the annals of the Republic, be sure you get it right. I’m not the senior officer assigned to the Vessel . That’d be Affie Hollow, standing over there.”

When he pointed at her, Affie managed to close her mouth so she wouldn’t be goggling at them like a fool. “ Me? ”

“Official Guild representative trumps the captain every time.” With a shrug, Leox was handing over ownership of the thing he loved most in the world—the thing he could’ve claimed for his own in a heartbeat. Although Scover had showered a few fine things on Affie over the years, she had never received a more generous gift.

The Republic official seemed willing to take Leox’s word for it. To Affie she said, “Will you be changing the designation of the ship?”

“No,” Affie said, a grin spreading across her face. “This is the Vessel , always and forever. And Leox Gyasi remains her captain. He just…works for me.”