┌────── ∘°☆°∘ ──────┐

𝐓𝐀𝐓𝐎𝐎𝐈𝐍𝐄

𝟏𝟔 𝐁𝐁𝐘

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Kirei figured a day or two had passed before the Riptide touched down, softly enough that she guessed it was sand beneath them. She'd spent most of that time hiding behind some crates, occasionally moving whenever a purple R2 model rolled into the area, in order to remain hidden. As soon as she was able to, she'd leave the ship and make her way to the closest town and start a new life for herself. She, of course, didn't exactly plan this far ahead. Escape was all that was important.

The ship shuddered slightly, alerting Kirei that the ramp of the ship was cracking open. She peeked her head over the crate she was sitting behind and saw an older man holding what looked like a tablet. His eyes were downcast, presumably reading something on the screen. Kirei was safe for now.

"Is this all of it?" He asked, eyes now looking towards the crates in the ship.

Steps sounded on the other side of the ship, a pair of boots clacking against the grey metal. "This is all we could get, without being caught." A girl of similar age, maybe older, nodded her head dismally. "We can try another planet, Coruscant is just a tricky one, Lukas."

"Hopefully it'll last us at least two months." The man, Lukas, walked into the ship, especially close to where she was hiding. Lukas signalled to some other people outside the ship to come inside, and in doing so, Kirei ducked her head and pulled her hood further over her face. She thought she'd accidentally made eye contact with one of the others.

Fortunately, she didn't.

Unfortunately, the unloading had begun, one crate at a time, slow but relentless. Then another figure boarded the ship: an older woman, clearly of higher rank than Lukas and the girl who had stepped away to help with the cargo. As she entered, that same eerie pull Kirei had felt on Coruscant returned. But now it was different. It reached outward, probing, searching.

Kirei ducked lower, slipping behind another crate deeper in the hold, but the feeling clung to her like a shadow.

The woman who had joined Lukas was mid-conversation when she suddenly went still. "I feel something," she murmured, her eyes narrowing with focus as she felt a strong pull on her. Lukas glanced up at her, brow raised in confusion.

"What is it?" He asked, voice laced with confusion.

"Something I've not felt for a while..." She paused, glancing around the ship. "Search this area once we've unloaded the cargo. I need to know what's causing this." Her brow knitted together, walking closer to where Kirei was hiding, as if whatever this feeling was pulled them together.

Lukas looked around, checking the surrounding area for people, then lowered his voice to a whisper. "Is it the force?"

Jaira nodded slowly, "Strong as well. What did you order on this supply run Lukas?"

"Just the usual stuff to top up on everything." He shrugged his shoulders, now speaking at a normal level. "It did come from Coruscant though, if that makes a difference?"

"Maybe." She nodded again, pointing towards the back of the ship. "It's coming from there." She whispered. The two slowly approached Kirei's hiding place, where the young girl was preparing to make a run for it after overhearing their whispers.

Panic had engulfed her like it had on Coruscant with the Stormtroopers, and the uneasy feeling returned to her once more. Get off the ship. Get to the nearest town. That was the plan. She wouldn't let anything get in the way now. She needed her escape, her freedom.

As the footsteps drew nearer, she frantically chose her escape. Left was heavy, clunky, chaotic. Right moved with poise, precise, deliberate. Too deliberate. Too dangerous

Left was her way out of this place, she would bet on it.

The footsteps drew closer. It was now or never. Kirei sprang from behind the crate and bolted left. She shoved past the man, Lukas, she realized, but he caught her, arms locking around her from behind

"Woah, woah, woah!" He shouted, tightening his grip. "Got it!"

"Lukas be-" The woman jogged up to him, but Kirei's scream cut her off.

"Get off of me!" she shouted, thrashing in panic. "Let me go!"

"I don't think we ordered a stowaway? Did you order a stowaway?" Lukas chuckled, a smirk grew on his face.

"Let go!" Kirei's mind grew fuzzy from the immense fear she felt, just like she had when the Stormtroopers encountered her. Something surged inside her, rage, fear, a desperate hunger for freedom, boiling over all at once. She couldn't control it.

Lukas' smirk was wiped clean off of his face as he was expelled backward, slamming into the ship's wall with a crack, collapsing in a heap.

"Lukas!" the woman, Jaira, cried out, her eyes narrowing with focus. She watched as Kirei tried to make a run for it and raised her hand, letting out a steadying breath.

Once again, Kirei's body stopped against her will, but this feeling was different, it settled the rising panic as if to stop it from exploding again.

"Don't fight it, kid." Jaira said softly, approaching. "Who are you?" She asked.

"Let me go," Kirei pleaded, her voice shaking. "I'm so close..."

It was at this point that Kirei could take a closer look at her new captors. 

Lukas groaned, pushing himself up, one hand bracing the dented wall behind him. The smirk was long gone amongst his scruffy, blonde-ish beard. If Kirei didn't hate him at that moment in time, she would have admitted he looked fairly handsome, but with a boy-ish charm.

Her other captor however, was the opposite of him. Poised and elegant just like her footsteps had been. Her hair sat in a jagged pixie cut, almost as if she had cut it herself, and a large scar ran horizontal across her cheek, just beneath her brown eyes.

"Tell us who you are." Jaira asked again, carefully measured not to scare her.

"I just want to leave..." Kirei begged her, her voice cracking as she struggled in her grip. "I need to leave."

"The force is strong with you, I can't just let you go, not like this." Jaira explained. "I'll let go of you right now, but you need to stay here." Her eyes squeezed shut tightly. "We aren't your enemy. We aren't with the empire."

Kirei froze. The two voices in her mind were back, one urging her to run, the other whispering to listen.

They could be lying. Luring her in.

But the feeling in her chest, that familiar tug from earlier, told a different story. She felt it again now, quiet, steady. Like a truth pressing gently against her ribs.

In Jaira's eyes, she saw no malice. Only concern.

Kirei nodded, slowly and reluctantly, signalling that she wouldn't run when Jaira let her go.

True to her word, Jaira released her grip, letting her hand fall to her side. "Now," she said gently, "can you tell us who you are?"

"I'm..." Kirei hesitated. The name stuck in her throat.

How would they react if they knew who she really was? Her father, a high-ranking officer in the Empire. Her brother, loyal to the same cause, following directly in their father's footsteps. Her family name was a chain, and she couldn't afford to wear it any longer. Not here. Not again.

She needed to become someone else.

"Alectra," she said at last, the word unfamiliar on her lips. "Alectra Lunelle."

Jaira nodded, her expression softening into a quiet smile. "Welcome to Safe Haven, Alectra." sealing her new name into the stars.

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𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐍𝐊𝐒 𝐅𝐎𝐑 𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐃𝐈𝐍𝐆

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𝐀𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫'𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐞| happy (late by half an hour) star wars day friends!! here is my gift to you <3 (I'm sorry I lowkey suck at writing action scenes but I tried :') ). I hope you enjoy this opening chapter and look forward to what's to come for Alectra's story!